Breaking News - Tsunami Warning! Southern Thailand

[Scott]

I have been on the outer edge of a volcanic eruption--as in sprinkled with ash, unable to drive etc. They are terribly unpredictable. It's not the quakes that are scary, it's the actual explosion and believe me, it's good they are monitoring it.

I would feel reasonably safe in the area, knowing they have their ears open. So let them err on the side of caution. The alternative is unthinkable, especially after Dec. 26.

[ColPyat]

One of the top stories in Sweden right now. Swedes are usually very sensitive about things like this, so count on a few percent less drunk swedes in Phuket in the coming months.

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That's a bit like a glass being "1/2 Empty or 1/2 Full" . . . . isn't it !

Perhaps the heavily drinking Swedes may feel more secure in the knowledge that Thailand is actually monitoring the sea-areas from whence danger might creep-up . . . . ? ? ? ? So; perhaps Phuket can look forward to more tourists from that thirsty part of the world, not less ? ? ?

Unfortunatly most swedish only read the headlines which right now says "VOLCANIC ACTIVITY outside THAILAND". Swedes like mot people are dumb.

Actually, Swedes are naturally very sensitive as Sweden had the highest death count of westerners during the tsunami.

Everybody who has been in the tsunami, or in involved in the immediate aftermath, will get the shakes as soon such an alert is published.

[thaigene2]

Dear George and Vic the Canuck..thanks for keeping on top of this for us all. I'm grateful.

[robint]

why dont they send navy-boats in the andaman-sea?

the fishermen should watch, because the navy dont have money for the diesel?

what about sailing boats?

you would hardly notice a tsunami swell out at sea amongst all the normal ocean waves. The swell might only be as little as 50mm as with the case of the recent phuket disaster. this is why it is so difficult to monitor such dangers. you need very sensitive and expensive measuring equipment, but at least you would get genuine warnings and time to react.

IMHO what is one suppposed to do when living in an area prone to such tremors (which were previously unreported to the ordinary man) - get the flock out in case it MIGHT flood?. there is a lot of misinformation on the whole subject. ocean tremors go on all the time and some areas are more prone to serious problem. you can google the whole topic on tsunamis past and present - its interesting, sane stuff.

personally i would bang nails into sheltered palm tree and shimmy up that (or if i could afford it) install a tall concrete post as used for electric supplies, put a small table on top to sit on, or even a small water storage tank - but I am crazy anyway, so dont listen to me. there is only one guarantee in life, and thats the end of it.

[BigSnake]

Hope everybody in the area listenUP to coin a phase, better safe than sorry. Me I would head for the hills.

[Carmine6]

why dont they send navy-boats in the andaman-sea?

the fishermen should watch, because the navy dont have money for the diesel?

what about sailing boats?

you would hardly notice a tsunami swell out at sea amongst all the normal ocean waves. The swell might only be as little as 50mm as with the case of the recent phuket disaster. this is why it is so difficult to monitor such dangers. you need very sensitive and expensive measuring equipment, but at least you would get genuine warnings and time to react.

IMHO what is one suppposed to do when living in an area prone to such tremors (which were previously unreported to the ordinary man) - get the flock out in case it MIGHT flood?. there is a lot of misinformation on the whole subject. ocean tremors go on all the time and some areas are more prone to serious problem. you can google the whole topic on tsunamis past and present - its interesting, sane stuff.

personally i would bang nails into sheltered palm tree and shimmy up that (or if i could afford it) install a tall concrete post as used for electric supplies, put a small table on top to sit on, or even a small water storage tank - but I am crazy anyway, so dont listen to me. there is only one guarantee in life, and thats the end of it.

They're not being asked to look for Tsunamis at sea, which would be too late anyway.

"The centre asked Thais to monitor announcements from the centre closely and ask fishermen to watch out for possible signs of undersea volcano explosion, such as the change of sea colours and strange behaviours of sea animals and smelling of phosphorous and seeing bubbles coming up from the sea."

If you go to the link supplied by Wolfie in post # 2, you'll see a lot of quakes in the last few days. You can get back to the map of the world and can count the quakes in the last 30 days worldwide. In the last week earthquakes in the area are 63% of the quakes in the entire world (magnitude >4). In the preceding 23 days they were only 7%.

