I was very worried that the tsunami would wash up on the island and cause considerable damage, especially given that the straight line from DG to the earthquake epicenter is open ocean.
Posted on 12/27/2004 3:59:26 AM PST by margieelisabeth
They are all FINE on Diego Garcia, the quake wasn't even felt. My son is stationed there and we recieved an email from him last night. This is also a small bit of information that may help us all understand why a tsunami most likely (never say never) could hit there.
Diego Garcia is at the top of the Chagos Trench located just to our east (hence the island chain name of Chagos Archipelago). This trench is very deep and the steepness of the grade from the trench to the top of the island does not allow tsunamis to build up before they were to come on shore.
I was very worried that the tsunami would wash up on the island and cause considerable damage, especially given that the straight line from DG to the earthquake epicenter is open ocean.
-Eric
Hector is a 28+ foot hammerhead shark that used to live in the lagoon on Diego. It's been awhile so he may be gone by now but I'm sure the legend lives on. And there's truth to it. I saw a picture taken over the side of a ship. There was a 28 foot work boat along side the ship and you could just make out the image of Hector in the water. By the way, he was longer than the work boat...
Fishing stories and photos from DG
http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/fishing.html
Woohoo! Thanks - I'm forwarding it to the Big Fisherman himself! He'll probably want to reenlist.
Welcome to FR! What a wonderful first post! Thanks for setting a lot of minds at ease about our military over there.
I'd like to thank everyone for making this a good experience for me, it was my first post on any board, but I was just so thrilled about things being ok, AND after knowing how disapointed I was in not finding any information out myself till I heard from my son, there just wasn't any hesitation in posting so anyone concerned could find out the good news. Some of the posts have given me goosebumps because I know in the 'sighs' and thank you's, there is deep relief (just as I felt). And those make me smile 'almost' as much as the email did. Thanks again! And I'll continue to try and post on things that come up but hopefully nothing as worrisome or heartbreaking as what happened over the weekend. Happy New Year everyone.
You're very welcome!
No no...read twice, post twice, that way it'll help you remember what you said. (Its an age thing)
Happy New Year, margieelisabeth! Those of us who have connections with Diego Garcia were thrilled by this thread!
But *shhhhhh* don't tell anyone...
I saw that posted over there earlier... "Bush's Fault", Halliburton, Nukes, yada, yada yada.... ;)
Thanks for the info. Glad all are well there on Diego Garcia.
Anyone have any photos of this place. I imagine it is beautiful. I saw an ariel view, but you could not see what it looked like on the ground.
Any history of this place would be appreciated.
Does any native people live on this island? It really looks like a neat place to live.
Tuesday morning update, I just spoke to my son on yahoo. And he said the only effect they have that they can tell at least is a higher then normal tide last night, He said it was 3-4 feet above the norm. Apparently CNN also mentioned Diego Garcia on the news (finally) saying it sustained no damage which we all , already knew.
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