Showing posts with label Tsunami. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tsunami. Show all posts
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
NORTHERN PERU JUST GOT HIT WITH A HUGE 7.0 MAGNITUDE QUAKE (no tsunami thread to Hawaii)
| MAP | 7.0 | 2011/08/24 17:46:12 | -7.644 | -74.506 | 145.1 | NORTHERN PERU |
http://ptwc.weather.gov/ptwc/text.php?id=hawaii.2011.08.24.175706
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article
/ALeqM5gONqNTEJDrnOZq0oicpUcH7YPK1Q?docId=3fba3f2bf4bb44c59d8e6cc8c6f56d93
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
UN rushes aid to tsunami victims in Solomon Islands (video)
| 2010-01-06 07:13:34 |
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations is rushing aid, including sanitation facilities, safe water and basic health care, to victims of a tsunami that hit the Solomon Islands on Monday, the second such massive wave to strike the region in three years, UN officials said here on Tuesday. Following reports that hundreds of houses were damaged and large areas completely inundated on Rendova Island, with a population of 3,600, in Western Province of the South Pacific island nation, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) dispatched a rapid response team by boat from nearby Gizo Island, where it was already working on reconstruction of schools affected by the deadly 2007 tsunami, said the officials. The UN agency will now use emergency supplies pre-positioned after that disaster, and is also preparing materials and staff to protect children, who are tremendously vulnerable during natural catastrophes, so that they can continue learning and studying and have safe recreation areas while their caretakers turn to rebuilding their lives. In addition to the rapid response team already sent to Rendova and neighboring Tetepare Island, two UNICEF emergency specialists are traveling on Tuesday from Fiji to the Solomon Islands to provide additional support to relief efforts. "Although it is still unclear how great the devastation has been this time, it is clear that the psychological trauma for children and adults experiencing two tsunamis in such a short period will be significant," UNICEF Pacific Representative Isiye Ndombi said. "Fortunately, UNICEF Pacific is already on the ground in the area and able to provide immediate support to the people of Rendova and Tetepare and other islands possibly affected," Ndombi said. "It will take several days however until we know the full extent and consequences of this tsunami because these islands are very remote and difficult to access." On Rendova the agency was already reconstructing 19 schools affected by the 2007 tsunami, which killed 54 people in Western Province, affected more than 37,000 others including 18,000 children, and heavily damaged thousands of homes, more than 200 schools, two hospitals and several health facilities. UNICEF had already pre-positioned emergency supplies in the national capital, Honiara, to address water, hygiene, health, education, child protection and psycho-social recovery issues in emergencies. The agency is on track to complete reconstruction of 110 schools in the province by the end of 2010. |
Sunday, December 27, 2009
TruthOut.org | Tsunami Recovery Hit by Corruption, Apathy
Saturday 26 December 2009by: Marwaan Macan-Markar | Inter Press Service
Bangkok - Questions that have dogged the tsunami recovery effort through 2006 coalesced in a crop of media stories and critical reports as affected countries remembered in prayer and reflection the over 220,000 people killed in that December 2004 natural disaster.
The Dec. 24 headline in the lead story of a Thai English Language daily, "The Nation," could not have expressed this concern more bluntly. "Where did our tsunami cash go?" it asked, referring to a letter written by seven Western countries to Bangkok's authorities, alleging that money sent to help this South-east Asian nation's victims "had been stolen".
See also: Tsunami Brings Sea Change in Coastal Lives
That tone was echoed Wednesday in the editorial of a Sri Lankan English language daily, "The Island." It accused "corrupt elements in the garb of public servants" having profited from the unprecedented death toll across the South Asian island following the walls of sea water that smashed the coastline on the morning of Dec. 26, 2004.
"The government's failure to bring those who have robbed the tsunami funds to book has led to a severe erosion of confidence of the public as well as the international donors who answered Sri Lanka's desperate call for help," the paper argued. "The distribution of tsunami relief is seriously flawed."
In India, the government was taken to task on the week before the tsunami memorials by the international development agency ActionAID for failing to build houses promised for the victims. "Across tsunami affected areas of India, just 28 percent of the total 98,447 required houses have been built. In the Andaman and Nicobar Island, where 9,174 homes are needed, reconstruction so far is less than one percent," the British-based agency revealed.
The tsunami, which was triggered by a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 9.3 on the Richter, off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, flattened the coastlines of 11 Indian Ocean countries. Indonesia's northern province of Aech was among the worst hit, with 165,000 deaths, followed by Sri Lanka where over 35,000 died, then southern India, where 12,405 died, Thailand, where 8,212 died and the Maldives, which recorded 82 deaths. READ MORE ....
