Tremor in Sitiawan

[Alkapocino]

We experienced 10-20 seconds of tremor in Sitiawan this morning. People are running out of the kopi tiams and some people in the Church thought it is the end of the world.

[song cm]

Hey...my wife claimed that she felt it this mornin as well....around 9am rite??

[daBoss]

calm and quiet in kl - except for my son screaming and jumping as usual...

[Dino]

Hah!! Honestly....a real earthquake is quite an experience. Tremors are so-so. :D

[Alkapocino]

Hey...my wife claimed that she felt it this mornin as well....around 9am rite??
It's about 9:15am this morning.


Hah!! Honestly....a real earthquake is quite an experience. Tremors are so-so.
Yup...nothing compared to the one in Turkey and Japan but this morning tremor still scared the shit out of the rubber tappers. :p

[song cm]

Hah!! Honestly....a real earthquake is quite an experience. Tremors are so-so. :D

Thank goodness there are no earthquakes n tornados in Malaysia....can't the the same for u though, Dino....

[Dino]

Yup...nothing compared to the one in Turkey and Japan but this morning tremor still scared the shit out of the rubber tappers. :p

Hehehehe.....i can imagine the shock on those people.

[Alkapocino]

Walao eh, you should look at those faces...especially the AUNTIES. Pucat!!!!!

Dem frightening. :eek:

[Dino]

Walao eh, you should look at those faces...especially the AUNTIES. Pucat!!!!!

Dem frightening. :eek:

Like Jakun i pressume!!! Hhaahhaaha!!!

[Dino]

Btw...count your lucky stars there is no Tsunami!!! If got.....die man!!!

[Alkapocino]

Hey...my wife claimed that she felt it this mornin as well....around 9am rite??
And you are in Penang, am I right?

Btw...count your lucky stars there is no Tsunami!!! If got.....die man!!!
We can't even handle flash flood, what more the Tsunami!!!

[TingMS]

JAKARTA, Indonesia -

One of the world's most powerful earthquakes in years rocked northern Indonesia on Sunday and launched tidal waves that slammed shorelines across Asia, killing some 300 in Sri Lanka and almost 100 in Indonesia, officials said.


The U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites) said a magnitude-8.5 quake — one capable of massive damage — struck off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra at 8 a.m. Sunday.


Soon after, immense waves crashed into several countries, and aftershocks in the magnitude-7 range were seen, the USGS (news - web sites) said, raising the possibility of a large regional death toll.


Waves crashed into coastal villages over a wide area of Sri Lanka — some 1,000 miles west of the quake's epicenter — killing some 300 people and displacing thousands of others, said military spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayake.


Parts of the northeastern districts of Muttur and Trincomalee were inundated by waves as high as 20 feet, said D. Rodrigo, a Muttur district official.


"The police station in Muttur is under water and the area is badly affected," police spokesman Rienzie Perera said. "It is a very tragic situation."


He said over 100,000 people have been affected in Sri Lanka.


At least 94 people were killed in Indonesia's Aceh province, hospital and local officials said.


Bireun district head Mustofa Glanggang told The Associated Press that 50 people were killed in Bireun district. Thirty-five bodies were brought to Cut Meutia Hospital in the northern city of Lhokseumawe, an official there said. Nine others were killed in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, witnesses told a local radio station.


Communications were down in several coastal towns facing the epicenter of the undersea quake off the western coast of Aceh, raising fears of widespread and as yet unreported damage in the region.


At least 10 powerful aftershocks were also reported in the province after the initial quake struck, a seismologist said.


"The ground was shaking for a long time," resident Yayan Zamzani told Jakarta's el-Shinta radio station. "It must be the strongest earthquake in the last 15 years."


In India, at least 36 people were killed in three districts of Andhra Pradesh, and 27 bodies were found washed ashore on the Marina beach in Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu state, officials said. They said 200 fishermen from Andhra Pradesh were missing at sea while another 50 from Tamil Nadu were unaccounted for.


Fourteen people died and many were missing in popular southern Thailand resorts, said Sorajak Chusaeng, of the Narenthorn Center of the Public Health Ministry. The center also reported that people were swept away in Phuket by a tsunami with waves surging as high as 16 feet.


Don Blakeman, and earthquake analyst with the USGS, said large tidal waves frequently follow quakes like the one seen in Indonesia, noting that a powerful quake in Alaska four decades ago caused waves that killed people as far away as Japan.


He told The Associated Press that aftershocks are another concern. "We do expect large aftershocks after a large earthquake like this."


The Bangladesh Meteorological Department said a powerful earthquake jolted a wide area of that country early Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The quake was reported to be a magnitude-7.3.





Police in Malaysia said seven people were killed in tidal waves.

Indonesia, a country of 17,000 islands, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the margins of tectonic plates that make up the so-called the "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific Ocean basin.

