Jason

Report: 8.2 Magnitude Quake Hits Indonesia's Sumatra

For those that don't remember a 9.0 hit the same area 12/26/04 which caused the massive tsunami. Unclear yet if this one will cause another tsunami.

mimo2005

you gotta be kidding me ...not again !

Sarkast

So far looks like theres no Tsunami though....

Killvo

speaking of earth quakes an earth quake hit japan a few days ago...
not to big 7.0

40sondacurb

7.0 is big, trust me I'm from cali, but it's not huge.

it will damage homes that aren't structuraly sound, like brick houses, and knock any thing you got stacked all over the place. It may no sound like much from an onlookers point of view but when your in it it's pretty scary, and one person did die in that quake and a lot more were injured.

6.0 is local news worth

7.0 is good enough to be mentioned by peter jennings

JeremyC

NOOOOOOOOOOO not japan

that place is like the future earth but better.


my poor anime is no on delay i guess. that sucks. but japan will recover fast it always does.

Fox

Am I correct in saying that the scale is such that a 4 is 10 times or something stronger than a 3?

I think that's the way it goes, but I can't really remember back to 8th grade geology...

Sarkast

Yeah i think something like that. But i guess the number doesnt say much about its destructiveness as they are diffrent types of earthquakes...
Like the one today was actually a 8.7 but it doesnt look like it created a tsunami wave.....

elf

One of my coworkers is flying to japan today...he left this morning at 6 and will get there tomorrow at 8p.m.

He is going over there to teach english (actually he's going to be with his girlfriend, but he used to teach english over there, and she still is)

Fox

Japan sounds like a whole lot of fun, but I heard that they really don't speak English as much as some people think.

40sondacurb

thousands of people have died from this latest quake and you say it's a weak one because it didn't make a big wave?

7s will destroy stuff and kill from 3 to 12 people on average

now the ratings increase by exponents so an 8 is far far worse than a 7 and this was a high 8 .8.7 actualy, so that makes it one of the most destructive and powerful quakes of our century.

Sarkast

Actually i didnt say it was a weak one - now did i ? What i said is that the richter scale number alone isnt enough to know how destructive a earthquake will be. It depends on the type of waves created (if i remember there are P and S and surface or body waves etc). Only certain waves create tsunamis - which luckily didnt seem to be the case this time or from what i have heard the waves supposably traveled in directions not endangering countries close to the epicentre.

DumberDrummer

Yeah, I heard they had this language...its called japanese or something like that.

8.7 is pretty scary. I had a friend there over spring break, but I think he was on the other side.

40sondacurb

To me it sounded like you were implying it wasn't desructive because it didn't make a tsunami so technicaly no, you didn't actualy say that, but your phrasing lead me to assume you meant that, but mabe you weren't implying anything and I'm reading between the lines when there is nothing there.

but it sounds to me like your measuring earth quakes by the size of their waves, having been in one I can tell you that the shaking alone, while trival looking on camera, is very very destructive. Hundreds and hundreds have died from their houses colapsing on them.

soundslike a particularly bad way to go, you save up to buy a house and the thing falls on you crushing most of you but it doesn't kill you instantly, it just traps you in the debri of your lifes work. that's a real home owners nightmare.

yustr

Find a list of relative scale here


So, yes 8.5 is a very large quake.

I remember in Feb 1973 sitting in my front yard in SoCal. As we were sitting there the lights on the far hill, that was near the epicenter of the quake on the 9th (7.5 if I recall) ,suddenly went out. Oh no, a blackout? But, a couple of seconds later they came on and then lights appeared where we had not seen any. Then they all when out again. Then it was back to our normal view.

It turned out that the hill I lived on and the one between us and the epicenter were moving up and down as the waves rolled past from the aftershocks. They were moving enough to block out the lights – so maybe a couple of feet up and down. These were not little hills – over 1000 houses were on each.

So the power is enormous.

But the amount of destruction is also a factor of duration, amplitude, depth of the quake from the surface, local building construction, preparedness, and just old fashion luck.

Having lived through a couple of quakes, I know the feeling of fear and helplessness that they must have experienced. My heart goes out to them.

tetonbob

Magnitude and Intensity are the two most common ways to measure the effect of an earthquake.

Yes, Fox, you're on the mark.

The Richter scale is logarithmic, that is an increase of 1 magnitude unit represents a factor of ten times in amplitude. The seismic waves of a magnitude 6 earthquake are 10 times greater in amplitude than those of a magnitude 5 earthquake. However, in terms of energy release, a magnitude 6 earthquake is about 31 times greater than a magnitude 5.



Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale
from FEMA

I. People do not feel any Earth movement.

II. A few people might notice movement if they are at rest and/or on the upper floors of tall buildings.

III. Many people indoors feel movement. Hanging objects swing back and forth. People outdoors might not realize that an earthquake is occurring.

IV. Most people indoors feel movement. Hanging objects swing. Dishes, windows, and doors rattle. The earthquake feels like a heavy truck hitting the walls. A few people outdoors may feel movement. Parked cars rock.

V. Almost everyone feels movement. Sleeping people are awakened. Doors swing open or close. Dishes are broken. Pictures on the wall move. Small objects move or are turned over. Trees might shake. Liquids might spill out of open containers.

VI. Everyone feels movement. People have trouble walking. Objects fall from shelves. Pictures fall off walls. Furniture moves. Plaster in walls might crack. Trees and bushes shake. Damage is slight in poorly built buildings. No structural damage.

VII. People have difficulty standing. Drivers feel their cars shaking. Some furniture breaks. Loose bricks fall from buildings. Damage is slight to moderate in well-built buildings; considerable in poorly built buildings.

VIII. Drivers have trouble steering. Houses that are not bolted down might shift on their foundations. Tall structures such as towers and chimneys might twist and fall. Well-built buildings suffer slight damage. Poorly built structures suffer severe damage. Tree branches break. Hillsides might crack if the ground is wet. Water levels in wells might change.

IX. Well-built buildings suffer considerable damage. Houses that are not bolted down move off their foundations. Some underground pipes are broken. The ground cracks. Reservoirs suffer serious damage.

X. Most buildings and their foundations are destroyed. Some bridges are destroyed. Dams are seriously damaged. Large landslides occur. Water is thrown on the banks of canals, rivers, lakes. The ground cracks in large areas. Railroad tracks are bent slightly.

XI. Most buildings collapse. Some bridges are destroyed. Large cracks appear in the ground. Underground pipelines are destroyed. Railroad tracks are badly bent.

XII. Almost everything is destroyed. Objects are thrown into the air. The ground moves in waves or ripples. Large amounts of rock may move.


Any way you look at it, and 8.2 is very powerful, and reminds us of how powerless we are in the face of the forces of Nature.

JeremyC

yeah they dont speak a lot of english but from the Japanese television shows i watch (GTO) when the do speak it its not half bad. But it half good ither.