Australians killed in tsunami Yahoo!7 October 1, 2009, 9:56 am
Relief workers in American Samoa and Samoa on Thursday searched for survivors after a series of tsunamis smashed into the tiny Pacific islands, killing more than 150 people and flattening villages.
Homes have been ripped apart, cars submerged in the sea or lodged in trees and large fishing boats hurled ashore by the waves generated by a 8.0 magnitude quake southwest of American Samoa.
Some victims were washed out to sea by waves that reached at least 6m high.
Survivors of the tsunami feel the death toll will rise sharply with "truckloads of bodies" being picked up where a wall of water swept ashore in the worst hit areas.
A second 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra late Wednesday, prompting the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre to issue a tsunami watch for Indonesia, India, Thailand and Malaysia. .. videos and photos .. http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/6130277/australians-killed-in-tsunami/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Samoa, then Indonesia: are the earthquakes linked?
Samoa and Indonesia have suffered two earthquakes in 16 hours. Cause and effect, or terrible coincidence? By Tim Edwards September 30, 2009
American Samoa and Indonesia, the victims of two earthquakes in 24 hours, both lie on the so-called Ring of Fire. This volcano- and quake-plagued semi-circle runs for 40,000km around the edge of the Pacific Ocean and accounts for approximately 90 per cent of the World's earthquakes and 75 per cent of its volcanoes.
At 17:48GMT yesterday, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck south of American Samoa. Just 16 hours later, at 10:16GMT today the second quake, of magnitude 7.6, hit 30 miles off the east coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. (The earthquake which caused the devastating Asian tsunami on Boxing Day 2004 was magnitude 9.1.)
So why might they be linked? The epicentres of the Samoan and Indonesian earthquakes both lie near to the edge of the Australian plate, about 4,000 miles apart (see map). It seems plausible that one movement of the Australian plate caused both earthquakes. But David Booth, senior seismologist at the British Geological Survey, is not so sure.
"There are sound physical reasons for expecting one earthquake to cause another, but that is very unlikely to have happened in this case," he says. "The quakes were in different fault zones, and the chance of one earthquake triggering another by seismic waves moving up the fault line are very slight over such a great distance.
"Indonesia is one of the most seismic zones in the world - perhaps the most seismic - so it's no real surprise that a large earthquake has happened there, but the fact that it happened within hours of the Samoan one is almost certainly a coincidence."
One thing Booth is certain about is that there has been an upsurge in seismic activity in the Indonesian faultline since the 2004 Asian tsunami - and recent earthquakes in that region have only added to the likelihood of further disasters.
"As one earthquake happens, the stress in the fault changes," he explains. "The stress on unfractured segments increases, making an earthquake in that segment more likely." http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/54190,news,first-samoa-then-indonesia-are-the-earthquakes-linked ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Double Devastation: Earthquake in Indonesia and Tsunami in Samoa .. AP
No one spared: An aerial of Hihifo on the western side of Tonga after the first powerful earthquake sent tsunami waves sweeping through the Pacific
Thursday, 1 October 2009 | 8:20 AM
KOMPAS.com - A two-year-old British child was presumed dead last night, one of at least 140 victims of a devastating tsunami which smashed into the Pacific island of Samoa.
There were also concerns for several other Britons who failed to contact relatives after entire villages were flattened or washed into the sea.
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