The Dec. 24 headline in the lead story of a Thai English Language daily, "The Nation," could not have expressed this concern more bluntly. "Where did our tsunami cash go?" it asked, referring to a letter written by seven Western countries to Bangkok's authorities, alleging that money sent to help this South-east Asian nation's victims "had been stolen".
See also: Tsunami Brings Sea Change in Coastal Lives
That tone was echoed Wednesday in the editorial of a Sri Lankan English language daily, "The Island." It accused "corrupt elements in the garb of public servants" having profited from the unprecedented death toll across the South Asian island following the walls of sea water that smashed the coastline on the morning of Dec. 26, 2004.
"The government's failure to bring those who have robbed the tsunami funds to book has led to a severe erosion of confidence of the public as well as the international donors who answered Sri Lanka's desperate call for help," the paper argued. "The distribution of tsunami relief is seriously flawed."
In India, the government was taken to task on the week before the tsunami memorials by the international development agency ActionAID for failing to build houses promised for the victims. "Across tsunami affected areas of India, just 28 percent of the total 98,447 required houses have been built. In the Andaman and Nicobar Island, where 9,174 homes are needed, reconstruction so far is less than one percent," the British-based agency revealed.
The tsunami, which was triggered by a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 9.3 on the Richter, off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, flattened the coastlines of 11 Indian Ocean countries. Indonesia's northern province of Aech was among the worst hit, with 165,000 deaths, followed by Sri Lanka where over 35,000 died, then southern India, where 12,405 died, Thailand, where 8,212 died and the Maldives, which recorded 82 deaths. READ MORE ....
http://www.truthout.org/1227093
Friday, December 4, 2009
Pacific tsunami four storeys high (46 feet) when it slammed into Samoa's coast after 8.3 mag earthquake on September 29th in the Tonga Trench
On September 29 a magnitude 8.3 earthquake occurred in the Tonga Trench, 190 kilometres from Apia. It generated the tsunami which resulted in the deaths of 180 people in American Samoa, Samoa and Tonga.
New Zealand scientists have worked out that the Pacific's killer tsunami was nearly four storeys high when it slammed into Samoa's coast.
Conflicting eyewitness accounts have never made it clear how many waves there were and what their heights were.
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and GNS Science have carried out field work the tsunami, releasing their data today.
"The Samoa tsunami consisted of two to three significant waves; the second wave was said by witnesses to be larger," the statement said.
"The delay between the earthquake and the arrival of the first wave was about 10 minutes in Samoa and 20 minutes in American Samoa.
"The maximum height reached by the tsunami on the land was 14 metres above mean sea level in Samoa and 10 metres in American Samoa.
"The furthest inland the waves reached was over 700 metres from the shore."
At one of the worst hit areas, Lepa in the Aleipata district, eyewitness Karen Niumata gave Stuff.co.nz a dramatic account of the wave.
"We saw the reef suddenly, and we saw all the rocks were shiny, and then the wave filled the sky...
"The wave, it reached the sky, oh my god, we ran.
"We thought we would die."
Source:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/3128083/Pacific-tsunami-height-of-a-four-storey-building
RELATED:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6943881.ece
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Sri Lanka News | Tsunami victim found begging in Ratnapura after five years
December 1, 2009A woman who lost her husband and two sons during the tsunami at Peraliya in the southern coast, and believed dead for the last five years was found begging on the streets of Ratnapura identified by her kinsfolk yesterday.
The woman apparently out of her mind after facing the tragedy was believed to have died in the tsunami. One of her brothers, W.A. Premawardena who had come to Ratnapura had seen a beggar woman in the town resembling his missing sister.
He had gone back to his family at Beligalla, Beliatta in the Hambantota District and informed about the woman whom he believed was his sister. They had come to Ratnapura and informed police who brought her to the police station where her sister had identified her from a scar on her leg, Chief Headquarters Inspector Lalith Pussella said.
Her family members said her husband was a senior official of the District Secretariat and she would have lost her sanity after the tragedy. They thought that she too had perished in the tsunami. They took her back with them to their hometown yesterday.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Undersea Pacific quakes stir panic in the South Pacific but tsunami proved tiny
Wed Oct 7, 2009 9:00pm EDT - SYDNEY (Reuters) - Undersea earthquakes caused panic in the South Pacific on Thursday, sending islanders fleeing to higher ground on fears of a second devastating tsunami in as many weeks, but the wave proved to be tiny and harmless.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the entire southwest Pacific, which included island resorts and Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, after the quakes struck beneath the seas between Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.
