Tuesday, April 6, 2010

I Never Thought I'd Say This

Enough Geology Already! "Major earthquake hits off Indonesian island of Sumatra" BBC. Very little information thus far; preliminary estimates put it at 7.8.

And here's the Reuters initial coverage.

Update, 5:08 PM PDT: The Washington Post has also run the Reuters story, with some additional info, and the following map. This looks likely to be a subduction quake like the 2006 Boxing Day quake, though much smaller. Tsunami warnings have been issued; the WaPo story says people in some areas headed toward higher ground. The undertone in what I've read so far suggests that the tsunami risk is seen as lower with this one. Still, it's reassuring to see that people know to head to higher ground without being told.
Update, 5:51: AP chimes in, and Reuters has an update saying the tsunami watch has been canceled. Electricity is out in some areas, but it doesn't sound as if the damage is too bad.

No comments: