8.7 Earthquake off the coast of Indonesia

[classical_hero]

http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=738603&vId=

Evacuations are underway after an 8.7 magnitude earthquake hit off Aceh on the west coast of northern Sumatra in Indonesia.

The quake has caused a tsunami warning to be issued for all of the Indian Ocean.

It is understood the impact of the earthquake has been felt in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and parts of Southern India.

The US Geological Survey says it struck 495 km from Aceh at a depth of 33km.

Reports from Aceh state the quake lasted two minutes, causing major panic.

A giant 9.1-magnitude quake off the country on December 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, nearly three quarter of them in Aceh.

US Geological Survey spokeswoman Amy Vaughan has told Sky News a tsunami in the region could be devastating.

'This is very preliminary information and we are currently evaluating more of the data to see if this magnitude is accurate... this was to better determine what kind of damage and tsunami potential may exist with this,' she said.

'If it is shallow like this one is... a large body of water is disturbed by the faulting, which we can assume if it is the correct type of faulting... it will create the tsunamigenic effect ocean wide.

Of course being this close to the west coast of Sumatra this could be very devastating to that coast line again and perhaps other places in the Indian Ocean.'

It has been nearly 2 hours since the quake hit and so far there have been no reports of serious damage, so so far so good, but we have to wait out to see what happens with the whole Indian Ocean coastline before we can be sure. But from watching CNN it seems that the quake was more side to side motion rather than an uplift motion of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, so it is thankfully less like to cause a catastrophic tsunami like over 7 years ago.

 

[Tee Kay]

Great, now I have to listen to more End of the World stuff from people.

 

[druidravi]

8.7 is soo puny

 

[Trev]

A major 8.2 aftershock has now hit the area, news reports suggest tsunamis have been generated, but so far no reports of major tsanamis, although the region most likely to be affected will have poor communications and therefore may take a little while for reports to get out

 

[GhostWriter16]

The world is going to end!

No seriously guys, relax,the Mayans were just counting down to the Hobbit, and were seven days off

 

[LucyDuke]

A tsunami watch declared after two major earthquakes off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province has now been cancelled, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PWTC) says.

Two hours after the quakes - one with a magnitude of 8.6, the other measuring 8.3 - the centre says "the threat has diminished or is over for most areas".

The alerts caused panic as people fled buildings and made for high ground.

There have been no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

...

Roger Musson, a seismologist from the British Geological Survey, said the quakes were unlike those seen off Indonesia in recent years, where ground had been pushed under the continental plate, "flipping up" the seabed.

"It seems to be a large earthquake within the Indian Plate and the plate has broken in a sort of lateral way," he said.

"It's a sort of tearing earthquake, and this is much less likely to cause a tsunami because it's not displacing large volumes of water."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17675399

I wonder how they determine that, if it's something more interesting than just location.

 

[timtofly]

Great, now I have to listen to more End of the World stuff from people.

Probably just the end of Indonesia, the world will keep spinning.

 

[ZeletDude]

Great, now I have to listen to more End of the World stuff from people.

Hey, it's 2012

Anyway, thankfully this isn't anything like the 2004 Indonesian Earthquake/Tsunami.

 

[Whiskey_Lord]

Michelle Bachmann will interpret it as a sign that god hates Muslims.

 

[Berzerker]

"It seems to be a large earthquake within the Indian Plate and the plate has broken in a sort of lateral way," he said.

huh?

how do plates form/evolve?

is there any significance to the pattern of plates? always seemed kinda strange the Pacific plate is so big while others are more concentrated, kinda like how you'd crack an egg with an impact

 

[LucyDuke]

What do you mean by significance?

 

[Ayn Rand]

huh?

how do plates form/evolve?

is there any significance to the pattern of plates? always seemed kinda strange the Pacific plate is so big while others are more concentrated, kinda like how you'd crack an egg with an impact

You mean like did an asteroid break up one side while the other was left intact? Interesting theory but I've never heard anything about it before.

 

[timtofly]

You mean like did an asteroid break up one side while the other was left intact? Interesting theory but I've never heard anything about it before.

If the Yucatan was the impact point and the trajectory was from the west?