UPDATE: 8.5 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Indonesia (largest earthquake in 40 years)

http://www.drudgereport.com/

8.5 Mag

EPICENTER: 'Ring of Fire': Sumatra

Panic

Tsunamis...

Death Toll: 650+

100,000 displaced

Largest Earthquake in 40 Years

 

These strange changes in the weather and earth these last couple years is starting to worry me.

 

I need more links to believe a wild conspiracy theorist like you.

 

Now, they're reporting it to be an 8.9 magnitude quake.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/

 

My mom is from Java.

 

QUAKE WIRE...

PHOTOS...

Tidal waves slam Thai resort...

400 FISHERMEN FEARED MISSING IN INDIA...

Sri Lanka south, east tourist region worst-hit'...

TOO FRIGHTENED TO TALK...

Maldives damage 'considerable'...

DEADLY WAVES STRIKE MALAYSIA...

7+ mag temblor jolts Bangladesh...

Aftershocks rattle eastern India...

SINGAPORE FEELS TREMORS...

 

lmfao, of all people I thought you'd pick up on sarcasm.

 

I picked up on the sarcasm, Mike. I am just posting more links as the story develops. This is BIG!

 

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....QR1SBSCRBAE0CFFA?type=topNews&storyID=7178941

Asian Quake 5th Largest Since 1900--USGS
Sun Dec 26, 2004 03:56 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The earthquake that shook southern Asia on Sunday was one of the most powerful since the start of the 20th century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
"We've just updated it to 8.9 magnitude. That makes it the fifth largest earthquake since 1900," said Julie Martinez, geophysicist for the U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Hazards Program in Golden, Colorado.

It was the largest quake in the world since 1964, she said. That year, an earthquake struck Alaska's Prince William Sound.

Sunday's quake, first struck at 7:59 a.m. (0059 GMT) off the coast of Aceh province on the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra and appeared to swing north into the Andaman islands in the Indian Ocean. It triggered a tsunami that killed hundreds in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia and India.

"About 1,000 kilometers of the Andaman thrust (or faultline) broke, which is a huge area," Martinez said. "This doesn't occur that often. To have a break along that long of a faultline, that is more unusual."

As the Earth moves and its plates hit each other, the Earth breaks in one area and pressure is built up in a different area, Martinez said. When that pressure builds up, another earthquake occurs, she said.

The quakes that follow, or aftershocks, are minor readjustments along the fault after the main shock or quake occurs, Martinez explained.

"Usually, aftershocks are in more or less the same area," she said. "Because of the size of this quake, you will see more quakes in a larger area because the break or the faultline is larger."

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

 

The World is ending.

 

This whole thing seems so surreal. It said on the news that tidal waves had killed people in places that are more than 2000 kilometres away from Sumatra. That's huge.

 

This is interesting. I haven't watched the news since last night and last night it didn't seem all that serious. But 8.9 you say? Wow. One can imagine that the aftershocks will be doozies as well.

 

no wonder why i woke up at 1pm, god damn earthquake waking me up...


thats a huge earthquake, probably going to cause a lot of secondary damage...

 

Yeah, it is kind of serious. Already an estimated 5,000 dead--and reports are still sketchy at best. These tsunamis hit numerous tourist resorts from what I understand, and many small fishing villages were swept away.

 

i was just reading that they arent on the tsunami warning system. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/natio...ategory=1104&slug=Quake Warning System Glance i wonder how many lives could have been saved if they had known in advance.

 

i cant wait for that atlantic one. the canarie island collapsing. it looks like fun

 

I take it you don't live in Florida.

 

correct. that makes it even more fun

 

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me, although you'd figure that some of the resorts would have some sort of contingency for such an occurence. Guess not.

 

i think donald rumsfeld should add earthquakes to his deck of cards