8.2 Magnitude Earthquake - Northern Sumatra, Indonesia
 

Just being reported: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqs...kes/usweax.htm

That's the last thing these people need right now. :distress:

Apparently you and I heard it at the same time--it's a damn shame but they have been warning about this recently so hopefully, lives were saved in doing so. This is the same fault line that caused the tsunami in December.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7316846/

8.2 earthquake registered off Sumatra
Magnitude is nearly as large as tsunami quake

BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 12:09 p.m. ET March 28, 2005

A large earthquake was registered Monday off Indonesia's Sumatra Island, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, describing it as a "great earthquake" with a magnitude of 8.2 on the Richter scale.

The USGS advised officials in the area to move people inland, and Thai officials were among the first to issue a tsunami warning for the Andaman Sea.

No reports of injury or damage had been received from the region. The Dec. 26 quake that launched the massive tsunami was a 9.0, the USGS said.

Monday's quake epicenter was just off the northern Sumatra coast and between two smaller islands, and located at 18.6 miles underground. It occured at around 11 p.m. local time.

The Dec. 26 quake was also off the coast of Sumatra and just north of Monday's quake.

-----

CNN is currently talking to people from Banda Aceh one the phone. Looks like everyone is reporting this now...

(CNN) -- An earthquake measuring a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 struck off the coast of Indonesia Monday -- on the same fault line that originated a December 26 earthquake that launched a deadly tsunami.

The director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said scientists there feared another tsunami might hit the area.

Charles McCreary said he could not be certain that the quake, which was 30 km deep and 203 kilometer (126 miles) from Sibolga on Sumatra Island, would cause a tsunami.

"There is a potential for some wave activity," said Julie Martinez, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center, in Golden, Colo.

The quake occurred at 1109 ET (1609 GMT), and is considered a "great" earthquake, the largest of seven grades.

The grades are very minor, minor, light, moderate, strong, major and great.

Tsunamis are distinguished from normal coastal surf by their great length and speed. A single wave in a tsunami series might be 160 kilometers (100 miles) long and race across the ocean at 960 kph (600 mph).

When it approaches a coastline, the wave slows dramatically, but it also rises to great heights because the enormous volume of water piles up in shallow coastal bays.

On December 26, a 9.0-magnitude quake triggered a massive tsunami that devastated Asian and African coastlines in nearly a dozen nations, killing at least 175,000 people.

:distress: :distress: :distress:

Oh, no. They were just reporting last week that people are rebuilding & many have finally left shelters. :(

Important point: it's a preliminary magnitude. The seismologists will need time to accurately measure the seismic moment -- several hours to several days. At the moment the Japanese think it was closer to an 8.5, so we shall see.
I just had CNN on & so far no one in the north Sumatra beach areas is reporting tsunamis. They'd have hit those areas by now. Which isn't to say that tsunamis weren't generated -- they could have been very small ones, just centimeters high upon reaching shore, & people wouldn't have noticed them. (the Sumatran tsunami had dissipated to about 26 centimeters by the time it hit San Diego)

We'll see what tide gauges around the Indian Ocean basin have to say. Not every great EQ generates a tsunami: the rupture's gotta be shallow & it's gotta be vertical. Maybe this EQ didn't wiggle its ass the right way

Another Earthquake....
 

Strong Quake Hits Near Indonesian Island

JAKARTA, Indonesia - An undersea earthquake that hit Sunday near the Indonesian island of Sumatra sent people fleeing from their homes in panic, but the temblor was not strong enough to generate a tsunami, seismologists and meteorologists said.

The 6.8-magnitude tremor's epicenter was centered about 70 miles southwest of Padang, a city in western Sumatra, at a depth of nearly 19 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

"Many people in Padang are panicking," said Yusuf, an official from Indonesia's Geophysics and Meteorology Agency who uses only one name. "People have left their houses, especially those living on the coast."


Tremors from the earthquake were felt in several areas surrounding the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur, national meteorological chief Chow Kok Kee told TV 3 news.


The quake was recorded at 5:29 p.m. (6:29 a.m. EDT) in the Kepulauan Mentawai region, the USGS said. There have been no reports of damage, USGS spokeswoman Clarice Ransom said.


Sumatra was devastated by the Dec. 26 tsunami and earthquake that killed nearly 183,000 people in 11 countries and left another 129,000 missing.


Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, was the hardest hit with at least 126,000 people killed and more than 500,000 left homeless, mostly in Aceh province on Sumatra.


The region has experienced regular aftershocks since. On March 28, an 8.7-magnitude quake hit a string of islands off Sumatra, killing at least 647 people.

:( :distress:

My heart goes out to them........

It's just horrible what those people have to go thru. When does it end? When can they finally have peace...will they ever have peace?

It's very sad.

Well, I mean, that's why there are islands there in the first place, due to seismic activity. So they'll probably never have peace forever.