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Heavy Earthquake in Asia

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Amazing, the whole island of Sumatra was moved 100ft to the southwest by this quake and caused a disruption in the Earth's rotation.

Incredible.

What kind of disruption? Are the days gonna be a second shorter or something?

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Quote[/b] ]Quake rattled Earth orbit, changed map of Asia: US geophysicist

Mon Dec 27, 8:33 PM ET

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tm....8013319

LOS ANGELES, (AFP) - An earthquake that unleashed deadly tidal waves on Asia was so powerful it made the Earth wobble on its axis and permanently altered the regional map, US geophysicists said.

AFP Photo

The 9.0-magnitude temblor that struck 250 kilometers (155 miles) southeast of Sumatra island Sunday may have moved small islands as much as 20 meters (66 feet), according to one expert.

"That earthquake has changed the map," US Geological Survey expert Ken Hudnut told AFP.

"Based on seismic modeling, some of the smaller islands off the southwest coast of Sumatra may have moved to the southwest by about 20 meters. That is a lot of slip."

The northwestern tip of the Indonesian territory of Sumatra may also have shifted to the southwest by around 36 meters (120 feet), Hudnut said.

In addition, the energy released as the two sides of the undersea fault slipped against each other made the Earth wobble on its axis, Hudnut said.

"We can detect very slight motions of the Earth and I would expect that the Earth wobbled in its orbit when the earthquake occurred due the massive amount of energy exerted and the sudden shift in mass," Hudnut said.

Another USGS (news - web sites) research geophysicist agreed that the Earth would have got a "little jog," and that the islands off Sumatra would have been moved by the quake.

However, Stuart Sipkin, of the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Golden Colorado, said it was more likely that the islands off Sumatra had risen higher out of the sea than they had moved laterally.

"In in this case, the Indian plate dived below the Burma plate, causing uplift, so most of the motion to the islands would have been vertical, not horizontal."

The tsunamis unleashed by the fourth-biggest earthquake in a century have left at least 23,675 people dead in eight countries across Asia and as far as Somalia in East Africa.

The tsunamis wiped out entire coastal villages and pulled beach-goers out to sea.

The International Red Cross estimated that up to one million people have been displaced by the natural calamity.

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Nature's incredible... shows us that we aren't as superiour as we always think... This is just unbelievable. Not only the destruction but the huge power of nature. Scary actually, there's nothing we can do to stop it or to protect us.

Very nasty situation over there, horrible that so many people have died, been injured, or lost their stuff. And all of that in such a short time sad_o.gif

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According to the local sandworms, we get this kind of quakes every 500~700 years up here in the Seattle area. And it's been about 500~700 years... We got tree stumps buried hundreds of meters inland and up/down about a hundred. Fault lines under Seattle city limits alone look like something bad hit the windshield.

Anyways, the scattered news reports were saying that the bump shaved off 3 microseconds off this year, but didn't say if that was a one-time deal or if that we spin 3 microseconds faster from here on out.

Further googling suggests the earth picks up time up to as much as 3 miliseconds a day in peak El Nino years, but otherwise drops about .005 seconds annually. Given this margin of fluctuation, I don't think it will end up being more than an entry in Wikipedia for long term effect.

Quote of the day - U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland :

Quote[/b] ]

Egeland told reporters on Tuesday: "I've been misinterpreted when I yesterday said that I believed that rich countries in general can be more generous."

"It has nothing to do with any particular country or the response to this emergency. We are in early days and the response has so far been overwhelmingly positive," he said.

"The international assistance that has come and been pledged from the United States, from Europe and from countries in the region has also been very generous," Egeland added.

Sure... wink_o.gif and while you're at it in bactracking, how about this part too please?

Quote[/b] ]

"There are several donors who are less generous than before in a growing world economy," he said, adding that politicians in the United States and Europe "believe that they are really burdening the taxpayers too much, and the taxpayers want to give less. It's not true. They want to give more."

Taxes into the government are not the only solution, unless you have regulated every other solution out of existance... and would this tax would be rolled back when no longer needed? Sure...

And speaking of being picky...

BBC

Quote[/b] ]

Sri Lanka rejects Israel rescuers

Israel has cancelled plans to send a 150-person rescue mission to Sri Lanka after the devastated island objected to the military composition of the team.

