On the earthquake tragedy

[Guest guest]

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

'Experts said last night that the earthquake could have been

triggered by a tremor that struck 800 kilometres south of Tasmania on

Christmas eve. A spokesmas for Geoscience Australia, Cvetan

Sinadinovski, said Australia and Indonesia were connected by the Indo-

Australia tectontic plate, and " the release of energy on one side of

the plate could cause a release of energy on the other side " .'

 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/ussjal.htm

 

Magnitude 8.1 - NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND

2004 December 23 14:59:04 UTC

Preliminary Earthquake Report

U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center

World Data Center for Seismology, Denver

 

A great earthquake occurred at 14:59:04 (UTC) on Thursday, December

23, 2004. The magnitude 8.1 event has been located NORTH OF MACQUARIE

ISLAND. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

 

 

 

Magnitude 8.1

Date-Time Thursday, December 23, 2004 at 14:59:04 (UTC)

= Coordinated Universal Time

Friday, December 24, 2004 at 1:59:04 AM

= local time at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 50.240°S, 160.133°E

Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program

Region NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND

Distances

420 km (260 miles) W of Auckland Island, New Zealand

495 km (305 miles) N of Macquarie Island, Australia

1515 km (940 miles) SW of WELLINGTON, New Zealand

1890 km (1170 miles) SSE of CANBERRA, A.C.T., Australia

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1379871,00.html

 

Chronology: world's deadliest earthquakes

 

The quake that struck off Sumatra on December 26 was the strongest

for 40 years and the fifth most powerful since 1900. This list shows

the worst quakes that have struck around the world since early last

century

 

Associated Press

Sunday December 26, 2004

 

December 26 2003: Southeastern Iran, Bam, magnitude 6.5; More than

41,000 killed.

May 21 2003: Northern Algeria, magnitude 6.8; Nearly 2,300 killed.

March 25 2002: Northern Afghanistan, magnitude 5.8; up to 1,000

killed.

January 26 2001: India, magnitude 7.9; at least 2,500 killed.

Estimates put death toll as high as 13,000.

September 21 1999: Taiwan, magnitude 7.6; 2,400 killed.

August 17 1999: Western Turkey, magnitude 7.4; 17,000 killed.

January 25 1999: Western Colombia, magnitude 6; 1,171 killed.

May 30 1998: Northern Afghanistan and Tajikistan, magnitude 6.9; as

many as 5,000 killed.

January 17 1995: Kobe, Japan, magnitude 7.2; more than 6,000 killed.

September 30 1993: Latur, India, magnitude 6.0; as many as 10,000

killed.

June 21 1990: Northwest Iran, magnitude 7.3-7.7; 50,000 killed.

December 7 1988: Northwest Armenia, magnitude 6.9; 25,000 killed.

September 19 1985: Central Mexico, magnitude 8.1; more than 9,500

killed.

September 16 1978: Northeast Iran, magnitude 7.7; 25,000 killed.

July 28 1976: Tangshan, China; magnitude 7.8-8.2; 240,000 killed.

February 4 1976: Guatemala, magnitude 7.5; 22,778 killed.

February 29 1960: Southwest Atlantic coast in Morocco; magnitude 5.7;

some 12,000 killed, town of Agadir destroyed.

December 26 1939: Erzincan province, Turkey, magnitude 7.9; 33,000

killed.

January 24 1939: Chillan, Chile, magnitude 8.3; 28,000 killed.

May 31 1935: Quetta, India, magnitude 7.5; 50,000 killed.

September 1 1923: Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan, magnitude 8.3; at least

140,000 killed.