Phuket rocked by 5.3 Richter quake

[webfact]

Phuket rocked by 5.3 Richter quake

PHUKET: -- Phuket was shaken by a 5.3 Richter earthquake, situated off Sumatra, Indonesia, at around 6.40am this morning

Sant Jantarawong the chief of The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation in Phuket said there was no tsunami alert for the island at the moment.

He was waiting for further information from the National Disaster Centre.

The quake was felt widely across the island.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-rocked-by-5-3-richter-quake-40873.php


-- Phuket News 2013-07-17

[nachiket]

Hope everything will be okay and no disaster or tsunami will hit there.

[Soupdragon]

Hope everything will be okay and no disaster or tsunami will hit there.

The quake occurred a long way from the subduction zone so I guess unlikely to cause a tsunami. Certainly no warnings on Phuket this morning.

[steelepulse]

I felt it and thought that there was a serious gust of wind. It didn't last more than a second or two that I felt.

[LivinginKata]

Never noticed anything.

[Siriam]

I felt nothing, absolutely zero, and I was awake

[iancnx]

For those interested here is the report with exact mapped location. The quake was 29km deep under the surface.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000iftx#summary

[catweazle]

Felt it this morning around 06:45h in Khao Lak. Checked internet immediately and it took a while until the quake appeared on the interactive monitor map: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/

I was relieved to read that it was only 5.3 Richter and not close to the fault line. No reports of Tsunami warnings or evacuation up here, but I did send an SMS and made calls to alert friends living near the coast line.

If you go to http://www.gdacs.org , you can sign up to get a Tsuanmi or earthquake alert send as SMS to your phone. Comes in handy when living close to the beach. This one however was silent this morning... no SMS.

I am surprized though that it could be felt here (even though it was only 5.3 Richter) with a strength comparable to the two tremors before the tsunami in 2004 (woke up because of them back then and thus can tell). An "expert" told back in 2005 that it is good if you have small tremors in an area close to the fault lines on a regular basis, whereas total silence and no tremors at all for a very long period are cause for concern as tension is building up to the point where the plates snap up/downwards, and then very likely will cause a tsunami. So we should be fine - hopefully...

Edited July 17, 2013 by catweazle

[FireMedic]

They bed shaking woke me up. It was ever so slight, I blamed it on the construction trucks across the street and went back to sleep. I thought about asking on here and then saw this!

[nakhonandy]

For those interested here is the report with exact mapped location. The quake was 29km deep under the surface.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000iftx#summary

Interesting site.

Doesn't look like it would be a problem.

Hope not anyhow.

[Thormaturge]

5.3 in itself is unlikely to cause a sizeable tidal wave, but it does act as a reminder.

Still looking forward to next week in Phuket myself.

[hkt83100]

I could not feel it, but the bedroom door was rattling at 6.41 am.

[Guest]

I slept through the quake.

On USGS it's possible to subscribe to email alerts for quakes which are 6.0 or more.

This quake was a bit different as it did happen between Sumatra and Phuket, a bit far from the fault line.

Quake map of the area: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/

[Guest]

Today's quake was a small one, but reminded me of the large quake 1 year ago as it was also quite far from the fault line.

About 1 year ago there was the weird 8.6M quake at Sumatra. It was record breaking quake in couple of ways, but did not cause damage. The quake made scientist to think and learn more how quakes are related to each other.

Were there good conclusions of the event?

From: http://phys.org/news/2012-05-sumatra-earthquake-mysteries.html

The Sumatra earthquake’s magnitude surprised scientists because it was the most powerful strike-slip earthquake ever recorded. The quake was also unusual in that the rupture was in the middle of an oceanic plate rather than at the boundary between two plates. The slippage distance was surprisingly large; the 1906 San Francisco earthquake produced a slippage of 4.5 meters, while in Sumatra the distance was 21.3 meters.

http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/magnitude-8-6-earthquake-strikes-northern-sumatra-indonesia/
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/07/scienceshot-aprils-sumatra-quake.html

This site seems to give some explanations how quakes are related to each other. http://seismicity.net/

[Mur]

ooooh for a 5.3 pure luxury. lucky lucky bast###s wouldnt even wake me up. Not when you're used to 7.1 and 6.3 and the other 12,000+ quakes here in christchurch which are still happening daily after 2.5 years . Got woken recently by a 3.5 but as it was only 3 km from my house and only 5 km deep the house took a huge jolt and made quite a noise

Edited July 17, 2013 by Mur

[webfact]

Sumatra quake gives Phuket 'a little shake', nothing to fear
Phuket Gazette

PHUKET: -- The earthquake off the northern tip of Sumatra this morning was felt in Phuket, but was no cause for alarm, confirmed the Head of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket office (DDPM-Phuket) San Janthawong to the Phuket Gazette this morning.

No tsunami alert has been issued for Phuket or any other provinces along the Andaman Coast.

“The earthquake measured only 5.3 on the Richter scale and was at a depth of 10 kilometers,” Mr San said. “We did not issue any tsunami alert because we believe that the earthquake will not have any affect on us – we could only feel a little shake in Phuket.”

There have been no reports of damage from the quake in Phuket, Mr San said as he encouraged people to continue their daily activities as usual.

“However, we will be monitoring the area just in case there is a need for us to take action,” he said.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Sumatra-quake-gives-Phuket-a-little-shake-nothing-to-fear-21668.html


-- Phuket Gazette 2013-07-17

[bangarang]

I felt nothing, absolutely zero, and I was awake

yeah same here, and im over by the monument circle

[Curiosity Killed The Cat]

I felt nothing, absolutely zero, and I was awake

yeah same here, and im over by the monument circle

Felt it at Chalong Circle near Tesco, woke me up!

[lee b]

hope there arnt any more, especially of a bigger size

[DGIE]

Earthquake.tsunami... Both are fearfull catastrophe to happen. If you saw any of these

that had happened before. Let us hope that nothing will happen next...

[scotinsiam]

hope there arnt any more, especially of a bigger size

I have not been paying close attention but I believe this is the 4th quake in the Sumatra / Ache area in the last what... 4 or 5 weeks?

[Guest]

hope there arnt any more, especially of a bigger size

I have not been paying close attention but I believe this is the 4th quake in the Sumatra / Ache area in the last what... 4 or 5 weeks?

This was probably one of the tens smaller quakes, just like in any other month for the past millions of years. Today's quake was small, but closer to Phuket than normal. That's why it was felt here.

Sumatra is on edge of the ring of fire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Fire

[TheWizardofRnR]

Glad I left now in Naklua , sure wish everyone be safe and No Tsunami.....although I slept thru the last one when we lived at the Royal Crown Hotel on NaNai., I wouldn't want to see it occur there again !