Earth Quake

[Mike Stenson (RIP)]

Japan, Russia on alert
2010-02-28 07:19
Japan, Russia on alert
Panic in the streets in quake-hit Chile
Chile earthquake toll at 147
Chile quake wave racing at jet speed
Earthquakes
Tokyo -Japan and Russia went on alert on Sunday, clearing tens of thousands of people out of vulnerable coastal areas as a tsunami triggered by Chile's massive killer quake powered across the Pacific.

Tsunami warnings were lifted in other nations across the Pacific Basin's "Ring of Fire" as fears of destructive waves eased, but Tokyo and Moscow were taking no chances after one of the biggest earthquakes on record.

Waves pummelled Chile and rolled through to Hawaii, French Polynesia and the South Pacific as the tsunami moved at jet-speed across the vast ocean after Saturday's 8.8-magnitude quake, which left at least 300 people dead.

Warning sirens wailed as about 50 countries and territories along an arc stretching from New Zealand to Japan were put on alert, five years after the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster that killed more than 220 000 people.

Five people were killed on the remote Robinson Crusoe archipelago far off the coast of Chile, the first reported tsunami casualties, but elsewhere no significant damage was reported and surges of water were smaller than expected.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre lifted its tsunami warning for everywhere except Japan and Russia, but the Philippines was also bracing for outsized waves.

Pacific

Japan warned that waves of up to three metres could hit its northern Pacific coastline, ordering more than 50 000 people living near the shore to leave and closing ports.

The Chilean disaster revived raw memories for Japan, where 140 lives were lost in 1960 when a 9.5-magnitude earthquake in the South American nation - the largest on record - sent a tsunami roaring across the Pacific.

Russia issued a similar warning and launched an evacuation in its Pacific peninsula of Kamchatka.

Sakhalin island's tsunami centre chief, Tatyana Ivelskaya, said: "We're expecting waves of up to two metres, which is a dangerous height, and so people are asked to evacuate from dangerous zones."

Thousands of families in the Philippines also fled coastal areas.

"The most important thing is that for people not to panic. We have prepared all our local government units since last night," said Albay provincial official Joey Salceda.

Panic buying

The Hawaii centre, set up by Pacific governments after the 1960 tsunami, had warned of possible "widespread damage" from waves as high as three metres.

In Hawaii itself, the tsunami led to the evacuation of thousands of people and triggered panic buying of food, water and fuel, but there was little damage in the event.

US President Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii, had warned that the US western seaboard may see dangerous waves and currents throughout the day.

"In the hours ahead, we'll continue to take every step possible to prepare our shores and protect our citizens.

[toonfandangl]

I was walking along the beach today with Ben our dog and as I walked passed the water park I noticed the lack of human activity there. It was not until I came up onto the Esplanade and walked back to the water park that I noticed the notice!!.............. "Park Closed Due to Tsunami"..............tell ya the Aussies will do anything for a day off.

[Paul (Pepe) Freemantle]

All signs of the times!!! These desasters are going to happen more and more, the end is near.

[Rhona]

The powerful earthquake that killed hundreds of people in Chile on Saturday probably shifted the Earth's axis and made days slightly shorter, a Nasa scientist has said. 

Richard Gross, a research scientist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, calculated how much the axis may have changed in position following the the disaster.

More than 700 people died and two million are estimated to have been affected by the 8.8-magnitude tremor and subsequent tsunamis.

The quake, the most powerful to hit the nation in 50 years, sent shockwaves out from the epicentre 70 miles from Chile's second city, Concepcion.

Buildings and roads collapsed and 500,000 homes have been left severely damaged.

Six aid workers died when a plane carrying them to Concepcion crashed.

The team was on its way to help organise accommodation for those left homeless by the disaster.

Soldiers were sent to patrol Concepcion's streets after mobs set fire to shops and started looting them, hindering attempts to rescue survivors.

If the planet's axis did shift by 8cm during the quake, days would have shortened by 1.26 microseconds, Mr Gross calculated.

A microsecond is one-millionth of a second.

Earth days are 24 hours long because that is the amount of time it takes the planet to make one full rotation on its axis, so shifting the axis would affect rotation.

The quake shifted the Earth's axis by even more than the 9.1-magnitude tremor off Indonesia that started the deadly tsunami in Asia in 2004, according to Mr Gross.

This was partly because the fault line responsible for the quake in Chile "dips into Earth at a slightly steeper angle than does the fault responsible for the 2004 Sumatran earthquake", he said.

The different angle made Saturday's tremor more effective at moving Earth's mass vertically and shifting the planet's axis, Mr Gross continued.

The 2004 quake in Asia, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused the Earth to move by around 7cm.

It chopped an estimated 6.8 microseconds off the length of a day, Nasa said.

[SandyB]

Each natural  event will precipitate change ...  thats inevitable .. the  earth is  in perpetual change ...   then again the global warming debate ...  is  it that we in  part  of the natural cycle  ,, part of mother natures menses ??  or  is  it that it  is happening naturally  but our current  way of living is  accelerating it ???  if  so we have  a responsibility  to  try slow it down ,,,
I have these recurring dreams  where  the  way of life as we know it  is suddenly by some major event changed beyond our  perception and only those  in the right place  and fit and  wise enough will survive , that being  with the memory of  where mankind  went wrong  and  try set  the new life out   to try  avoid  it happening again .. but  then again we are in the  hands of the creator  and mother nature ... my opnion we as mankind have become  arrogant  and uncaring , so who knows  maybe this is just all part of the  huge cosmic plan where our lifespan in comparison is a mere blink ...

[Bob Molloy]

The day is now 8.6 microseconds shorter, you say?
Does that mean I'm growing older faster? Damn!

[SandyB]

yes  Bob  all of  us in  the  same  boat .... 

[georg ruf jr.]

If I eat enoughof them beens, I feel the earth quake too!