The delegation - including 60 soldiers - had been due to set off on Tuesday to help after Sunday's tsunami disaster.

Instead, a smaller team will escort a convoy carrying emergency supplies, Israeli officials said.

Sri Lanka restored diplomatic ties with Israel in 2000, despite objections from the island's Muslim minority.

Neither side has officially explained the change of plan, although some reports say the objection came from Sri Lanka's military.

Sri Lanka Ambassador Diffa Digeratna is quoted by Jerusalem Post as saying that the change was due to the "the lack of accommodations in Colombo".

Israel's army had planned to send staff to set up field hospitals, including internal medicine and paediatric clinics, an Israeli army spokesman said.

Other Israeli agencies have sent emergency relief to Sri Lanka and other tsunami-hit countries.

Humanitarian organisation Latet sent a jumbo jet carrying 18 metric tons of supplies to Colombo, medical teams have been dispatched to Thailand and help offered to India, Haaretz reported.

A rescue-and-recovery team from the Jewish ultra-Orthodox organisation Zaka left for the region on Monday with equipment used for identifying bodies, as well as body bags.

Israel's foreign ministry has set up a situation room for relatives to track down hundreds of Israelis on holiday in the tsunami zone, who have not yet made contact.

No one from the country has yet been confirmed dead in the disaster.

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Taxes into the government are not the only solution, unless you have regulated every other solution out of existance... and would this tax would be rolled back when no longer needed? Sure...

Given the current state of planet Earth and its human population, you can be pretty certain that it is very much needed in the forseeable future.

You can't rely on donations by individuals. People for the most part only donate money when they in some way can relate to the victims. I can use myself as an example - I donated to the Red Cross for this, while I did not last year for the earthquake in Iran. It actually never even crossed my mind to do so. Why? Because I've been hearing and reading stories of the horrific experiences of people. Since a lot of western tourists were killed, the media is covering this extensivly. With Iran that wasn't the case. The media wasn't at all that interested. And no matter how hard I try, the abstract fact that X number of people died in Y, doesn't leave an impression on me.

Organizations like the Red Cross, or the UN on the other hand are much less directed by what the media is choosing to show. There's plenty of work to be done on our planet and more than enough people that are in desperate need of help - regardless of where the current media focus is. That means they need regular contributions - not just when on occasion somebody takes feels like helping a specific cause. That kind of regular money can only come from countries and their income is taxes.

It is already done to a large extent through the UN (which we all finance through taxes), but seeing how they need to scramble each time there is a disaster, it is clear that it isn't enough.

I really think we need a bigass global disaster relief trust that at any time can provide resources for any disaster that the local government can't handle. I pay taxes for much worse things than that, so I wouldn't mind.

Edit: A small update on the aid. The US has promised some $35 million (€26 million) while the EU has pledged some €30 million ($41 million) to start with.

The international red cross has asked for some €30 million, which by the looks of it will be covered.

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No complaints there on better unified aid systems; a lot of the problems are from a lack of deployed monitoring systems, and mass-casulty refrigerated morgues.

Dropping those kind of solutions in place alone won't work as you have to have the infrastructure to maintain and update them.

But there are two catagories of funding here, appropiated funds and discretionary slush funds. Plus when you're talking about sums of 10's of millions of dollars or Euros, it takes a little bit of time for that to move through the financial system. Governments have various restrictions and oversights to prevent abuse of 'emergencies' (Baseball stadiums anyone? crazy_o.gif ), which can also hamper the process in cases of 'real' emergencies.

Something that might be an interesting technology to research and develop would be a air-portable high-powered refrigeration system. Basically a 747 sized pack of a power generator, a super AC chiller (both normal shipping container size), and the rest of the capacity being prefab kit to seal and convert an existing building like a hospital into a mass-casualty morgue until identification can be attempted. The longer those bodies stay in the sun, the more the epidemics will grow.

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I agree with TakanoFukada - donate money!

......and show some respect by donating the money you'd otherwise use for fireworks on new year eve!

I know it means nothing in the bigger picture - but 800 norwegians are now missing. This does not suggest that they are dead. It could be that some of these are not able to reach phones etc. However, 3 days is/should be enough time to reach somewhere with adequate communications. Around 1500 swedes are missing as well which is understandable considering their proportionate larger population and the similar holiday habits/patterns.