I graphed the frequency for this area versus the total for the world, and I have to say I wouldn't ignore this info if it crossed my desk. Doesn't mean anything is imminent, but there's definitely something different recently. Good news is quakes so far are lower on the 11th. Hopefully this has just cycled through.

[cobra]

... At Least the warnings go out now Without some Lazy official worrying about loosing FACE if they mgiht be wrong...

Exactly,

Even if a false or exagerated alarm, it's still a good test of the system.

[sajal]

Actually, Swedes are naturally very sensitive as Sweden had the highest death count of westerners during the tsunami.

I think a better way to put it would be to say that sweden had the highest death toll per capita in the last tsunami

[ColPyat]

Actually, Swedes are naturally very sensitive as Sweden had the highest death count of westerners during the tsunami.

I think a better way to put it would be to say that sweden had the highest death toll per capita in the last tsunami

Don't wanna be anal here, but i believe that honor belongs to the Acehnese: somwhere between 100 000 and 200 000 out of a total population of 4 million.

[Puma]

Unfortunatly most swedish only read the headlines which right now says "VOLCANIC ACTIVITY outside THAILAND". Swedes like mot people are dumb.

May Kao Thai ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_O..._and_casualties

Edited March 11, 2006 by Puma

[jdinasia]

Actually, Swedes are naturally very sensitive as Sweden had the highest death count of westerners during the tsunami.

I think a better way to put it would be to say that sweden had the highest death toll per capita in the last tsunami

Don't wanna be anal here, but i believe that honor belongs to the Acehnese: somwhere between 100 000 and 200 000 out of a total population of 4 million.

Not sure if it is accurate ... but sounds right ....

[kalaminsa]

Actually, Swedes are naturally very sensitive as Sweden had the highest death count of westerners during the tsunami.

I think a better way to put it would be to say that sweden had the highest death toll per capita in the last tsunami

Don't wanna be anal here, but i believe that honor belongs to the Acehnese: somwhere between 100 000 and 200 000 out of a total population of 4 million.

Not sure if it is accurate ... but sounds right ....

Amongst the tourists Germany suffered the gretest casualties ,552.

Sweden ,although a much smaller country ,suffered 543 casualties.

Aceh ofcourse suffered the highest casualties of all countries affected by the tsunami, an estimated 167,000

[george]

Update:

Tsunami watch cancelled

BANGKOK: -- The National Disaster Warning Centre announced this afternoon it has called off the tsunami alert along the Andaman coastline.

The centre "has affirmed that yesterday's earthquakes in the Andaman did not cause tsunamis," said an announcement.

Seismologists counted an unusual 31 undersea earthquakes in less than two days off the Thai coastline, roughly in the area of a massive earthquake which cause the 2004 killer tsunami.

Authorities called a tsunami watch, although no evacuation was ordered.

"After additional analysis of information and the geological structure of the Andaman Sea, the centre believes the frequent quakes will not cause tsunamis," authorities finally announced this afternoon.

--Bangkok Post 2006-03-12

[giulio]

267000 dies in all

120000 missing

and then how many not consider in the total of dies?birman that work in thailand,myanmar that say only lies about the total of victim,many people also in india,indonesia,sri lanka that the governement not recognize?that now have ID card?(i live personally the tsunami in phi phi island and i know thgat only in the island about 200 people like gipsy die and this people do not have any identity card.......

personally i think that the amount of dies in tsunami raising 500000 victims

but good news that MAYBE nothing more happen in this area at this moment

[nikster]

So IF a volcano is formed then it MIGHT explode which in turn MIGHT cause a tsunami.

I hope they dont put people off the system by crying wolf.

Can they really afford to _not_ issue warnings when unusual things happen? No. They can't. I wouldn't want them to, either.

It can happen again - this is an active fault line and if I recall correctly scientists said that the big one was not nearly enough to release all the stress that has built up on that line.

I am canceling my trip to the Maldives (well nothing booked anyway, just thought I would go). Maybe nothing will happen, but why take a chance when I can just as well go somewhere that's not in the vicinity of an active fault line.

I would feel reasonably safe in the area, knowing they have their ears open. So let them err on the side of caution. The alternative is unthinkable, especially after Dec. 26.

