Reports Of Earthquake Flood Across Phuket

[Tywais]

Is that attached pic above from NDWC or USGS?

Department of Mineral Resources

From the same site, Seismic Hazards.

[vickswagon]

If the 5.3 afterquake today is huge, what was the 8.7 quake last week??

According to the Richter Scale a 5.3 quake is 4000 times weaker than a 8.7 quake, so definitely no need for a Tsunami warning.

What matters is not so much the size of the quake but the TYPE of quake. Last weeks was a "strike-slip" quake which is not the type to cause tsunamis, despite it's massive size on the scale.

Exactly matey. NZ Christchurch was hit by a 7.1 which was (if I remember rightly) up and down movement. It caused damage but nothing compared to the 6.3 which was up down and side to side. Less energy but more damaging movement.

Out to sea an up down would certainly be more damaging and Tsunami causing. I would much rather get a warning for all earth quakes as they are unpredictable. We already know the damage that can be done by earth quakes. Best be safe then sorry.

[aWizz]

Thanks a bundle, Sikishrory! No expert in any of this, even new in this forum, just searching hi & lo for up-to-date information to share with those I care about around me ever since we went through the 2004 catastrophy, many of whom live with a constant fear... I shall be adding a bunch of bookmarks to my list, having followed these topics 'cos as I see it... these natural disasters, come more seldom than panic caused around the threat of them... if I can help but a few to relax, take in the facts before doing a mad dash up the hills... then atleast I've managed some good. Cheers for your tip, now I'll work on a way to get it in ENGLISH...

aWizz since its not letting me quote you....

well i was thinking the same thing but obviously it is the thai seismological bureau http://www.seismology.tmd.go.th/en/ that monitors the seismic and tsunami activity in thailand. they have been posting updates all night long (in thai unfortunately) on there facebook page https://www.facebook.com/EarthquakeTMD thats why i wanted to know what the message in my previous post meant as it had a load of comments and i believe mentions something about cooperating with the USGA.

Also if you look at the map on this http://www.seismolog...en/stations.php page it shows the 76 locations of the monitoring stations all across thailand.

the National Disaster Warning Centre would obviously just be going by what these guys tell them. it would still be helpful if they could employ one english speaking person to translate each update on facebook and the internet into english though.

[jimpthai]

Was there no warning...No one on "watch" sort of speak? Amazing Thailand!

What? You obviously do not come from an earthquake zone. There is no such thing as an earthquake warning! Only rough highly-inaccurate predictions of possibilities over a wide range of time. You must be thinking of tornadoes, hurricanes, or election outcomes.

[moonbarman]

There will be strong earthquake within this year which can create large tsunami. Three countries vast land will be wipe out with water.

and the worlds going to end in december right!

[moonbarman]

Was there no warning...No one on "watch" sort of speak? Amazing Thailand!

We were ordered out of patong, I assume because of a tsunami warning - the only problem is the earthquake was on land so a bit difficult to form a tsunami!!!

Typical Thai over reaction, as the officials were informed that there was no need to issue a tsunami warning and there was absolutely no need to panic.

How can they over react at a tsunami warning when it was first thought to be a quake off sumatra again, were you here in 04 we could've done with some over reaction then!

[jimpthai]

Was there no warning...No one on "watch" sort of speak? Amazing Thailand!

What? You obviously do not come from an earthquake zone. There is no such thing as an earthquake warning! Only rough highly-inaccurate predictions of possibilities over a wide range of time. You must be thinking of tornadoes, hurricanes, or election outcomes.

Oh, by the way, I’m from California and grew up in Kansas, so I am intimately familiar with earthquakes and tornadoes. Science is nowhere close to accurate predictions of specific earthquake occurrences. I didn't mean to sound rude in my previous post.

[Nigel1500]

... The USGS reports on quakes all over the world, down to Richter 2.5. As of this moment, three and a half hours after the quake hit Sumatra, hey don't have any record of an earthquake in Thailand. http://earthquake.us...arthquakes/map/

...

Actually, USGS measures earthquakes using the Moment Magnitude Scale (MMS). The unit of measure is MW. The Richter Scale is obsolete and rarely used anymore. The unit of measure for the Richter Scale is ML. In general terms, an earthquake reported as being "Magnitude X" means the MMS scale is being used. On the rare occasion that the Richter Scale is being used the earthquake will be reported as being "X on the Richter Scale".