I also read somewhere that the pests like tyfoid etc caused by dirty and contaminated drinking water can actually kill more people than the waves did sad_o.gif

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"Threat of disease looms large over quake devastated regions "

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories....ml

you can contact the embassies/Red Cross in your country to ask how you can help... apart from monetary contribution, canned food and old clothes are appreciated too!!!

SAF C130 transport plane deployed - http://sg.news.yahoo.com/041229/5/singapore124529.html

Updated Donations URL (International) -

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/killerwaves/donations.htm

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I think it was listed already but just in case:

List Of Charities And Aid Organizations you can give to.

My wife and I plan on giving since we have an affinity to Asia, its near "the holiday's," and mainly because the damage and death toll is so amazing.

Saw an interesting interview with a spokesman for one of the christian charities on PBS, who basically said while the response in the US was overwhelming ($500,000 in the first 24 hours), people need to not react like 9/11, ie over-fund the immediate emergency and under-fund the long-term re-building (which is easily going to top $1 billion).

PS...also it shaved 3 microseconds off the DAY...not the year.

It gives one a new look on life. (a quote from newlyweds that survived the tsunami is interesting...after surviving together and seeing the devastation they said they were going to "cut alot of the bullshit" out of their life.)

If anyone knows a link to donate for the tsunami warning network that SE Asia is sorely lacking....lemme know...

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PS...also it shaved 3 microseconds off the DAY...not the year.

Cool.

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The death toll is rising and rising.... that's so sad. sad_o.gif

There are ~1000 german's missing, feared dead.

Germany has rised the "emergency aid" from 2 Million Euro to 20 Million Euro to help the people there.

---

This is the most terrible disaster within living memory.

MfG Lee sad_o.gif

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Those reporters on N24 said it's the greatest humanitarian catastophy since WW2 for Germany... But I don't think you can compare the two. sad_o.gif

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It just keeps getting worse, now the toll is at 67,000 and they have already begun bulldozing mass graves as well as burning the bodies. This makes me sad as the families will not be able to have a proper funeral service for their lost loved ones.

EDIT: what really makes me mad is the other day Sec. Powell was on TV telling the reporter that the US was pleding $35 million in aid and the reporter goes "Don't you think we should give more" i wish i could have slapped that guy.

Sometimes your damned if you do and damned if you don't.

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Those reporters on N24 said it's the greatest humanitarian catastophy since WW2 for Germany... But I don't think you can compare the two.  sad_o.gif

Same with Norway - single worst catastrophy in the post war period. The norwegian government decided to give 8.2 million USD in humanitarian aid.

It was horrible untill yesterday - now it's getting even more depressive as new pictures and stories about the tradgedies are brought to our attention. Children without parents and parents without children........ and pictures of debris and corpses rotting away at the beaches........

I can't think of anything that have had such an emotional effect on myself, my surroundings - and indeed the whole norwegian people!

It's a nightmare - nothing less!

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If anyone knows a link to donate for the tsunami warning network that SE Asia is sorely lacking....lemme know...

It's better if you donate for immidate humanitarian relief.

The whole "lack of a warning system" thing is more of a human nature thing than a real concern. It's more that people want to think that they can do something about it.

The harsh truth is however that even with the most advanced warning system in the world they wouldn't have been able to change anything significantly. First of all, the time between the detection of a tsuinami wave and the time of its impact is far too short to do anything useful. That bastard travels at 500-700 km/h. Due to various practical reasons (such as the curvature of earth) the tsuinami detection sensors (radar based) must be placed on a uniform grid. As the radius grows so does the number of sensors required. In practice it is only possible to cover regions at a reasonable distance from populated areas.

In the current situation, it took the wave some 30 minutes to travel before hitting the shore. With a detection grid such as they have in the pacific ocean, they would have detected it some 5-10 minutes before impact. You can't evacuate any significant number of people in that time window.

Which brings me to a second point. Even if they had gotten the information hours before impact, they wouldn't have been capable of doing anything about it. These are poor countries we're talking about. They lack the proper infrastructure to make such communication work. And that's nothing that we can fix overnight.