Word!! Quoted for truth.

[seonai]

Thailand to make evacuation plans after underwater tremors

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AFP Photo

Thailand will prepare evacuation plans for tourists and residents on the southern coast hit by the 2004 tsunami following a series of underwater tremors in the Andaman Sea.

"The situation is worrying and we want to alert local authorities and people so that they can prepare for an evacuation" if a big quake strikes, said Samit Thammasarot, the head of the National Committee on Natural Disaster Warning.

"More quakes could cause a major eruption of underwater volcanos, and that could trigger a tsunami again," he said Sunday, urging people living on the Andaman coast to be cautious.

But Samit said the government so far had no plans to issue an evacuation order.

The committee said that between March 9 and 12 it had detected 39 quakes ranging in magnitude from 4.0 to 5.3 near the Andaman Islands, some 500 kilometers (300 miles) west of the southern Thai province of Ranong.

The epicenter of the quakes was located 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) below the seabed, the same depth as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake which triggered the killer tsunami that left more than 220,000 people dead in several countries.

In Thailand alone, the tsunami killed some 5,400 people. After the disaster, the government developed an early tsunami warning system in cooperation with neighboring countries and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii.

"I can assure (people) that we are closely monitoring quakes and will issue warnings if we detect something strong like the tsunami. Our warning system is working well. We have been preparing for that," Samit said.

This news was posted from Singapore at Sunday March 12, 7:49 PM

[giulio]

Thailand to make evacuation plans after underwater tremors

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AFP Photo

Thailand will prepare evacuation plans for tourists and residents on the southern coast hit by the 2004 tsunami following a series of underwater tremors in the Andaman Sea.

"The situation is worrying and we want to alert local authorities and people so that they can prepare for an evacuation" if a big quake strikes, said Samit Thammasarot, the head of the National Committee on Natural Disaster Warning.

"More quakes could cause a major eruption of underwater volcanos, and that could trigger a tsunami again," he said Sunday, urging people living on the Andaman coast to be cautious.

But Samit said the government so far had no plans to issue an evacuation order.

The committee said that between March 9 and 12 it had detected 39 quakes ranging in magnitude from 4.0 to 5.3 near the Andaman Islands, some 500 kilometers (300 miles) west of the southern Thai province of Ranong.

The epicenter of the quakes was located 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) below the seabed, the same depth as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake which triggered the killer tsunami that left more than 220,000 people dead in several countries.

In Thailand alone, the tsunami killed some 5,400 people. After the disaster, the government developed an early tsunami warning system in cooperation with neighboring countries and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii.

"I can assure (people) that we are closely monitoring quakes and will issue warnings if we detect something strong like the tsunami. Our warning system is working well. We have been preparing for that," Samit said.

This news was posted from Singapore at Sunday March 12, 7:49 PM

so,just not finish the alert?????

[ColPyat]

personally i think that the amount of dies in tsunami raising 500000 victims

I believe that you are right there.

It is well known that real number of victims in Thailand alone is far higher than the official numbers.

[Jai Dee]

Disaster warning center affirmed earthquakes in Andaman during this period will not cause tsunamis

The National Disaster Warning Center has affirmed in an announcement that yesterday's earthquake in the Andaman did not cause tsunamis.

31 earthquakes have occurred between March 9th and 10th. Two quakes occurred yesterday, a 4.9 Richter magnitude quake at 11.47 am and a 4.6 Richter quake at 5.39 pm. After additional analysis of information and the geological structure of the Andaman Sea, the center believe the frequent quakes will not cause tsunamis that may affect the lives and assets of people along Thailand's Andaman coast.

It thus asked that people in the 6 west coast provinces not to panic and carry on their normal living, and also follow up on news from the National Disaster Warning Center.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 12 March 2006

[baabaabobo]

Ranong quake rumor denied

The National Disaster Warning Center or NDWC denied rumors on Saturday of a major earthquake in the Ranong area.

The rumors that circulated over the weekend stated that a quake of magnitude 7.5 on the Richter scale took place near Ranong .

Patrawan Tuamlee of the NDWC said that this was not the case. She did say, however, that there had been a slew of temblors in the Andaman Sea, centered around an area some 210 kilometers southeast of Port Blair in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and 300km west of Ranong.

