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 News from Around the Americas | March 2005 
Huge Quake Strikes off Indonesia Coast
 Off the Net
The Dec. 26, 9.0 quake was also off the coast of Sumatra, that launched a massive tsunami. |
8.2 Earthquake Registered off Sumatra
MSNBC News
Magnitude is nearly as large as tsunami quake.
A large earthquake was registered Monday off Indonesia's Sumatra Island, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, describing it as a "great earthquake" with a magnitude of 8.2 on the Richter scale.
The USGS advised officials in the area to move people inland, and Thai officials were among the first to issue a tsunami warning for the Andaman Sea.
No reports of injury or damage had been received from the region. The Dec. 26 quake that launched the massive tsunami was a 9.0, the USGS said.
Monday's quake epicenter was just off the northern Sumatra coast and between two smaller islands, and located at 18.6 miles underground. It occured at around 11 p.m. local time.
The Dec. 26 quake was also off the coast of Sumatra and just north of Monday's quake.
Huge Quake Hits Indonesian Coast
The BBC
A powerful earthquake in the Indian Ocean has hit the coast of Indonesia's tsunami-hit island of Sumatra, triggering a tsunami alert.
The quake was given a magnitude of 8.2 by the US geological survey who have warned it could cause tidal waves.
The epicentre was located at about 200 km (125 miles) off the mainland.
The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake could cause a "widely destructive tsunami" in the area around its epicentre.
Quake Strikes off Indonesia Coast
CNN
U.S. officials were urging residents to evacuate coastal regions in the Indian Ocean after a earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 struck off the coast of Indonesia Monday.
The quake was was centered on the same fault line where a December 26 earthquake launched a tsunami that killed at least 175,000 people.
The director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said scientists there feared another tsunami might hit the area.
Charles McCreary said he could not be certain that the quake, which was 30 km deep and 203 kilometer (126 miles) from Sibolga on Sumatra Island, would cause a tsunami.
"There is a potential for some wave activity," said Julie Martinez, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center, in Golden, Colorado.
Thailand issued a warning that the quake could bring a tsunami to its southern provinces.
The warning, which was carried on national television, cautioned people in the six provinces to be careful and vigilant, but did not order evacuations.
The quake occurred at 11:09 a.m. ET (1609 GMT), and is considered a "great" earthquake, the largest of seven grades.
The grades are very minor, minor, light, moderate, strong, major and great.
Tsunamis are distinguished from normal coastal surf by their great length and speed. A single wave in a tsunami series might be 160 kilometers (100 miles) long and race across the ocean at 960 kph (600 mph).
When it approaches a coastline, the wave slows dramatically, but it also rises to great heights because the enormous volume of water piles up in shallow coastal bays.
The December 26 quake, measured at 9.0-magnitude, triggered a massive tsunami that devastated Asian and African coastlines in nearly a dozen nations. |
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