In Colombo, the Seismological Department said that they believe the tidal waves in Sri Lanka were caused by earthquakes earlier Sunday in the Southeast Asia.

"We are not 100 percent sure, but this is our initial finding," S. Premalal, a Seismological Department officer said.

The Indonesian quake struck just three days after an 8.1 quake struck the ocean floor between Australia and Antarctica, causing buildings to shake hundreds of miles away but no serious damage or injury.

Quakes reaching a magnitude 8 are very rare. A quake registering magnitude 8 rocked Japan's northern island of Hokkaido on Sept. 25, 2003, injuring nearly 600 people. An 8.4 magnitude tremor that stuck off the coast of Peru on June 23, 2001, killed 74.

[Dino]

I experience a 6.3 before, and its pretty bad. The whole building shakes like crazy....i can't imagine what a 8.5 is like, you can even see the roads move like waves on a 6.3.

[Alkapocino]

Seems like this is a BIG ONE huh! Gee....if S'wan can feel the tremor, you better call all your relatives in Japan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka etc. I also pucat this morning.

Like Dino puts it "Looks like jakun".
:o

[TingMS]

Seems like this is a BIG ONE huh! Gee....if S'wan can feel the tremor, you better call all your relatives in Japan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka etc. I also pucat this morning.

Like Dino puts it "Looks like jakun".
:o

yup,

i would agree with Dino.

I had an encounter with tornado.

initially so peace and calm, no wind, no nothing,

then, came the hail, ice balls, as big as ping pong ball,

next the scarry part, gusty wind, with all the scary wind sound...

phew....

and i was just 2 streets across..

next morning, you can actually tell the path the tornado took by the damages it caused.

most amazed to see a leave pierced and stuck into a wooden pole..

imagine the force..

damn scary...

:D

[Dino]

Here's a good link showing what the Richter scale describes the magnitute of the quakes.

http://mistupid.com/geology/richter.htm

Btw, HappyGhost...were u in Kansas when you saw the tornado? I've seen hail and it hurts like made getting hit by it. Have some collegues seeing tornadoes and they say its scary as hell!

[TingMS]

Here's a good link showing what the Richter scale describes the magnitute of the quakes.

http://mistupid.com/geology/richter.htm

Btw, HappyGhost...were u in Kansas when you saw the tornado? I've seen hail and it hurts like made getting hit by it. Have some collegues seeing tornadoes and they say its scary as hell!

yes dino,

i was at Kansas at that time. 1992.

big news on cnn.

my brother and sister were worried sick. Called me many times but line was broken.

A big relief to them when they hear my voice..

heheheheeee

:D

[Dino]

yes dino,

i was at Kansas at that time. 1992.

big news on cnn.

my brother and sister were worried sick. Called me many times but line was broken.

A big relief to them when they hear my voice..

heheheheeee

:D

I would love to join those storm chasers though. Should be quite a rush!!

[TingMS]

I would love to join those storm chasers though. Should be quite a rush!!


agree with you dino,

if you are into those things, it will be quite a thrill..

your adrenalin will shoot up like nobody's business..

bad thing was, at that time, the police chased us out from the streets...

heheheeee

[daLady]

I remember we experience tremors in Sitiawan in other pasts of Malaysia in 1997. I remember my roommate in the university hostel felt her bed shaking but thought that it was a dream until everyone started talking about the tremor...

[song cm]

My neighbor was actually relaxing at one of the hotels along Tanjung Bunga (north of the island) when he actually saw the waves. he said it was pretty scary. On the way back he actually saw 4 dead bodies lying along the road..... :eek:

[ah-wong]

My neighbor was actually relaxing at one of the hotels along Tanjung Bunga (north of the island) when he actually saw the waves. he said it was pretty scary. On the way back he actually saw 4 dead bodies lying along the road..... :eek:

It was all over the news here this morning...mostly concentrating on Sri Lanka, India and Southern Thailand. CNN reported 8 people died in Penang. I think there were no warning because it happened so early in the morning. Now, i will think twice about going Phuket for scuba diving.

[KoChun]

Heard over the radio this morning. I think the the no. of people dead in the region reported to be more than 10,000 now. Still to come, I fear.

[Dino]

12,300 as of now and counting!!!! :eek:

[Hisham]

Presenting some pictures of the Phuket pounding perpetrator. Clicky! (http://www.pbase.com/issels/phuket_tsunami)

[KoChun]

Phuket Tsunami!!! Thanks, Hisham.

[Dino]

Thanks Hisham!!!

[WaterFish]

umm...

Finally some people agree with me.... Sigh. I felt it in church yesterday and of all the person i SMS... only 1 agree with me... ^^ sigh... why dun people trust other more...

The tremor was felt duringchurch service and i at first thought it was some bugger shaking the bench... Then i started to feel dizzy 'evidence that i sure to get sea-sickness on sea ^^'... I then thought that an evil spirit was attacking the church ... but i thought NAAHHHH!!!!