Hawaii and the Philippines were placed on tsunami watch.
The Center canceled its warning after a 4 cm tsunami was recorded at Lunganville on Espiritu Santo island in Vanuatu.
But with memories still fresh of a destructive tsunami last week that killed some 150 people in American Samoa and Samoa, many islanders panicked when the quake hit and tsunami warnings were issued in each nation.
"People were frightened and some ran out of the building onto the street because it was so strong," Florence Cari, receptionist at Hotel Santo in Vanuatu, told Reuters by telephone.
A reporter at Vanuatu's Daily Post newspaper said people on Espiritu Santo island were running for higher ground. "We have had reports that the kids are running into the hills," she said.
Some villagers in outlying islands in the Solomons reported tidal changes.
"People on the coastal areas have noticed a tide difference. The hospital is on alert," a hospital spokesman on tiny Nendo island in southwest Solomon Islands told Reuters by telephone.
The tsunami warning center issued its warning after two subsea quakes, one measuring 7.8 magnitude and the other 7.3.
"Sea-level readings indicate a tsunami was generated," said the center. "The wave may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicenter."
Islands near the epicenter are remote and sparsely populated, with communications difficult.
Moments before the Pacific quakes, a magnitude 6.7 tremor struck southeast of the Sulu archipelago of the Philippines which is still mopping up from a typhoon that killed at least 22 people.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Radio Netherlands | Samoa tsunami death toll reaches 190
The number of people killed by the tsunami that hit the Samoa island group in the Pacific last Tuesday has risen to 190.
Among the dead are as yet unidentified foreign holidaymakers. A proposed mass funeral has been postponed to give relatives the chance to fly to the remote islands.
Rescue workers say the damage in Samoa and neighbouring Tonga is comparable with that caused by Hurricane Katrina, which hit the US city of New Orleans four years ago. The five massive waves produced by an earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale destroyed practically all Samoa's coastal villages. Survivors sought safety on higher ground.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
TheAge.com | Surfer rides his way to survival in Samoa
October 2, 2009
Chris Nel surfed to survival.
A NEW Zealand man forced to ride out the Samoan tsunami on his surfboard thought he would be "smashed into the jungle" by the surging water.
Hospitality student Chris Nel, from Wellington, was on holiday on the south coast of Savai'i, Western Samoa, when the 8.3-magnitude earthquake struck on Wednesday morning.
"I went out early morning for a surf, then I felt the tremor — you get them all the time in New Zealand, so I didn't really think too much of it—then I went out in the water and caught a few waves."
Mr Nel had been in the water with an Australian man and four other New Zealanders when the first signs of the coming tsunami appeared.
"All of a sudden the water went really weird, it kind of glassed off and got really lumpy, then we started moving really quick, getting sucked out to sea," he said. "It was pretty scary looking back and seeing the reef completely dried up; it looked like a volcanic riverbed, it was just gone."
Mr Nel witnessed a "big-as spurt of water hit the shore".
"I was thinking, 'This is it, we're going to get washed away and smashed into the jungle'. We didn't know what was going on, we thought 'Why is no one coming out to help us?' but it turned out everyone had already been evacuated by that point."
The surfers tried in vain to reach the shore as "trees and all sorts of stuff" started floating past them. They lay on the surfboards as wave surges swept ashore, riding them out and trying not to get smashed.
"After about 35 or 45 minutes of floating around, we managed to time it between a surge to get to land through the reef channel." When he made it to shore, he saw that the surf camp he had been staying at had been destroyed.
"A lot of my stuff got washed out to sea and I found one of my surfboards in the jungle," Mr Nel said.
Initially he had stayed at the beach to help salvage a wrecked boat but left when he heard another tsunami warning.
"Everyone just got out of there. I managed to grab my passport and boardies."
The surfers headed to a village and waited for about five hours until the threat of a second surge had passed.
Days earlier, Mr Nel had been surfing off the south coast of Upolu, an area that was devastated by the tsunami.
Mr Nel left Samoa yesterday, flying back to Wellington wearing the pair of jeans he had managed to find in the jungle.
"We were really, really lucky," Mr Nel said.
"If anyone had caught a wave closer to shore there would have definitely been people who would have died or been severely injured."
NYTimes | At Least 529 Die as 7.6 magnitude Quake Hits Indonesia Island
Residents walked through an area damaged by the earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, on Thursday. Dita Alangkara/Associated PressEvery building over three stories in Padang suffered damage from the initial quake, and the city’s three main hospitals all collapsed. At the biggest hopsital, Djamil, beds were pulled from the wreckage to serve the injured.
