Full Version: PADANG QUAKE
I send my condolences and sympathies to all those who may have suffered from this recent quake at Padang. I watch the news closely to find out details. God be with you.
The Pacific is not too pacific this week
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090930/ap_on_...esia_earthquake
JAKARTA, Indonesia – A powerful earthquake struck western Indonesia on Wednesday, triggering landslides and trapping thousands under collapsed buildings — including two hospitals, an official said. At least 75 bodies were found, but the toll was expected to be far higher.
The temblor started fires, severed roads and cut off power and communications to Padang, a coastal city of 900,000 on Sumatra island. Thousands fled in panic, fearing a tsunami.
Buildings swayed hundreds of miles (kilometers) away in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.
In the sprawling low-lying city of Padang, the shaking was so intense that people crouched or sat on the street to avoid falling. Children screamed as an exodus of thousands tried to get away from the coast in cars and motorbikes, honking horns.
The magnitude 7.6 quake hit at 5:15 p.m. (1015GMT, 6:15 a.m. EDT), just off the coast of Padang, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It occurred a day after a killer tsunami hit islands in the South Pacific and was along the same fault line that spawned the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed 230,000 people in 11 nations.
A tsunami warning was issued Wednesday for countries along the Indian Ocean, but was lifted after about an hour; there were no reports of giant waves.
The temblor flattened buildings and felled trees in Padang, damaged mosques and hotels and crushed cars. A foot could be seen sticking out from one pile of rubble. In the gathering darkness shortly after the quake, residents fought some fires with buckets of water and used their bare hands to search for survivors, pulling at the wreckage and tossing it away piece by piece.
"People ran to high ground. Houses and buildings were badly damaged," said Kasmiati, who lives on the coast near the quake's epicenter.
"I was outside, so I am safe, but my children at home were injured," she said before her cell phone went dead. Like many Indonesians, she uses one name.
The loss of telephone service deepened the worries of those outside the stricken area.
"I want to know what happened to my sister and her husband," said Fitra Jaya, who owns a house in downtown Padang and was in Jakarta when the quake hit. "I tried to call my family there, but I could not reach anyone at all."
Initial reports received by the government said 75 people were killed, but the real number is "definitely higher," Vice President Jusuf Kalla told reporters in the capital, Jakarta. "It's hard to tell because there is heavy rain and a blackout," he said.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told MetroTV that two hospitals and a mall collapsed in Padang.
"This is a high-scale disaster, more powerful than the earthquake in Yogyakarta in 2006 when more than 3,000 people died," Supari said, referring to a major city on the main Indonesian island of Java.
Hospitals struggled to treat the injured as their relatives hovered nearby.
Indonesia's government announced $10 million in emergency response aid and medical teams and military planes were being dispatched to set up field hospitals and distribute tents, medicine and food rations. Members of the Cabinet were preparing for the possibility of thousands of deaths.
Rustam Pakaya, head of the Health Ministry's crisis center, said "thousands of people are trapped under the collapsed houses."
"Many buildings are badly damaged, including hotels and mosques," said Wandono, an official at the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Jakarta, citing reports from residents.
Kalla said the worst-affected area was Pariaman, a coastal town about 40 miles (60 kilometers) northwest of Padang. He gave no details on destruction or deaths there.
Local television reported more than two dozen landslides. Some blocked roads, causing miles-long traffic jams of cars and trucks.
On Tuesday, a powerful earthquake off the South Pacific islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga — thousands of miles from Indonesia — spawned tsunami that killed more than 100 people. Experts said the seismic events were not related.
Both Indonesia's Aceh province, which was devastated in the 2004 tsunami with 130,000 dead, and Padang lie along the same fault. It runs the along the west coast of Sumatra and is the meeting point of the Eurasian and Pacific tectonic plates, which have been pushing against each other for millions of years, causing huge stress to build up.
Scientists have long suggested Padang would suffer a similar fate to Aceh in the coming decades. Some predictions said 60,000 people would be killed — mostly by giant waves generated by an undersea quake.
The dire predictions spread alarm across Padang, which was struck by an earthquake in 2007 that killed dozens of people.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago with more than 17,000 islands and a population of 235 million, straddles continental plates and is prone to seismic activity along what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090930/ap_on_...esia_earthquake
JAKARTA, Indonesia – A powerful earthquake struck western Indonesia on Wednesday, triggering landslides and trapping thousands under collapsed buildings — including two hospitals, an official said. At least 75 bodies were found, but the toll was expected to be far higher.
The temblor started fires, severed roads and cut off power and communications to Padang, a coastal city of 900,000 on Sumatra island. Thousands fled in panic, fearing a tsunami.
Buildings swayed hundreds of miles (kilometers) away in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.
In the sprawling low-lying city of Padang, the shaking was so intense that people crouched or sat on the street to avoid falling. Children screamed as an exodus of thousands tried to get away from the coast in cars and motorbikes, honking horns.
The magnitude 7.6 quake hit at 5:15 p.m. (1015GMT, 6:15 a.m. EDT), just off the coast of Padang, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It occurred a day after a killer tsunami hit islands in the South Pacific and was along the same fault line that spawned the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed 230,000 people in 11 nations.
A tsunami warning was issued Wednesday for countries along the Indian Ocean, but was lifted after about an hour; there were no reports of giant waves.
The temblor flattened buildings and felled trees in Padang, damaged mosques and hotels and crushed cars. A foot could be seen sticking out from one pile of rubble. In the gathering darkness shortly after the quake, residents fought some fires with buckets of water and used their bare hands to search for survivors, pulling at the wreckage and tossing it away piece by piece.
"People ran to high ground. Houses and buildings were badly damaged," said Kasmiati, who lives on the coast near the quake's epicenter.
"I was outside, so I am safe, but my children at home were injured," she said before her cell phone went dead. Like many Indonesians, she uses one name.
The loss of telephone service deepened the worries of those outside the stricken area.
"I want to know what happened to my sister and her husband," said Fitra Jaya, who owns a house in downtown Padang and was in Jakarta when the quake hit. "I tried to call my family there, but I could not reach anyone at all."
Initial reports received by the government said 75 people were killed, but the real number is "definitely higher," Vice President Jusuf Kalla told reporters in the capital, Jakarta. "It's hard to tell because there is heavy rain and a blackout," he said.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told MetroTV that two hospitals and a mall collapsed in Padang.
"This is a high-scale disaster, more powerful than the earthquake in Yogyakarta in 2006 when more than 3,000 people died," Supari said, referring to a major city on the main Indonesian island of Java.
Hospitals struggled to treat the injured as their relatives hovered nearby.
Indonesia's government announced $10 million in emergency response aid and medical teams and military planes were being dispatched to set up field hospitals and distribute tents, medicine and food rations. Members of the Cabinet were preparing for the possibility of thousands of deaths.
Rustam Pakaya, head of the Health Ministry's crisis center, said "thousands of people are trapped under the collapsed houses."
"Many buildings are badly damaged, including hotels and mosques," said Wandono, an official at the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Jakarta, citing reports from residents.
Kalla said the worst-affected area was Pariaman, a coastal town about 40 miles (60 kilometers) northwest of Padang. He gave no details on destruction or deaths there.
Local television reported more than two dozen landslides. Some blocked roads, causing miles-long traffic jams of cars and trucks.
On Tuesday, a powerful earthquake off the South Pacific islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga — thousands of miles from Indonesia — spawned tsunami that killed more than 100 people. Experts said the seismic events were not related.
Both Indonesia's Aceh province, which was devastated in the 2004 tsunami with 130,000 dead, and Padang lie along the same fault. It runs the along the west coast of Sumatra and is the meeting point of the Eurasian and Pacific tectonic plates, which have been pushing against each other for millions of years, causing huge stress to build up.
Scientists have long suggested Padang would suffer a similar fate to Aceh in the coming decades. Some predictions said 60,000 people would be killed — mostly by giant waves generated by an undersea quake.
