Vanuatu Earthquake/ Tsunami watch 8 October 2009

[Razor]

here we go again...stuff.co.nz

8.1 earthquake off Vanuatu
Reuters Last updated 11:28 08/10/2009
An 8.1 magnitude earthquake has struck off the northwest of Santo, Vanuatu, the US Geological Survey reports.

The epicentre of the quake was located 373 km north-northwest of Santo, Vanuatu, at a depth of 33 km, the agency said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii has issued a tsunami warning in effect for Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Kiribati, Kosrae, Wallis-Futuna and Howland-Baker.

A tsunami watch has been advised for both New Zealand and Australia.

EDIT. looks like its been revised to 7.8?

[Tornado Tim]

Here is a link to the latest article from stuff: http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-paci ... ff-Vanuatu

[Dale]

Just saw that break on sky news.. USGS, GeoScience an Iris have it around 7.8 / 7.9.. still nothing to sneeze at.
Off the phillipines there was also a 6.7 rumble.

[Michael]

Better get off the beach today people this arvo.

[Razor]

Civil defence advising to clear the beaches. Probably precuationary as its only a watch at this stage, but good to see the info flowing faster this time. Well done to those that run the bulletins.

[Storm Struck]

Another earthqauke registered at 7.3 magnatude just now Vanuwatu same depth.

[Razor]

New Zealand Civil Defence is urging all people to clear beaches in Northland and East Cape and if in boats, to get off the water.

Civil Defence has advised all fire, police and local councils to be on standby.

Should a tsunami reach New Zealand, it will hit at the following times:
* North Cape _ 2.34pm
* East Cape _ 3.16pm
* Auckland (West) _ 3.33pm
* Gisborne 3.49pm
* New Plymouth 4.10pm
* Auckland (East) 4.14pm
* Napier 4.29pm
* Milford Sound 4.35pm
* Wellington 4.39pm
* Westport 4.50pm.

[rawdon]

These earthquakes have all registewred on the NZ drum network as long period events..

[MoorfNZ]

meaning what?

[MoorfNZ]

Just been another 7.0 quake off Vanuatu - no tsunami warning issued.

[DT-NZ]

Seismograph Drum - Interpretation

When an earthquake occurs the seismogram will show ground motions that typically last from several tens of seconds to many minutes, depending on the size of the earthquake and the sensitivity of the seismograph. The height of the recorded waves on the seismogram (wave amplitude) is a greatly magnified representation of the actual ground motion. A recording of an earthquake has recognizable characteristics. Typically, one can recognize the arrival of different wave types: P (the fastest traveling waves), S (shear waves), and surface waves. On these seismograms you may see local earthquakes in Northern California and earthquakes elsewhere in the world.

Not all the wiggles seen on the seismograms are due to earthquakes. Anything that produces ground vibrations could be recorded, for example a car that passes by the seismometer (this is why we try to locate most of our seismometers well away from roads). Since the electrical signals from the seismometers are typically transmitted to the USGS by microwave or over telephone wires, electrical and radio noise on the transmission path may also show up on the seismogram. Such interference is usually easy to distinguish from earthquake-generated signals because it is often erratic or "spikey" in appearance

read more || http://quake.usgs.gov/recent/helicorders/index.html

Seismograph Drums - New Zealand National Seismograph Network
http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/drums/index.html

[Storm Struck]

I reackon the plates are shifting southwards, Pacifc,Australian, Eurasian plates are grinding together as part of a major shift.
All these big earthquakes one after the other are certainly all linked, its just a close matter of time before the big one happens here and our fault line does the same thing.

[jamie]

im going for a Wellington fault to have a good shake up in the next 4 weeks. This is not an educated guess. Just a guess and hunch. I agree with you Jase. But yea im probably completely wrong lol.

[Manukau heads obs]

its a bit like climate research
i.e we have only been measuring earthquakes for a relatively short time
i.e it seems to be pretty busy over the last few years
but that might be part of a trend..it could get busier or it could dampen down again
I read that that summatara area has been building up stress for 200 years....so once the pressure has been released it might be years again before that area gets big quakes again?
but who really knows?
maybe big quakes every few years are the norm instead?

what I would like to know is, there must be some historical record or evidence of past tsumanis in the pacific/indonesia area
i.e for samoa, they must have lived there by the oceanside for 1000's of years
i.e what is the return period ?
1000's more years?

[Manukau heads obs]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/29457 ... e-abnormal
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-paci ... be-related

[DT-NZ]

what I would like to know is, there must be some historical record or evidence of past tsumanis in the pacific/indonesia area
i.e for samoa, they must have lived there by the oceanside for 1000's of years
i.e what is the return period ?
1000's more years?

There is online information and resources from the Historical Tsunami Database for the Pacific region... however for historical tsunami records that go back over thousand years I think during those times oral story's would have been passed down from generation to generation of eg: a big wave that came in and destroyed villages etc.

Interesting thoughts...

http://www.drgeorgepc.com/TsunamisHistDataBase.html

[DT-NZ]

im going for a Wellington fault to have a good shake up in the next 4 weeks. This is not an educated guess. Just a guess and hunch. I agree with you Jase. But yea im probably completely wrong lol.

Alright, just a thought... now, shorten that time frame and work with a 72hr window (fine tune it (your hunch, quess etc) - you already have around you in your surrounding environment/nature and in within yourself also (your senses) the ability to receive subtle clues, hints - precursor signals... yes(?) no(?)

[DT-NZ]

What I'm trying to say is to trust yourself... if for example a significant event wiped out communication - no internet, radio, tv, phones... etc... etc... what then (?) honestly, what then?

[gllitz]

For those interested, you'll find a good map here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics

...of the various plates and the movement vectors they are on.

[Storm Struck]

Jamieh you could be well heading for a correct prediction although the big one hasnt happened yet, a magnatude 4.8 this evening at 6pm Saturday 10th October near Wellington.
Alot people seem to be saying the same thing possible big earthquake Wellington within the next 3 weeks, what happens to the Met Service then .