Earthquake

[helen99]

Over 13,000 dead. Some sources said it was more like over 19,000 (there are a lot of missing). Luckily, jolantru was somewhat away from the affected area and so was unharmed. We did a short bit of journeying last night to try to help some across. Many death images have been coming at me for the past week or so - including the "army of the dead" in the Return of the King", a dream my mom had about late friends and relatives, a workshop about the sacred ancestral dead that I attended, the sudden death of two of my mice, a couple of discussions about zombie movies, - and now this.

This earthquake was apparently so powerful (9.2?) it momentarily affected the Earth's rotation, causing us to wonder if shifting magnetics may be involved... In the event that I'm without a body (and I surely will be at some point sooner or later, preferably later, though if this keeps up, who knows...), I hope I can see plate tectonics and magnetic fields and stuff...

Comments

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

The picture of Ri trying to eat the brain is priceless...

[gleef.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, BBC is now listing 23,000 dead, but everyone's still counting, so expect even that number to go up. Whatever comes up as the final number, it will still not be right. They are only counting bodies found, not bodies completely lost into the sea. Entire villages have been washed into the sea. Some of these areas (especially the war zone in northern Sri Lanka) have poor or missing records, so the exact extent of the tragedy will never be known.

Surprisingly, Bangladesh is only reporting 2 fatalities so far. Bangladesh has millions of people living in lightweight housing at sea level in the river delta, and they tend to get major casualties whenever the ocean gets angry.

[kinjouten.livejournal.com]

Jesus fucking shit.

*affected the earth's rotation??*

What are the long term effects of *that*?

[aekiy.livejournal.com]

Mrr.. wish there was something for me to do. Will try an' see if have anything to offer..

[dogemperor.livejournal.com]

According to several Thai acquaintances of mine on DevArt, one of the many, many dead is a grandson of the King. (Thailand's king, that is, in an area that the king is still revered as a godking of sorts)

(warning, earthsciences geekery ahead, please pardon if I seem overly bookish, but I note this as I'm kinda shocked at this)

Latest estimate of the Big One (yes, I stated that, there's a reason I'll explain) is at a 9.0.

A 9.0 is, I'm sure we can all agree, a Pretty Goddamn Big Fucking Quake. The only two other 9.0+ quakes I know of that were a) shallow quakes and b) hit populated areas were a) the big quakes in Alaska in 1964 (which there is video of Anchorage, Alaska having bits heaving up tens of metres, and parts of Alaska closer to the epicentre actually had lifts/subsidence of nearly a hundred metres) and the series of 9.0+ quakes that hit New Madrid, MO in 1811-1812 (which were so severe they literally created hills from the ground *rolling hundreds of feet up and down*, caused the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to flow *backwards*, and both rivers to change course to the point parts of the original courses of the rivers are "horseshoe lakes" scattered through eastern MO and western KY; in fact, there are parts of KY as close as Henderson (near Evansville, IN) that there are dry channels where the river used to run, where the state line still runs...and then you hit the actual RIVER, and that dry channel was where the Ohio ran before the quakes in 1812).

If New Madrid were to go off like it did in 1812 (comparable to what happened in Indonesia), there'd probably be *millions* dead, both from the quakes and the tsunami upriver.

9.0s are scary, scary quakes indeed...

The thing is, the area isn't quiet at all. Since the big 9.0 quake, pretty much every major faultline in the Indian Ocean basin has been in convulsions (ranging from 5.8s to 7-pointers, even a 7.5 just after the Big One if I recall). Many, if not most of these, are *not* aftershocks (many of the 6 and 7s are hitting in the Andaman Islands, off the coast of India), but did start after the big quake--almost as if the Big One triggered those sister faults to go off as well :P

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.html has a list, including the big Sumatran quake and the big Andaman/Nicobar quakes...

*is worried, worries this may well get worse for all concerned before it gets better...and doesn't doubt it shook the planet a bit in orbit*

[sa-arine.livejournal.com]

*nods* It will be as it should be...
*bows her head in respect for those lost*
Be at peace.