Posted on 12/27/2004 6:08:33 AM PST by NYer
The largest earthquake in the past 40 years and the resulting deaths of thousands from 33-foot tidal waves are being compared by an American reporter to descriptions of disaster from Holy Scripture.
"The speed with which it all happened seemed like a scene from the Bible – a natural phenomenon unlike anything I had experienced before," said Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs, who was swimming off a Sri Lankan island when the disaster struck this morning.
"As the waters rose at an incredible rate, I half expected to catch sight of Noah's Ark. Instead of the Ark, I grabbed hold of a wooden catamaran that the local people used as a fishing boat. My brother jumped on the boat, next to me. We bobbed up and down on the catamaran, as the water rushed past us into the village beyond the road."
Officials at the U.S. Geological Survey the 9.0 quake centered off the Indonesian island of Sumatra was the world's fifth-largest since 1900 and the biggest since a 9.2 temblor hit Prince William Sound Alaska in 1964.
The temblor sparked a tsunami, a series of giant walls of water which left more than 14,000 dead in six countries, with the death toll continuing to rise.
Dobbs gives a first-person account of the dramatic event in the Post:
Disaster struck with no warning out of a faultlessly clear blue sky. ... I was a quarter way around the island when I heard my brother shouting at me, "Come back! Come back! There's something strange happening with the sea." ...
In less than a minute, the water level had risen at least 15 feet – but the sea itself remained calm, barely a wave in sight. ...
After a few minutes, the water stopped rising, and I felt it was safe to swim to the shore. What I didn't realize was that the floodwaters would recede as dramatically as they had risen.
All of a sudden, I found myself being swept out to sea with startling speed. Although I am a fairly strong swimmer, I was unable to withstand the current. The fishing boats around me had been torn from their moorings and were furiously bobbing up and down.
For the first time, I felt afraid, powerless to prevent myself from being swept out to sea.
I swam in the direction of one of the loose catamarans, grabbed hold of the hull, and pulled myself to safety. My weight must have slowed the boat down and soon I was stranded on the sand.
As the water rushed out of the bay, I scrambled onto the main road. Screams and yells were coming from the houses behind the road, many of which were still half full of water, trapping the inhabitants inside. Villagers were walking dazed along the road, unable to comprehend what had taken place.
I was worried about my wife who had been on the beach at the time I went for my swim. I eventually found her walking along the road, dazed and happy to be alive. She had been trying to wade back to our island, when the water had carried her across the road and into someone's back yard. At one point she was underwater, struggling for breath. She finally grabbed onto a piece of rope and climbed into a tree, while the waters raged beneath her.
An Italian scientist says the earthquake was so strong, it even disturbed the rotation of the Earth.
"All the planet is vibrating," Enzo Boschi, head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute said on SKY TG24 TV.
The U.S. State Department says at least three Americans are confirmed dead, two in Sri Lanka and one in Thailand.
A written statement from the White House says "the President expresses his sincere condolences for the terrible loss of life and suffering caused by the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis in the region of the Bay of Bengal.
"The United States stands ready to offer all appropriate assistance to those nations most affected including Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Thailand, and Indonesia, as well as the other countries impacted. Already relief is flowing to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. We will work with the affected governments, the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, and other concerned states and organizations to support the relief and response to this terrible tragedy."
Relief agencies say the full scale of the disaster is impossible to assess, since communications have been cut to remote areas.
There are several FReepers on this site that spelling the name "GOD" is sacrilegious in this type of forum. These faiths range from Hasidic Jews to Ultra-conservative Christian.
In deference to their beliefs, many other FReepers use "G-D" in reference to GOD.
Hope this helps!
NeverGore :^)
The shock waves from the earthquake are conducted through the earth's crust, mantle and core like an echo.
The variances in the Earth's structure like different forms of rock, tectonic plate interfaces, molten core, sea water all affect the transmission of the shock waves and they scatter and bounce around. The waves, their "echoes", the reflected waves all interfere with each other for quite some time (some reinforce each other, some counteract) until they dampen.