Bottom line is that there is very little we can do about this kind of shit. People try to blame the lack of a warning system, so that they can blame it on something. To give some hope of fixing it until next time. Unfortunately in reality there is very little we can do. Thes kind of things are completely out of our control.

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Those reporters on N24 said it's the greatest humanitarian catastophy since WW2 for Germany... But I don't think you can compare the two.  sad_o.gif

You are missing some 1,000 people. We (Sweden) are missing some 2,000 people and we have a tenth of your population.

So you can imagine what a blow it is to us. And officials are off the record saying that they're expecting the actual number of dead to be around 1,500.

So yes, it's probably the worst disaster in Sweden in... well, I don't know actually. 100+ years probably.

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On vacation, we are. Popped in to say hello. smile_o.gif

This catastrophe is so sad. So many people from so many places affected.

About Tsunami detection, I understand that tsunami waves only start rising when they approach a coastline, though from some distance.

Couldn't a bouy be developed that could detect a major change in its height versus normal sea level and transmit that data to a warning system on land?

PATENT PENDING US PAT OFF:)

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How tragic, this is the worst x-mas/new years I have ever seen in my lifetime, globally.

I sure as hell appreciate not being in that mess right about now or when it happened, damn. The saddest thing of all is many of those people never really had much to begin with.

Life is harsh, very harsh...

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Couldn't a bouy be developed that could detect a major change in its height versus normal sea level and transmit that data to a warning system on land?

PATENT PENDING US PAT OFF:)

they use such things in the pacific. It's actually quite easy to predict and detect tsunamis early enough to warn most places hours before a Tsunami reaches them. But it's a matter of cooperation and money between those countries. And from both they don't have very much in the now affected region.

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Quote[/b] ]

About Tsunami detection, I understand that tsunami waves only start rising when they approach a coastline, though from some distance.

Indeed. Tsunami's at sea are barely detectable. It's when they hit the shallows, and the water starts building upon itself, where the real danger is.

Quote[/b] ]

It's better if you donate for immidate humanitarian relief.

We intend to. But just because they are poor undeveloped nations does not mean it is useless to have a warning. In fact I would say its even more reason to donate to some form of warning system, as they cannot afford to deploy one.

Tsunami's obviously travel fast, and a warning would indeed have been useless in Indonesia where the epicenter was located. But in Sri Lanka, India, and maybe even Thailand, there was time for a warning, and I would say a simple system of speakers that would say "Get away from the beach, tsunami coming" or something to that effect would have been useful.

India has been hit with tsunami's before, as has Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, Hawaii, and Japan. A warning system linked to geo-survey sights would be possible and useful in the Pacific Basin.

The usefulness of such a system can not be discounted as there is no evidence to suggest it would not have been useful, while there is some evidence (based on a 67000+ death toll) that it would have saved some lives.

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Some more information: Sweden has now an air corridor open, with over 20 planes flying back and forth evacuating Swedish citizens. In addition Germany is organizing an EU-level evacuation of Europeans in the region with a shitload of planes. Some 50,000 people are being evacuated and they're hoping that by New Years day that most of the evacuation will be complete.

Help is being delivered both on EU level and from the member states. Right now some 50 Hercules planes from the EU are carrying medical supplies. The US has promised to send 12 more hercs to bring supplies. In addition thousands of rescue workers from Europe are in place, and more on the way.

It's the biggest relief effort in the history. Money seems to be coming in as well. The EU is dispatching some €30 million with aditional €60 millions coming directly from the member states. The US has pledged $35 million for now and more if necessary.

One ironic thing - and this is not meant as a political comment - is the fact that Bush's terrible handling of the US economy has most likely saved thousands of American lives. The number of Americans in the region was very small, thanks to the weakness of the dollar. The prices were simply too high so very few Americans went on vacation in the region. And in Europe the situation was the opposite - the strong Euro made vacationing there very cheap. And as a consequence, we have most likely thousnads of dead Europeans while "only" a few hundred dead Americans.

Life's a bitch, eh?

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Yea, life's a bitch indeed... I hope no one here is whining about their x-mas presents after seeing what some people are going through now. wink_o.gif

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I'm heading to Hong Kong on Sunday. I know the area wasn't affected, but I wonder what the mood will be like in that part of the world?

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