The dire predictions spread alarm across Padang, which was struck by an earthquake in 2007 that killed dozens of people.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago with more than 17,000 islands and a population of 235 million, straddles continental plates and is prone to seismic activity along what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire.
very strange the amount of strong quakes over the last 48 hours
Most people who live there on Sumatra, Java and the rest of the islands are accustomed to the prospects of an earthquake. Not that they wish for it. Certainly the 2004 tsunami was the worst of it as well as the deja vu tsunami in the Samoa. Most of the time it affects the middle class or really the lower income (orang miskin) who are devasted by these earthquakes. 
QUOTE
GEMPA BUMI
Tiba Sudah Giliran Padang... ...
Kompas, Kamis, 1 Oktober 2009 | 03:10 WIB
Pertanyaan pertama yang terlontar di antara kawan-kawan adalah ”mengapa Padang?” Pertanyaan itu menggelitik pikiran sekaligus menohok kesadaran kita yang terdalam, ”apa yang akan terjadi selanjutnya? Kapan akan terjadi lagi?”
Gempa Padang—getarannya terasa nyaris sampai jarak 500 kilometer (Pulau Enggano, Kota Jambi)—terjadi tepat berselang empat minggu dari gempa Tasikmalaya yang terjadi Rabu (2/9). Kekuatan gempa Padang tercatat 7,6 skala Richter (SR), tergolong gempa kuat.
Gempa memang tak bisa ditetapkan prakiraannya secara tepat: kapan dan di mana akan terjadi (Jadi, jangan pernah percaya kepada informasi yang menyebutkan secara presisi tempat dan waktu gempa yang akan terjadi!).
Yang selama ini telah dapat dilakukan para ahli gempa adalah memperhitungkan potensi dan peluang terjadinya gempa di suatu kawasan.
Demikianlah, sejumlah ahli gempa telah berkali-kali berkumpul mendiskusikan hal itu, terutama untuk kawasan barat Sumatera, yang berada dalam sistem subduksi (penunjaman lempeng samudra ke lempeng benua) yang sama yang terletak di Palung Sumatera.
Daerah tersebut merupakan zona subduksi Lempeng Eurasia yang menunjam ke Lempeng Indo-Australia. Zona tersebut, menurut ahli geologi dari Pusat Geoteknologi Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia Danny Hilman, aktivitasnya tinggi. ”Kecepatannya berkisar 5-7 cm per tahun. Angka ini menunjukkan aktivitas yang tinggi,” tuturnya.
Sudah diprediksi
Kejadian gempa yang merobohkan ratusan rumah dan puluhan gedung bertingkat ini bukan sesuatu yang tidak diperkirakan.
”Gempa Padang sudah diprediksi, diantisipasi, terutama setelah gempa besar Bengkulu tahun 2007,” tutur guru besar dan ahli gempa dari ITB, Sri Widiyantoro, saat dihubungi dari Jakarta, Rabu (30/9). Pada Rabu, 12 September 2007, terjadi gempa berkekuatan 7,9 SR yang mengguncang Bengkulu.
Prediksi tersebut berdasarkan hasil pengamatan sejak terjadi gempa 9,3 SR pada Desember 2004 yang membawa tsunami hebat di Aceh.
Kekuatan gempa Padang yang 7,6 SR tersebut di bawah prakiraan ahli gempa. ”Prediksinya lebih tinggi, bisa sampai 8,8 SR. Itu prakiraan energi yang masih tersimpan di zona yang belum pecah,” kata Sri Widiyantoro.
Direktur Pusat Teknologi Inventarisasi Sumber Daya Mineral Badan Pengkajian dan Penerapan Teknologi Yusuf Surachman menyebut, energi di Padang memang sudah matang.