Padang, a port city of 900,000, is on the west-central coast of Sumatra, Indonesia’s largest island. The western coast is stippled with dozens of volcanoes, and Padang also sits alongside the Sunda Trench, part of the notorious Ring of Fire, the volatile network of volcanic arcs and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin. The ring — and Sumatra in particular — is a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity.
Elsewhere in the basin, on Tuesday, an underwater earthquake measuring 8.0 created a tsunami that sent massive walls of water crashing into the islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga.
Reports from government officials, the police, aid workers and news agencies showed Thursday that at least 154 people had been killed by the tsunami — 115 on Samoa, 30 on American Samoa and 9 on Tonga. FULL STORY
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
New Zealand | Reports up to 40 dead after quake, tsunami hit Samoa
A main road in the downtown area of Fagatogo, is seen flooded by water from a tsunami located in the main town area in American Samoa on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009. Towering tsunami waves spawned by a powerful earthquake swept ashore on Samoa and American Samoa early Tuesday, flattening villages, killing at least 34 people and leaving dozens of workers missing at devastated National Park Service facilities. (AP Photo/Fili Sagapolutele]
Sinalei resort in the Siumu Samoa was damaged. Photo/Lorianne
A boat from Malaloa Marina is seen on the edge of the main highway in the village of Fagatogo, in American Samoa on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009. Towering tsunami waves spawned by a powerful earthquake swept ashore on Samoa and American Samoa early Tuesday, flattening villages, killing at least 34 people and leaving dozens of workers missing at devastated National Park Service facilities. (AP Photo/Fili Sagapolutele]
Bloomberg.com | 8.0 Magnitude Pacific Quake Prompts Tsunami Warning as Samoans Flee
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- A magnitude-8.0 earthquake roiled a swath of the South Pacific today, triggering tsunami warnings for 20 island nations and prompting Samoans to flee coastal villages for higher ground.
A 5-foot (1.5-meter) tsunami was reported at Pago Pago, American Samoa, the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. Homes in some villages on the southern coast of the Samoan island of Upolu were washed away, Radio New Zealand reported. Some people on that coast may have been swept to sea, Television New Zealand reported, citing its Apia-based film crew.
The quake struck shortly before 7 a.m. local time about 122 miles (196 kilometers) southwest of Apia, the capital of the independent island of Samoa, at a depth of about 22 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said warnings for tsunami activity were posted for Fiji, New Zealand, Tonga, the Cook Islands and 16 other nations.
“Our house has already been taken by the tsunami,” Theresa Falele Dussey told Radio New Zealand from hills above Apia, where people took shelter. “Some of the houses and cars next to our village have already been taken by tsunami as well.”
New Zealand civil defense officials warned local authorities in coastal areas to prepare for a tsunami. A wave may be about 1 meter high if it reaches here, Civil Defense Minister John Carter said on a television broadcast.
‘Crying and Screaming’
The tsunami was projected to reach Tonga and Fiji about 9 a.m. local time, according to the Pacific warning center. It is expected to reach the eastern coast of New Zealand’s North Island about 9:45 a.m. local time.
Residents of Samoa, shocked by the strength of the jolt, heeded warnings of local police and moved inland, Radio New Zealand’s Samoa correspondent, Tipi Autagavaia, said on a broadcast.
“My kids were preparing to go to school and were all crying and screaming,” he said in the broadcast. “It was a big, big shock to most people, because it is the first time they have experienced such a very strong earthquake.”
The magnitude of the quake was revised higher from an initial reading of 7.9, the USGS said. The quake was followed by two 5.6 temblors, one in the Samoa Islands region and one near the Cook Islands, the USGS said.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Phuket: The 2006 tsunami direct detection buoy is inoperable | Thai agency responsible for maintenance has not been able to replace its battery
Tsunami warning buoy for Phuket now dead in the water
Despite responsibility for maintenance of the buoy, Thailand has been unable to provide it. With a dead battery, the buoy is no longer operative
Despite responsibility for maintenance of the buoy, Thailand has been unable to provide it. With a dead battery, the buoy is no longer operative
PHUKET CITY: The tsunami direct detection buoy launched from Phuket in 2006 is inoperable because the Thai agency responsible for maintenance has not been able to replace its battery, the Gazette has learned.
The Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) buoy was put into place 600 nautical miles northwest of Phuket early in December 2006.
After its deployment, maintenance of the buoy fell to the Thai government.
Funded by the US government’s USAID program, the buoy was the first of its kind deployed in the Indian Ocean.