The situatioon is being watched closely by the NDWC, she added.

K. Patrawan said that the NWDC recorded 31 tremors of magnitude 4.1 to 5.3 in a 48 hour period which is “abnormal”.

She also asked fishermen and others on the water to report any strange maritime phenomena by calling Tel: 1860.

Chumnong Chitpukdee, Director of the Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast), told the Gazette, “I have listened to the NDWC reports, and the quakes that have occurred will not affect Phuket". But, "Our staff are monitoring the situation around the clock", he added.

Source: The Phuket Gazette on Saturday

[lukamar]

This is a good general site for all kinds of warnings and info. Seismic, Tsunami Etc. Worldwide.

Seismic Activity Page

[phibunmike]

Actually, there have been reports of bubbling in that area shortly after the tsunami. Geologists have been speculating that the tsunami earthquake may have reactivated under sea volcanoes and *another fault line. I don't know much about this at all, but am merely repeating what I remember reading after the tsunami.

I thought it was the same fault line ? But as this is a subduction fault (edge of one plate, typically ocean bed, getting pushed under adjacent plate, typically continental shelf), it makes sense that it is very sensitive area prone to volcanic eruptions: as cool sea-bed rock and a lot of sea-water gets dragged under the crust, it gets very hot, and creates quite an explosive mixture of molten rock and super-heated steam. This is the same situation which has caused the re-birth of Krakatau. By the way, the destructive eruption of Krakatau was preceeded by 3 months of rumblings and fartings.

So, without being alarmist, and accepting that the December 26th events relieved a lot of pressure along the fault, it does seem that this fault is somewhat unstable at the moment, and I can understand how it will take a while for all this displaced material to settle down. I am not a geologist, by the way, just find this interesting, so anyone with more knowledge please tell us.

[giulio]

This is a good general site for all kinds of warnings and info. Seismic, Tsunami Etc. Worldwide.

Seismic Activity Page

good site,thanks

personally i use konfabulator with widget tremor skimmer (play alarm over magnitudo 5)that in real time update the event every 5 minuter from

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/finger/quake.asc

[Turtleonfire]

The USGC states:

Seismologists have observed that for every magnitude 6 earthquake there are 10 of magnitude 5, 100 of magnitude 4, 1,000 of magnitude 3, and so forth as the events get smaller and smaller. This sounds like a lot of small earthquakes, but there are never enough small ones to eliminate the occasional large event. It would take 32 magnitude 5's, 1000 magnitude 4's, 32,000 magnitude 3's to equal the energy of one magnitude 6 event. So, even though we always record many more small events than large ones, there are never enough to eliminate the need for the occasional large earthquake.

I'm sorry, what? Could I have this is layman's terms please ?

[Jai Dee]

The earthquake warning has caused damage to marine tourism in Trang province

The President of the Hotel and Tourism Business Association of Trang (ตรัง) Province, Mr. Mon Sakulmethanon (มนต์ สกุลเมธานนท์), disclosed that earthquake warnings in the last two days had caused damage to marine tourism in the province.

Following several earthquake warnings by the National Disaster Warning Center during March 9th-11th along the Andaman Sea, many tourists have cancelled their trips to Trang Province. He commented that that it would take some time for Thailand to restore tourists' confidence towards local tourism.

Hence, he demanded all units concerned to urgently launch public relations for this season so as to attract tourists to Thailand. He informed that some 46 islands surrounding Trang beach will help prevent impacts from tsunamis.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 13 March 2006

[Carmine6]

Close call. Hope everyone is ok there.

Strong Quake Rocks Eastern Indonesia

03.14.2006, 02:35 AM

A powerful undersea earthquake struck Indonesia's eastern coast on Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of damage or a tsunami.

The 6.8-magnitude quake was about 60 miles west of Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site. It was around 25 miles under the Banda Sea, it said.

Residents in Ambon fled homes and offices when the quake struck, witnesses said.

[giulio]

two more quake tonight in andaman island and north sumatra 5.3 ritcher......not finish the story i think

[george]

Is this confirmed?

URL?

[LaoPo]

This is what I found; please have a look:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recent...akes/uskia5.php

LaoPo

[giulio]

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/finger/quake.asc