It appears that way.
You wouldn't have any trouble identifying it om the air.
What a strange shaped Island.
The landing strip is on the left side of the pic. - tom
Posted on 12/27/2004 5:12:33 PM PST by topher
A number of different threads have people inquiring to the status of Diego Garcia -- which has US citizens on it.
There have been a number of comments in articles that it is okay, but no post to this effect.
Diego Garcia is in Deep Water and is unaffected by Tsunamis.
In the Freerepublic Article:
SUMATRA QUAKE REVISED TO 9.0 MAG
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308750/posts
Now inside this article, there a number of comments that confirm Diego Garcia is okay:
Post #129 -- Diego Garcia Yahoo Message Groups
Post #143 -- Pentagon Duty Officer reports no damage in Diego Garcia.
Post #254 -- Air Force Mom gets email from Diego Garcia
Post #192 -- duplicate of Post #143 except reference to Fox News link.
Finally, there is a good description of Tsunami:
Post #151
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1308458/posts?q=1&&page=151#167
This is a good explanation of what a Tsunami is.
Please use this thread for Diego Garcia info.
And since Diego Garcia is atop a volcano, I don't want anyone in the Pentagon to blow their stacks over this thread -- so don't post anything that might hurt the US Military or Civilians in that area... Please!!!
I heard Capt. Dale Dye (Ret, USMC) on his radio show last night (www.kfi640.com).
The good captain said that his contacts said there was some flooding and minor damage
to some building...no harm to people.
Ping!
There was strange weather reports via the weather link with some hours having N/A posted, but that might have been for Military reasons.
Someone supposedly posted last night to the Yahoo Message board that they didn't understand people's concerns and that everything was okay.
There were reports in that thread that Diego Garcia was ready to offer assistance to other hard hit areas -- which they would not be able to do if their buildings had gotten washed away.
Being in deep water actually increases, not decreases, tsunami risk. Hawaii, Japan, etc. typically have steeply sloping sea bottom just offshore to deep water.
So that's not the reason there wasn't much effect at DG. It's possible the size of the fringing reef shallows was so large the tsunami was broken up.
Rest easy...Capt. Dye's report went out over KFI's 50,000 watt
(clear-channel) coverage area of about 10 MILLION potential listeners (and more on the
Internet streaming)
But it sure helps to not have loose lips (like the Los Angeles Times and their
unindicted co-conspirators)
Not sure what all is on Diego Garcia, but one thread had 1500 Americans there, and I imagine there a few British citizens as well [former British that we decided to lease I think].
Luke 21:35
"And there will be strange events in the skies--signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And down here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides.
But at least I erred on the side of not causing panic that someone might think they have lost someone at Diego Garcia, which I hope is the case.
Our military and their families have been through hellish times with the MSM blowing anything that happens in Iraq into a front page story.
This has got to take its toll on the family of service personnel.
I loathe the MSM for that reason right now.
It appears that way.
You wouldn't have any trouble identifying it om the air.
What a strange shaped Island.
The landing strip is on the left side of the pic. - tom
But the waves, their reflections, their off-shore slopes, and the initial direction of the wave may have spared DG.
Too many variables to speculate. (As long as the servicemen there are OK, and the infrastructure remains intact.
(My sister was at DG for 1 year in the early 90's, my college roommate there for a little over a year in the early 80's.)
In the other thread, someone said it was a volcano formation that has coral reefs on top of the old volcano -- if that makes any sense.
Just picture a volcano in Hawaii or the Rockies -- they sometimes make odd shapes sort of like this -- especially if one side of the volcano had a large lava flow and the other didn't.
Great pic Tom, and its oriented correctly, North-South. Anything coming from the North-East (upper right) would have washed over the non populated atoll area first, greatly diminishing the destructive force.
"What a strange shaped Island"
Called the "Footprint of Freedom" by many in the military.
But it sure helps to not have loose lips (like the Los Angeles Times and their unindicted co-conspirators)
And topher replied:
Not sure what all is on Diego Garcia, but one thread had 1500 Americans there, and I imagine there a few British citizens as well [former British that we decided to lease I think].
Diego Garcia is a joint US/UK installation. Think "really big aircraft carrier that doesn't move." It serves as a depot for US equipment that can be deployed all over that part of the world. Tom Clancy has some great coverage of it in Executive Orders with "task force Comedy," a military supply convoy being deployed to Iraq led by a real ROLO ship, the USNS Bob Hope. They go into harms way blaring "Thanks For The Memories" over the loudspeakers. I love it.
USNS BOB HOPE
Large, Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off Ship
|
|
USNS Bob Hope is one of Military Sealift Command's nineteen Large, Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off Ships and is part of the 28 ships in the Sealift Program Office.
|
There is a Diego Garcia web site which gives a good summary of what their mission is. All public information. No risks.