Menurut Sri Widiyantoro, dengan pelepasan energi yang bertahap, tidak sekaligus besar melainkan sedikit demi sedikit dengan skala sekitar 7 SR, energi yang tersimpan akan berkurang secara bertahap. ”Akan tetapi, kami tidak bisa tahu apakah pelepasan energinya bertahap, sering-sering tapi tidak besar sekali, atau akan dikeluarkan sekaligus besar,” katanya menambahkan. Energi dari gempa 8,9 SR, katanya, dibandingkan dengan 7,9 SR adalah 30 kali lipat besarnya.
Meloncati Padang
Dari pengamatan sejak tahun 2004, berturut-turut menurut Sri Widiyantoro terjadi gempa kuat berskala di atas 7,0 SR, mulai dari Nias hingga Bengkulu (tahun 2007), terus berlanjut sampai ke gempa Tasikmalaya empat minggu lalu.
”Ketika itu, saat tahun 2007 terjadi gempa Bengkulu, kami melihat ada yang aneh, ’mengapa, kok, meloncat? Mengapa Padang dilewati?’” Fenomena itu memiliki arti bahwa segmen di daerah Padang belum ”pecah”, melepaskan energi.
Setelah gempa Padang kemarin, pertanyaan yang masih mengganjal benak kalangan ahli gempa adalah bagaimana dengan zona subduksi di kawasan Mentawai yang sampai sekarang belum juga pecah.
Jalur zona subduksi di sebelah barat Sumatera yang merupakan daerah pusat gempa menurut Yusuf Surachman panjangnya sekitar 1.200 kilometer membentang dari Andaman, Aceh, Sumatera Utara, Padang, terus ke selatan, Bengkulu, Lampung, sampai ke Selat Sunda dan selatan Jawa Barat.
Gempa Padang, yang berkekuatan 7,6 SR, menurut Sri Widiyantoro, panjang zona yang pecah baru sekitar 100 kilometer. ”Maka kita semua harus terus waspada, tapi tidak perlu panik,” ujarnya.
Danny menambahkan, kawasan Mentawai yang belum juga melepaskan energi, panjang jalurnya 300-400 kilometer, mulai dari Pulau Siberut, Pulau Sipora, sampai ke Pulau Bagai Utara dan Bagai Selatan. ”Pusatnya terutama di bawah wilayah Siberut,” kata Danny.
Dia mengakui, gempa Padang berpotensi memicu potensi gempa besar yang ada di jalur tersebut, tetapi, ”Yang kami tak tahu ialah apakah itu sudah cukup besar untuk membuat zona di Mentawai bergerak. Jangka waktunya kita pun tak tahu. Bisa beberapa bulan atau beberapa tahun. Kami tak bisa memastikan kapan dan berapa besar energi yang terpicu,” katanya.
Yang dapat dilakukan dan harus terus dilakukan, menurut ketiganya, adalah mempersiapkan masyarakat agar ketika bencana terjadi mereka siap. ”Masyarakat harus diajari agar mereka tahu ke mana jalur untuk menyelamatkan diri, misalnya terjadi tsunami,” ujar Sri.
Jadi, ketika Padang diguncang bencana, sebenarnya yang harus dibaca adalah ”ini merupakan peringatan agar kita semua terus waspada, dan kita semua, termasuk pemerintah, mengerjakan pekerjaan rumah kita: selalu waspada dan paham cara-cara penyelamatan diri”. (NAW/YUN/ISW)
Tiba Sudah Giliran Padang... ...
Kompas, Kamis, 1 Oktober 2009 | 03:10 WIB
Pertanyaan pertama yang terlontar di antara kawan-kawan adalah ”mengapa Padang?” Pertanyaan itu menggelitik pikiran sekaligus menohok kesadaran kita yang terdalam, ”apa yang akan terjadi selanjutnya? Kapan akan terjadi lagi?”
Gempa Padang—getarannya terasa nyaris sampai jarak 500 kilometer (Pulau Enggano, Kota Jambi)—terjadi tepat berselang empat minggu dari gempa Tasikmalaya yang terjadi Rabu (2/9). Kekuatan gempa Padang tercatat 7,6 skala Richter (SR), tergolong gempa kuat.
