Magnitude 7.9 Earthquake - Indonesia

[RisingStar]

Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 11:10:19 UTC

Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 06:10:19 PM at epicenter

157 km (98 miles) SW (234°) from Bengkulu, Sumatra, Indonesia

415 km (258 miles) SSE (168°) from Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia

436 km (271 miles) SW (219°) from Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia

645 km (401 miles) WNW (285°) from JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia

Tsunami warning in place.

Buildings swayed in the capital Jakarta, some offices were evacuated, there are no reports of damage or casualties.

[RisingStar]

It appears there has been some isolated damage along the west coast of Sumatra and reports of a small tsunami in at area also, but not causing major damage. The magnitude was revised to 8.2.

Indonesia's meteorology agency said the danger of a serious tsunami had passed.

[MAF]

more aftershocks hit the already damaged island. a 7.7 quake also reported

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-...fic/6992072.stm

[Guest Viking141]

This whole area is highly active at the moment and it will be interesting to see if these latest events trigger any volcanic activity later. Little wonder that Indonesian scientists were predicting the possibility of something like 12 major earthquakes in the coming year.

[The PIT]

Mmmm

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recent.../quakes_all.php

Very active at the moment.

[Guest Viking141]

Little wonder that Indonesian scientists were predicting the possibility of something like 12 major earthquakes in the coming year.

That should read "major volcanic eruptions" not earthquakes!

[Bobby]

8.2 is a pretty darn big quake. Even so, it's about 8 times less powerful than the 2004 monster, which makes it but a tremor in comparison. I imagine the reason there wasn't much of tsunami is because there was little upward movement of the ocean floor. It's a bit of a lottery how these quakes play out, there could be another major quake at anytime that does happen to cause a major upward lift of the ocean floor, and thus a significant tsunami. I don't see anything like the 2004 tsunami in the forseeable future though, that really was an event of exceptional rarity.

[The PIT]

7.9 but look at the depth which is probably the clue. If I remember correctly the quake that brought the Tsunami was fairly shallow.

[Jinkster]

10 miles in depth