It is obvious from the picture that a tidal wave could do real damage, but it's also obvious that this is a peak, with no "shallows" for the tidal wave to build up. Tidal waves don't effect ships at sea in deep water. They only become dangerous when they reach shallow water and rise up with the rising ocean floor. I'm betting the sides of Diego Garcia don't "rise" so much as go straight up. It would mean the effect would be more like that on a ship at sea.
Thanks for posting that verse... it's actually Luke 21:25 :-)
Events are sure happening at a fast rate these days. I believe the tsunami is nothing compared to what will happen to the earth in the near future...
29 He taught them a lesson. "Consider the fig tree and all the other trees.
30 When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;
31 in the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.
Deigo Garcia military base unaffected by tsunamis
This is an article by ABC News Australia.
Key lines are:
Diego Garcia, a British territory about 1,500 kilometres south of India, hosts about 3,200 US military personnel and civilian contractors and many US long-range bombers and Navy ships.The only problem is that it sounds like the tsunami or tsunamis may have hit there.Lieutenant Colonel Bill Bigelow, a spokesman for US Pacific Command in Hawaii told the [Washtington Post] newspaper the US base was apparently safe.
"There are no reports of any damage there," Lt Col Bigelow said.
The terminology of apparently safe and the quote of the Lt Col of "no reports of any damage" is not the same as coming flat out and saying: the base was hit by a tsunami, but there was no damage and no problems from it. It is just a more definitive statement and doesn't sound wishy-washy.
I wish the military would say flat out -- "The tsunami hit Diego Garcia. There was no damage and no casulties and no people unaccounted for."
I have no doubt the military commanders would sortie aircraft and ships in a very timely manner.
More a question of getting all personnel on ships/aircraft that bothers me.
On the other hand, I ran across may obtuse military document on the meterology stuff on the island, and some of that stuff is scattered all over the island. So might other military stuff -- so it might take a couple of days to check all the gear.
Everything you always wanted to know about Diego Garcia but were afraid to ask (well, almost everything):
http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/links.html
BUMP!
http://www.asc-india.org/gq/krakatoa.htm
has info on Diego Garcia but also on the 1883 Tsunami created by the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa.
In the case of the Tsunami by one of the most powerful natural explosions in the last 200 years, there was a warship that was pushed 10 kilometers inland.
It is an interesting website to read.
The weird part:
Krakatoa blew up in 1883, Diego Garcia had its earthquake in 1983 [and is a former volcano]. Additionally, Krakatoa is in the area where the 9.0 earthquake went off in mid-ocean last weekend.
So maybe Krakatoa tales may be pertinent to current events -- the explosion of Krakatoa was heard in Diego Garcia -- which was only 3647 kilometres away. The people of Diego Garcia thought a ship was in distress, and went to various points of the island to scan the horizon. This was back in 1883 -- before the Marconi instrument -- radio. The Titanic was the first to use the Marconi instrument with the then new SOS code -- though the Marconi device was in service for a while when the Titanic went down...
Note that 3647 kilometres is more than 2000 miles away...
There was a 7.5 quake very close to the 9.0 less then 4 hours later...
ping
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/4025469/detail.html
[The following is an excerpt about Diego Garcia]
A Navy official said three P-3 Orion aircraft have been deployed to Thailand from Diego Garcia, an island base in the Indian Ocean. The aircraft are geared for survey work. The spokesman said they don't engage directly in search and rescue operations, but they are an invaluable resource for such missions. Their crews can spot people stranded in the tidal wave area and can even drop life rafts to them.
when exactly was your sister there? my husband & i were there in early 90's also. we may know each other. i have been searching feverishly for info on whether or not diego (dodge) was affected.
I wonder if "Hector", the 20ft hammerhead is still around.
I'll get her dates when she was at DG: ETCS(SW) Mary Madden.
>> Being in deep water actually increases, not decreases, tsunami risk. Hawaii, Japan, etc. typically have steeply sloping sea bottom just offshore to deep water.
Diego Garcia differs from Hawaii and Japan in that the island is shaped like a chimney. There is no slope. The origial mountain sunk, while the coral kept growing. When you reach the edge of the reef, the island literally drops straight down. I fished the reef several times in one of the Navy harbor boats, trolling large lures. We would zig-zag over the edge of the reef, from shallow water to deep blue water. One minute we would catch snapper and grouper, the next everyone on the boat would be hooked-up to yellowfin tuna.
As I was looking at the aerial photo of Diego Garcia I was wondering if anyone in the military there goes shark fishing.
It looks like you wouldn't have to go very far. -Tom
There is a barge available for deep sea fishing. Many take the occasion to spend the entire day drinking beer and pretending to be fishing; most of them, especially newcomers and TDYer, end up with severe sunburns.
There is "sharks cove" on the island where you can see many types of sharks, naturally you don't want to be in the water there.
It is a very interesting place, but as the T-shirts sold at the terminal say: Happiness is seeing D.G. on the rear view mirror.
I was not stationed there, but would go 3-4 times/yr.
Jay
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