Gempa memang tak bisa ditetapkan prakiraannya secara tepat: kapan dan di mana akan terjadi (Jadi, jangan pernah percaya kepada informasi yang menyebutkan secara presisi tempat dan waktu gempa yang akan terjadi!).
Yang selama ini telah dapat dilakukan para ahli gempa adalah memperhitungkan potensi dan peluang terjadinya gempa di suatu kawasan.
Demikianlah, sejumlah ahli gempa telah berkali-kali berkumpul mendiskusikan hal itu, terutama untuk kawasan barat Sumatera, yang berada dalam sistem subduksi (penunjaman lempeng samudra ke lempeng benua) yang sama yang terletak di Palung Sumatera.
Daerah tersebut merupakan zona subduksi Lempeng Eurasia yang menunjam ke Lempeng Indo-Australia. Zona tersebut, menurut ahli geologi dari Pusat Geoteknologi Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia Danny Hilman, aktivitasnya tinggi. ”Kecepatannya berkisar 5-7 cm per tahun. Angka ini menunjukkan aktivitas yang tinggi,” tuturnya.
Sudah diprediksi
Kejadian gempa yang merobohkan ratusan rumah dan puluhan gedung bertingkat ini bukan sesuatu yang tidak diperkirakan.
”Gempa Padang sudah diprediksi, diantisipasi, terutama setelah gempa besar Bengkulu tahun 2007,” tutur guru besar dan ahli gempa dari ITB, Sri Widiyantoro, saat dihubungi dari Jakarta, Rabu (30/9). Pada Rabu, 12 September 2007, terjadi gempa berkekuatan 7,9 SR yang mengguncang Bengkulu.
Prediksi tersebut berdasarkan hasil pengamatan sejak terjadi gempa 9,3 SR pada Desember 2004 yang membawa tsunami hebat di Aceh.
Kekuatan gempa Padang yang 7,6 SR tersebut di bawah prakiraan ahli gempa. ”Prediksinya lebih tinggi, bisa sampai 8,8 SR. Itu prakiraan energi yang masih tersimpan di zona yang belum pecah,” kata Sri Widiyantoro.
Direktur Pusat Teknologi Inventarisasi Sumber Daya Mineral Badan Pengkajian dan Penerapan Teknologi Yusuf Surachman menyebut, energi di Padang memang sudah matang.
Menurut Sri Widiyantoro, dengan pelepasan energi yang bertahap, tidak sekaligus besar melainkan sedikit demi sedikit dengan skala sekitar 7 SR, energi yang tersimpan akan berkurang secara bertahap. ”Akan tetapi, kami tidak bisa tahu apakah pelepasan energinya bertahap, sering-sering tapi tidak besar sekali, atau akan dikeluarkan sekaligus besar,” katanya menambahkan. Energi dari gempa 8,9 SR, katanya, dibandingkan dengan 7,9 SR adalah 30 kali lipat besarnya.
Meloncati Padang
Dari pengamatan sejak tahun 2004, berturut-turut menurut Sri Widiyantoro terjadi gempa kuat berskala di atas 7,0 SR, mulai dari Nias hingga Bengkulu (tahun 2007), terus berlanjut sampai ke gempa Tasikmalaya empat minggu lalu.
”Ketika itu, saat tahun 2007 terjadi gempa Bengkulu, kami melihat ada yang aneh, ’mengapa, kok, meloncat? Mengapa Padang dilewati?’” Fenomena itu memiliki arti bahwa segmen di daerah Padang belum ”pecah”, melepaskan energi.
Setelah gempa Padang kemarin, pertanyaan yang masih mengganjal benak kalangan ahli gempa adalah bagaimana dengan zona subduksi di kawasan Mentawai yang sampai sekarang belum juga pecah.
Jalur zona subduksi di sebelah barat Sumatera yang merupakan daerah pusat gempa menurut Yusuf Surachman panjangnya sekitar 1.200 kilometer membentang dari Andaman, Aceh, Sumatera Utara, Padang, terus ke selatan, Bengkulu, Lampung, sampai ke Selat Sunda dan selatan Jawa Barat.