It is linked to a highly-sensitive pressure sensor on the seabed that measures the mean height of the water column above.
This information is relayed to a satellite that links to the US government tsunami warning center in Hawaii.
Supplied as part of US$16.6 million in funding for the US Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS) Program, the buoy gave Thailand for the first time the ability to detect directly any tsunami waves before they hit land. That ability is now history, the victim of a dead battery.
According to the US Government’s National Data Buoy Center, the buoy sent out the last of its 15-minute-interval signal messages on June 16 this year.
Chotenarin Kerdsom, who heads the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket Office (DDPM-Phuket), confirmed that the buoy’s battery is dead.
“The original battery was designed to power the unit for one year, but fortunately it ran for two years. If we install a new battery it will resume sending its signals,” he said.
The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) that is now responsible for maintaining the buoy has yet to get budget approval to install a new battery, he said.
“They will have a chance to get a budget in fiscal 2010, but it will require approval from the Budget Bureau,” he said.
The buoy is not under Thailand’s complete ownership. The signals it transmits are first received at the US Government’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii before re-transmission to Thailand, Mr Chotenarin explained.
The battery required is not expensive, but the mission to replace it would require a budget of at least 10 million baht, he said.
The buoy is in international waters and the round-trip mission would take at least five days using a large ship, preferably under escort of a Navy vessel to protect it from pirates, he said.
Until the existing buoy gets a new battery, the NDWC will have to rely primarily on seismic information when deciding to issue a tsunami alert, he admitted.
– Khunakorn Terdkiatkhachorn & Stephen Fei
Phuket, Thailand
The Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) buoy was put into place 600 nautical miles northwest of Phuket early in December 2006.
After its deployment, maintenance of the buoy fell to the Thai government.
Funded by the US government’s USAID program, the buoy was the first of its kind deployed in the Indian Ocean.
It is linked to a highly-sensitive pressure sensor on the seabed that measures the mean height of the water column above.
This information is relayed to a satellite that links to the US government tsunami warning center in Hawaii.
Supplied as part of US$16.6 million in funding for the US Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS) Program, the buoy gave Thailand for the first time the ability to detect directly any tsunami waves before they hit land. That ability is now history, the victim of a dead battery.
According to the US Government’s National Data Buoy Center, the buoy sent out the last of its 15-minute-interval signal messages on June 16 this year.
Chotenarin Kerdsom, who heads the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket Office (DDPM-Phuket), confirmed that the buoy’s battery is dead.
“The original battery was designed to power the unit for one year, but fortunately it ran for two years. If we install a new battery it will resume sending its signals,” he said.
The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) that is now responsible for maintaining the buoy has yet to get budget approval to install a new battery, he said.
“They will have a chance to get a budget in fiscal 2010, but it will require approval from the Budget Bureau,” he said.
The buoy is not under Thailand’s complete ownership. The signals it transmits are first received at the US Government’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii before re-transmission to Thailand, Mr Chotenarin explained.
The battery required is not expensive, but the mission to replace it would require a budget of at least 10 million baht, he said.
The buoy is in international waters and the round-trip mission would take at least five days using a large ship, preferably under escort of a Navy vessel to protect it from pirates, he said.
Until the existing buoy gets a new battery, the NDWC will have to rely primarily on seismic information when deciding to issue a tsunami alert, he admitted.
– Khunakorn Terdkiatkhachorn & Stephen Fei
Phuket, Thailand
Monday, July 20, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Huge 7.8 magnitude earthquake hits 150 km (95 miles) WNW of Invercargill, New Zealand - Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 08:22:32 PM at epicenter
NOAA PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER
Magnitude 7.8 - OFF WEST COAST OF THE SOUTH ISLAND, N.Z.
2009 July 15 09:22:32 UTC
Earthquake Details
| Magnitude | 7.8 |
|---|---|
| Date-Time |
|
| Location | 45.721°S, 166.643°E |
| Depth | 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program |
| Region | OFF WEST COAST OF THE SOUTH ISLAND, N.Z. |
| Distances | 150 km (95 miles) WNW of Invercargill, New Zealand 175 km (110 miles) WSW of Queenstown, New Zealand 300 km (185 miles) W of Dunedin, New Zealand 825 km (510 miles) SW of WELLINGTON, New Zealand |
| Location Uncertainty | horizontal +/- 11.1 km (6.9 miles); depth fixed by location program |
| Parameters | NST= 44, Nph= 44, Dmin=322.8 km, Rmss=1.58 sec, Gp= 54°, M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=7 |
| Source |
|
| Event ID | us2009jcap |
- This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)