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DECEMBER 26, 2004: PLANET EARTH
SHAKEN, STIRRED AND RUN OVER BY
SUMATRA INDIAN OCEAN EARTHQUAKE-TSUNAMI:
DAY 5 REPORT AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2004
HISTORY OF SUMATRA
EARTHQUAKE:
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The magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck about 7 a.m. Sunday, December 26, 2004
(0000 GMT) and was centered about 248 km rs) off the coast
of Indonesia's Sumatra island at a depth of about 6.2 miles (10
kilometers).
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This earth quake is a split
second event of the two earth plates in the ocean bottom grinding and
moving against each other after complex geological actions in the earth's
crust for the millions of years to date. India and eastern Asia to Japan
are located on the Euro-Asia plate and this earthquake occurred along the
1000 km long fault line between India and Burma
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Energy released by earthquake:
Equal to one million atomic bombs of the size dropped on Japan in the
Second World War created ocean waves called TSUNAMI with following
results:
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tsunami traveling at 800
km/hour - faster than commercial airlines and height of 10 m at India
coast line;
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tsunami caused property and life destruction
in Indonesia, shoreline of south India, Ceylon, Andaman Islands, and
Coast of north-east Africa some 3000 miles away.
EFFECT OF MASSIVE
ENERGY RELEASE OF SUMATRA EARTHQUAKE ON
PLANET EARTH:
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Strongest earthquake in last 40 years.
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Tsunami from epicenter raised the sea
level in San Diego by one meter and on Mexico cost by 3 meters on
America's western shores 6000 miles away.
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Floor on the Indian Ocean dived under the
Burma plate lifting up the 1000 km long ledge of the Indian plate by 6 m
to 15 m.
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Ground about 250 km away in Burma to
Indonesia moved by about a 1 m but resulted in weak to moderate shaking
and avoiding massive earthquake destruction expected of 9.0 magnitude
tremor.
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As per NASA, the earthquake shifted the
mass towards the earth's centre which may have tilted the earth's axis by
about 2. 5 cm creating an additional tilt of about an inch. The Earth's
poles travel a circular path that normally varies by about 33 feet, so an
added wobble of an inch is likely to cause long-term effects.
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As per NASA, the earthquake and may have permanently increased the earth's rotation by 3
minimicroseconds (1 millionth of a second) which translates to a day
shorter by a fraction of a second.
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The earthquake sent shockwaves deep into
the earth which are being felt 4 days after the incident. These shockwaves
study is helping scientists to continue their study the composition of the
earth core.
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70 aftershocks have occurred since December
26, 2007. The largest occurred about three hours after the main shock and
is now assigned a magnitude of 7.1. Thirteen of the aftershocks thus far
cataloged have magnitudes of 6.0 or larger. There have been no reports of
tsunamis being generated from the aftershocks.
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The earthquake caused some islands in the
area to rise or fall by several metres.
FUTURE EFFECT OF
SUMATRA EARTHQUAKE ON
PLANET EARTH:
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How has the
occurrence of this earthquake affected the probability of another great
earthquake?
The occurrence of this earthquake will have produced a redistribution of
tectonic stresses along and near the boundary between the India plate and
the Burma plate. In some areas, this redistribution of stresses will be
such as to shorten the time to the next big earthquake compared to what
would have been the case if the earthquake had not happened. In other
areas, the redistribution of stresses will be such as to increase the time
to the next big earthquake. Once the distribution of slip along the
earthquake fault has been mapped, it will be possible to estimate the
areas that were moved closer to future failure and those that were moved
farther from future failure. It is not yet possible, however, to reliably
estimate when the future failure will occur in a given area or how large
will be the resulting earthquake. (From:
USGS
Please visit the site for more technical information)
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College students distribute emergency rice
rations Tuesday in Woollapalem, Thailand.
GIVE GENEROUSLY TO
THOSE
SUFFERING
MAY DEPARTED SOULS
REST IN PEACE
.....om shaanti shaanti shaanti....
M.A. Pushpa Kumara/European Pressphoto Agency
A 10-year-old Sri Lankan girl lit a candle today to remember the victims of
the tsunami.
HUMAN SUFFERING
svARgvaasi (Dead):
140,000+
Injured: 500,000
Homeless: 1.5 million
- INDONESIA: 80,000+
- SRI LANKA: 41,000+
- South INDIA: 12,000+
- NICOBAR ISLAND (India): 8,000+
- THAILAND: 4,000+ (Half tourists)
- BURMA: 100+
- MALDIVES: 46 + 70 +missing
- Africa 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) away:
- SOMALIA (Africa): 100
- TANZANIA: 10
- SEYCHELLES ISLANDS: 3
- KENYA: 1
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Aerial view shows the flattened town of Meulaboh in Aceh
province, Indonesia, on Wednesday. Yvette Stevens of U.N. Emergency Relief
said rebuilding would likely cost "billions" -- and completing the job
"could take years.
Tourists try to rush to safety before the tsunami hit the Hat
Rai Lay Beach in Thailand. The water had receded before the deadly wave
struck. (New York Times) |