Gempa Padang, yang berkekuatan 7,6 SR, menurut Sri Widiyantoro, panjang zona yang pecah baru sekitar 100 kilometer. ”Maka kita semua harus terus waspada, tapi tidak perlu panik,” ujarnya.
Danny menambahkan, kawasan Mentawai yang belum juga melepaskan energi, panjang jalurnya 300-400 kilometer, mulai dari Pulau Siberut, Pulau Sipora, sampai ke Pulau Bagai Utara dan Bagai Selatan. ”Pusatnya terutama di bawah wilayah Siberut,” kata Danny.
Dia mengakui, gempa Padang berpotensi memicu potensi gempa besar yang ada di jalur tersebut, tetapi, ”Yang kami tak tahu ialah apakah itu sudah cukup besar untuk membuat zona di Mentawai bergerak. Jangka waktunya kita pun tak tahu. Bisa beberapa bulan atau beberapa tahun. Kami tak bisa memastikan kapan dan berapa besar energi yang terpicu,” katanya.
Yang dapat dilakukan dan harus terus dilakukan, menurut ketiganya, adalah mempersiapkan masyarakat agar ketika bencana terjadi mereka siap. ”Masyarakat harus diajari agar mereka tahu ke mana jalur untuk menyelamatkan diri, misalnya terjadi tsunami,” ujar Sri.
Jadi, ketika Padang diguncang bencana, sebenarnya yang harus dibaca adalah ”ini merupakan peringatan agar kita semua terus waspada, dan kita semua, termasuk pemerintah, mengerjakan pekerjaan rumah kita: selalu waspada dan paham cara-cara penyelamatan diri”. (NAW/YUN/ISW)
It is our risk as Indonesians to life in this crown jewel of the "Ring of Fire". The area prone of violent volcano eruption and devastating earthquake...
Better learn to be prepared and life with it.
My friend Yuni flies out to visit her family tomorrow.
Hope all will be well in Indonesia.
Majapahitans have you noticed how the Ring of Fire makes a "boomerang" shape around Australia.
I am lucky DownUnder.
We had several small tremors earlier this year, but nothing like our friends to the north.
Hope all will be well in Indonesia.
Majapahitans have you noticed how the Ring of Fire makes a "boomerang" shape around Australia.
I am lucky DownUnder.
We had several small tremors earlier this year, but nothing like our friends to the north.
^ Yes but where you live (South Eastern Australia) is also identified as one of the most bush fire prone area in the world, izzit?
Anyway the death toll reaches more than 1100 and keep on climbing as debris are being cleared in the city of about 1 million.
How to help from abroad (online):
http://www1.networkforgood.org/indonesia-e...&cmpgn=NEWS
(taken from Yahoo news )
Anyway the death toll reaches more than 1100 and keep on climbing as debris are being cleared in the city of about 1 million.
How to help from abroad (online):
http://www1.networkforgood.org/indonesia-e...&cmpgn=NEWS
(taken from Yahoo news )
QUOTE (Ralf @ Oct 1 2009, 08:12 AM) 
Majapahitans have you noticed how the Ring of Fire makes a "boomerang" shape around Australia.
I am lucky DownUnder.
We had several small tremors earlier this year, but nothing like our friends to the north.
I am lucky DownUnder.
We had several small tremors earlier this year, but nothing like our friends to the north.
Ya... Australia right in the center of tectonic plate, not on the subduction zone like Java and Sumatra.
Ya, maybe not subduction zone, but sometimes it still feels like we are going to Hell with all the bushfires.
JoeRagan thanks for the link to emergency relief organisations.
On the radio I heard Dave Jenkins from SurfAid talking about his relief work. It is good to see that surfers are not just tourists who take holidays, but they also give something back to the communities.
JoeRagan thanks for the link to emergency relief organisations.
On the radio I heard Dave Jenkins from SurfAid talking about his relief work. It is good to see that surfers are not just tourists who take holidays, but they also give something back to the communities.