Some of that energy is manifested in a direction counter to the Earth's rotation. That impact is so small it can't be measured by the tactile senses but it can be measures with precision measuring equipment.
I'm amazed that all of Sumatra is 100 feet over from where it was a couple of days ago.
Greenhouse gases caused it. Algore said it so it must be true. No?
It's tough being one of the little people.
The following prophetic doc from Nov about an Indonesian Tsunami dream/vision is more than a little interesting to me:
Arafat Era Ends 11/11 - An 11th Hour Warning
November 11, 2004
At exactly 4:30am Paris time on 11/11, Yasser Arafat was officially pronounced dead in French military hospital, fulfilling a significant series of prophecies concerning the "removal of Arafat", and how this relates to our current timeline. For the last several years we have received numerous prophetic words from people around the world, in many cases which the Holy Spirit has verbally spoken to them that the "removal of Arafat" would be a clear sign of the Lord's soon return, and indication that major judgments were about to explode on the world scene.
The timing in which Arafat fell into a coma, November 3, Paris time (November 2, U.S. time: Election Day) is also extremely significant (read our September 15, 2004 Rosh Hashanah Report). Shortly after Yasser Arafat fell into a coma on November 3, the Holy Spirit spoke to me that 11/11 would be a very significant date in history. (I mentioned this to my wife and several other ministry associates in the Philippines.) One week ago, we felt prompted to enter into a time of prayer and fasting from 11/11/04 - 01/11/05; a 3-month period of cleansing and preparation for the new year (chiefly a Daniel fast, fruits and vegetables).
On the early morning of 11/11 before the sun rose in the Philippines, I received the following vision: I was climbing a large mountain somewhere near the Indonesian coast, traveling upwards into a place of refuge. Upon reaching my destination in the mountains, I found a small city with a large population of Christians, and begin to prophesy to them about approaching judgments; but the inhabitants were spiritually blind, and could not receive the word.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and every eye looked towards the coast. Like a small ripple in the crystal blue sea, the first tidal wave approached and had little impact. Those watching said, "Is that all!?". They began to mock God's grace and mercy demonstrated in the first judgment.
But while they were mocking yet another wave approached, slightly larger; and then another, and another. Until finally one large ripple appeared on the horizon, so large that as it struck the hills on the coast the impact left a thunderous splash, towering perhaps a thousand feet into the air. Below us the water from the tsunami traveled along the river inland for nearly a hundred miles, destroying everything in it's path.
Haven't heard from the physicists . . . but I'd guesstimate that it's somewhat like batting a big spinning top gently with the palm of one's hand.
Can you source that? I hadn't seen that factoid before.
> can an earthquake alter the angular momentum of the earth?
No. Angular momentum will be conserved unless affected by an *outside* source.
However...
It is possible that with a big enough quake, or a big enough volcano, or a big enough ice age (taking water from the oceans and piling it up on continents as ice), the moments of inertia for the planet will be very slightly alterred, so that that same angular momentum plays out with a slightly different rotation rate.
Interesting analogy Dobbs uses. The same thing occurred to me, but I don't know why those people would be considered any worse [sinners] than others on this globe.Unfortunately, there's a few people around here that could explain how the Indonesians are...
-Eric
It's making my head spin....Oh, wait...My son says it's the bottle of wine I drank....
I think it's time to get rid of clocks. Too many of us trying to make up for 'lost' time.
Think about it.
I understand that. What I'm curious about is whether it slowed us, stopped us, moved us forward or what. All I've found was that blanket statement with no data or application of that data presented. The one statement that the rotation has been affected is such a general pronouncement that more details are needed to properly interpret it.
I read that. That is profound. Think of the energy involved. It is truly awe-inspiring.
Damn! I just sent calenders to all my clients..........what does this mean? Do I need to send new ones with fewer days? Or more days, or what?
I think there may be a result 180 degrees away from that earthquake. I crawled through a 6.4 one in CA. Let's see.
It's on Drudge. I don't know where he got it from, but I'll keep looking.
There are disasters everyday, and this earthquake may be bigger than most, but earthquakes happen all the time.
There were 242 earthquakes in California alone within the last week.
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