Potential for Earthquakes

[Christina]

Just a heads up for all members that live along the west coast there is an increased risk of earthquakes over the next several weeks a rebound effect from Indonesia Quakes.The Nucleation of Stress Level is a measurement for the stress which is being off-loaded from the Pacific-North American Plate Boundary and into the secondary fault system, which includes the Elsinore and San Jacinto Fault Zones. It's going to increase the potential for earthquakes epicentered in the region from The Gulf of California to the Mojave Desert, including the Los Angeles Basin and the offshore region from Santa Barbara to San Diego, CA.But can reach as far North as Alaska.To make this a little clear for the non -scientist types you can think of the plate as a large flat rock that covers the ocean floor one side is moving in indonesia the other side is on the west coast. So when you dramtically move one side of the rock the other side has to ajust itself. When plates move we get earthquakes. So anyone living on the west coast should doulbe check their emergency supplies check you flashlight batterys, water, ect.

 

[Christina]

New Quake Rocks Indonesia; Experts Warn of 'Big One'September 14, 2007APPADANG, Indonesia (AP) — A series of powerful earthquakes has terrorized residents in western Indonesia — including another one that triggered a fresh tsunami warning Friday — leaving thousands sleeping on plastic in the hills and each new aftershock triggering a fresh round of panic.Seismologists warn the worst may be yet to come.Photo: A motorist passes a damaged road along the coastal area of Ketahuan, Indonesia's Bengkulu province, Friday. Indonesia's meteorology agency issued a tsunami warning on Friday after another strong earthquake struck southern Sumatra island. (By Crack Palinggi, Reuters)Kerry Sieh, from the California Institute of Technology, has spent decades studying the volatile fault line. He is one of several experts predicting a repeat of the massive earthquake that triggered the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen Indian Ocean nations."No one can say whether it will be in 30 seconds or 30 years," he said. "But what happened the other day, I think is quite possibly a sequence of smaller earthquakes leading up to the bigger one."An 8.4-magnitude quake that shook Southeast Asia on Wednesday was followed by dozens of strong aftershocks — including one measuring magnitude 7.8 and another 7.1 — that killed 13 people, damaged hundreds of houses and spawned a 10-foot-high wave.A 6.4-magnitude temblor hit the area again on Friday, triggering the latest in a string of tsunami warnings that have further traumatized people living in coastal communities. Hundreds fled inland by foot, motorcycle and truck before the alert was lifted.The wall of water that slammed into several fishing villages along Sumatra island's coast Wednesday swept away nearly a dozen houses, but overall damage was "minimal," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said after an Air Force aerial survey.Photo: An Indonesian woman weeps outside her house that was destroyed by an earthquake on Sumatra island, Indonesia, Friday. (By Dita Alangkara, AP)A nine-member U.N. assessment team reached the same conclusion after visiting the area, saying that a major international relief operation was not required, John Holmes, the U.N.'s emergency relief coordinator, said in a statement from New York.Many people said a public awareness campaign launched after the 2004 tsunami paid off, including warnings issued over mosque speakers and training provided by local officials on how to escape a disaster."When the earth started shaking, some people yelled, 'It's time to go up the hill ... let's get going," said Fadil, 35, a father of two, describing how he and hundreds of neighbors watched from above as the 10-foot wave approached. Hundreds of houses were damaged, but no one died.Elsewhere, however, electricity blackouts prevented some sirens from going off.The three massive quakes — together with the 9.0-magnitude temblor in 2004 and a 8.7 tremor in early 2005 — deeply concerns experts.The fault, which runs the length of the west coast of Sumatra about 125 miles offshore, is the meeting point of the Eurasian and Pacific tectonic plates, which have been pushing against each other for millions of years, causing huge stresses to build up."There is a strong indication this foreshadows the big one," said Danny Hillman, an earthquake specialist at the Indonesian Institute of Science. "We all agree there is an 8.5 or stronger earthquake waiting to happen."That's exactly what residents along Sumatra's western coast, which is expected to bear the brunt of the next disaster, are worried about. The island was hardest hit by the 2004 tsunami, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the deaths.In the tiny fishing village of Sungai Pisang, just south of the badly damaged city of Padang, hundreds of people were too scared to return home after the recent tremors sent a large wave washing into their bay.At a camp pitched on a muddy hillside cemetery, they have been sleeping atop plastic sheets or on the cold ground between graves. A small generator powers a light bulb, hung over branches in the thick tropical undergrowth, but there is little else."I am very afraid of another tsunami," said Dasima, a 50-year-old rice farmer who fled with her 7-year-old grandson, Rolin. "We only cook our rice in the town and then return here to eat and sleep. We will stay here until we feel it is safe."Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, with a population of 235 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

 

[Wakka]

I live right there in Salem.