26 Dec 2004: Asian tsunami kills 170,000 in Indonesia alone
28 March 2005: About 1,300 killed after a magnitude 8.7 quake hits the coast of Sumatra
27 May 2006: Quake hits ancient city of Yogyakarta, killing 5,000
17 July 2006: A tsunami after a 7.7 magnitude quake in West Java province kills 550 people
30 Sept 2009: 7.6 magnitude quake near Sumatran city of Padang, thousands feared dead
1 Oct 2009: Second of two quakes near Padang, magnitude 6.8 - no damage or casualties reported
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8287573.stm
The people there will continue their lives after this is over with and sadly fear for another big one in the future
28 March 2005: About 1,300 killed after a magnitude 8.7 quake hits the coast of Sumatra
27 May 2006: Quake hits ancient city of Yogyakarta, killing 5,000
17 July 2006: A tsunami after a 7.7 magnitude quake in West Java province kills 550 people
30 Sept 2009: 7.6 magnitude quake near Sumatran city of Padang, thousands feared dead
1 Oct 2009: Second of two quakes near Padang, magnitude 6.8 - no damage or casualties reported
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8287573.stm
The people there will continue their lives after this is over with and sadly fear for another big one in the future
in astronomical timeline these occurs at once in awhile.
indonesia has been and always be in ring of fire area.
it is just many years ago we dont have population and building structures as many as today.
so it is time we have to deal and treat quake just like it will happen tomorrow, instead of rare event.
indonesia has been and always be in ring of fire area.
it is just many years ago we dont have population and building structures as many as today.
so it is time we have to deal and treat quake just like it will happen tomorrow, instead of rare event.
yeah its all over the news here as well. condolences and my prayers are with you, indonesia.
I found a video of the earthquake as it was happening.. It was definitely a horrible experience for everyone in Padang..
I'd rather not post it here as the video is pretty graphic, a man had one foot out the door when the building collapsed on him.. he almost made it out!
I'd rather not post it here as the video is pretty graphic, a man had one foot out the door when the building collapsed on him.. he almost made it out!
Just saw Dave Jenkins, the CEO from SurfAid, on TV reporting back about his organisation's work in the Mentawais and around Padang.
Thankfully no deaths on the Mentawai Islands, but structural damage and the schools are closed until the buildings get repaired.
His team estimates that about 5,000 people are homeless in the islands, due to the earthquake.
Worse in the Padang region, where SurfAid has three teams which tallied the figures at about 70,000 homeless.
The report ended with an ominous warning that scientists believed the tectonic plates in the area where still "locked" and had not moved as expected, meaning that the quake had not resolved the tension in the Earth's crust and that another earthquake was likely in the near future.
I am not a structural engineer, but I reckon the rebuilt Padang needs lots of expansion joints and other ways of making the buildings flexible, in the event of another earthquake.
Thankfully no deaths on the Mentawai Islands, but structural damage and the schools are closed until the buildings get repaired.
His team estimates that about 5,000 people are homeless in the islands, due to the earthquake.
Worse in the Padang region, where SurfAid has three teams which tallied the figures at about 70,000 homeless.
The report ended with an ominous warning that scientists believed the tectonic plates in the area where still "locked" and had not moved as expected, meaning that the quake had not resolved the tension in the Earth's crust and that another earthquake was likely in the near future.
I am not a structural engineer, but I reckon the rebuilt Padang needs lots of expansion joints and other ways of making the buildings flexible, in the event of another earthquake.
Indonesia is sitting on top of a geodetic fault line and will forever be at high risk of severe earth quakes. Has the Indonesian government spent enough money and legislation for the control of buildings there? Have they spent enough money on researching for ways to minimise death and damage during a quake? There are different approaches to quake resistant architecture. Here is one article on wooden structures:
http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/07/20/wooden...re-earthquakes/
http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/07/20/wooden...re-earthquakes/
May I kindly check if Medan has been affected?
san, Medan is on the north-east coast, and Padang is on the South Western coast, and so I doubt if there has been any physical damage in Medan.
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