Cheers

N.

[Nigel1500]

If the 5.3 afterquake today is huge, what was the 8.7 quake last week??

According to the Richter Scale a 5.3 quake is 4000 times weaker than a 8.7 quake, so definitely no need for a Tsunami warning.

The higher-numbers "potential hazard" names are funny/silly and not very descriptive.

Excellent point HerbalEd. The formal descriptions are as follows:

< 2 Micro

2 < 4 Minor

4 < 5 Light

5 < 6 Moderate

6 < 7 Strong

7 < 8 Major

8 < 10 Great

10 < Massive

There is more detailed information available on the Web.

Cheers

N.

[TomTao]

... The USGS reports on quakes all over the world, down to Richter 2.5. As of this moment, three and a half hours after the quake hit Sumatra, hey don't have any record of an earthquake in Thailand. http://earthquake.us...arthquakes/map/

...

Actually, USGS measures earthquakes using the Moment Magnitude Scale (MMS). The unit of measure is MW. The Richter Scale is obsolete and rarely used anymore. The unit of measure for the Richter Scale is ML. In general terms, an earthquake reported as being "Magnitude X" means the MMS scale is being used. On the rare occasion that the Richter Scale is being used the earthquake will be reported as being "X on the Richter Scale".

Cheers

N.

Would you happen to know what the abbreviations Mw and Ml stand for? I take it they are not to do with electricity or liquid mass.

[LivinginKata]

... The USGS reports on quakes all over the world, down to Richter 2.5. As of this moment, three and a half hours after the quake hit Sumatra, hey don't have any record of an earthquake in Thailand. http://earthquake.us...arthquakes/map/

...

Actually, USGS measures earthquakes using the Moment Magnitude Scale (MMS). The unit of measure is MW. The Richter Scale is obsolete and rarely used anymore. The unit of measure for the Richter Scale is ML. In general terms, an earthquake reported as being "Magnitude X" means the MMS scale is being used. On the rare occasion that the Richter Scale is being used the earthquake will be reported as being "X on the Richter Scale".

Cheers

N.

Would you happen to know what the abbreviations Mw and Ml stand for? I take it they are not to do with electricity or liquid mass.

Here you go http://earthquake.us...e_magnitude.php

Surface-wave (Ms) Energy Magnitude (Me) Local Magnitude (ML) Moment Magnitude (Mw)

[Tywais]

Would you happen to know what the abbreviations Mw and Ml stand for? I take it they are not to do with electricity or liquid mass.

Mw = MMS = Moment Magnitude Scale: the w is for 'mechanical work'

ML, used with Richter scale, where L denotes Logarithmic.

[NomadJoe]

Was there no warning...No one on "watch" sort of speak? Amazing Thailand!

What? You obviously do not come from an earthquake zone. There is no such thing as an earthquake warning! Only rough highly-inaccurate predictions of possibilities over a wide range of time. You must be thinking of tornadoes, hurricanes, or election outcomes.

Actually the Japanese have a very sophisticated earthquake early warning system. I remember when as a kid wondering why this didn't exist after I learned that quakes send a wave of energy outwards from an epicenter. When I was in Tokyo the day after the March 2011 quake and tsunami I kept hearing a strange chime coming from peoples mobiles. Turns out there's an app all the Japanese mobile phones have which would chirp several seconds before the aftershocks arrived.They also broadcast the warning instantly on every TV and radio station. All trains would automatically slow or stop. Not much warning, but better than nothing. You can do a lot in 10-20 seconds. The downfall is for you to get a warning before you feel the shaking you can't be at the epicenter. A similar system is also in place in Mexico and Chile. California is supposed to get on in the next few years.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about it is within 3 minutes they had a major tsunami warning broadcast with wave height and time of arrival estimates. Most of the coastal areas were already evacuated when it arrived. A hell of a lot better than the patchwork if often contradictory information that trickles painfully slowly from various Thai government officials and media. Must we really find a computer with working internet, sign into Thaivisa and rely on each other to search for answers as it is done now? There has to be a better way.

Instructions on Japans earthquake early warning system:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-2m-wf15s8