Then i noted that people started to act weird... and my brother and sister was pointing to the ceiling fan... The pastor then asked whether he was immagining that there is movement and later comment that there is nothing to fear ^^

It seems that the tremor was felt only in Sitiawan, Pekeliling and Damansara...

[jimdiong]

its also felt in Prai, Penang.
I was at home when it happen. Initially i thought that i was dizzy but later comfirm that its the hse that is shaking..... this is the 2nd time that this have happen in Prai.

[ahbau]

so people, KL is still the safest place but don't stay too high up in the condo/flat/apartment.

[ausman]

Ah bau .. don't say it so quick... we are actually very close to Sumatra... and it sit on top of the fault line... yesterday quake was at the edge of the fault line...

Now imagine for a moment what if the quake at 9.0 Richter scale happen in Medan........

.... Medan is very close to M'sia...

[Dino]

Ah bau .. don't say it so quick... we are actually very close to Sumatra... and it sit on top of the fault line... yesterday quake was at the edge of the fault line...

Now imagine for a moment what if the quake at 9.0 Richter scale happen in Medan........

.... Medan is very close to M'sia...

Then Singapore will be in quite a pickle!!

[Diong_Gar_Loon]

called my mum and she told me that some fisherman from Lumut are still missing until now. waves swept some motorcycles away. i guess any toen near the sea would be affected.

[daLady]

My fren just told me that she read in the newspaper that those in Arena Green, Bukit Jalil evacuated to the ground floor when they felt the tremor. Surprising, boss and I did not experience it at Vista Komanwel although we are less than 1 km down the road....maybe too fast asleep...

Yah..I think we should move to our landed property soon...don't feel safe living so high up...

[Diong_Gar_Loon]

My fren just told me that she read in the newspaper that those in Arena Green, Bukit Jalil evacuated to the ground floor when they felt the tremor. Surprising, boss and I did not experience it at Vista Komanwel although we are less than 1 km down the road....maybe too fast asleep...

Yah..I think we should move to our landed property soon...don't feel safe living so high up...
no where is safe.

[piglet]

no where is safe.

When ur time is up.. no matter where u hide.. u will still die

[jimdiong]

When ur time is up.. no matter where u hide.. u will still die
Agree but with that in mind are we going to look for trouble (like waiting for the tidal wave at the sea front knowing its coming) since ones think that it not his/her time yet?? :confused: :cool:

[Dino]

Agree but with that in mind are we going to look for trouble (like waiting for the tidal wave at the sea front knowing its coming) since ones think that it not his/her time yet?? :confused: :cool:

There should have been a Tsunami warning system set up after this, i hope.

[jimdiong]

There should have been a Tsunami warning system set up after this, i hope.
i really hope so...... looking at the death toll now at 13K ppl.......
this is the 1st time that this have happen in malaysia. :(

[Dino]

Shit...number is up to 15,500(www.reuters.com)

[Diong_Gar_Loon]

When ur time is up.. no matter where u hide.. u will still die
that's right. you can be in the safest place but when your time is up, wham....you are gone. i wonder how safe are our buildings now since we have not considered earthquake in the design aspect.

[Dino]

that's right. you can be in the safest place but when your time is up, wham....you are gone. i wonder how safe are our buildings now since we have not considered earthquake in the design aspect.

I am sure Malaysian building structure,even Singapore, does not take into account earthquake force. Its very expensive. Don't even want to think about the effect of such things.

[jimdiong]

Shit...number is up to 15,500(www.reuters.com)
This is really bad.....!!!!!

[piglet]

I am sure Malaysian building structure,even Singapore, does not take into account earthquake force. Its very expensive. Don't even want to think about the effect of such things.

Even Nicole Highway in S'pore could collapse without an earthquake...U don't need to wait for earthquake for things to collapse..

I was using Nicole Highway in tht morning before it collapse at 3pm.. Still not destine to die yet..

[Dino]

We use to think Malaysia is very safe from Earthquake.....i think this may have change peoples' perception of things.

[daLady]

We use to think Malaysia is very safe from Earthquake.....i think this may have change peoples' perception of things.

The world is coming to an end....

[athena]

The world is coming to an end....
you're a fan of notradamus?

[Alkapocino]

so people, KL is still the safest place but don't stay too high up in the condo/flat/apartment.
Ya ya....beware of lorries while reading newspaper in your living hall, brother. You never know and it does happened before in KL. Someone actually got killed while resting in the living hall. A stupid driver just rammed his lorry into the living hall. :p

[Robin Kok CH]

Shit...number is up to 15,500(www.reuters.com) (http://www.reuters.com))
aiyo aiyo....now at 23,000 already.....really kesian...

[KoChun]

aiyo aiyo....now at 23,000 already.....really kesian...

:eek: :eek: When will the number ever stop???

[Diong_Gar_Loon]

I am sure Malaysian building structure,even Singapore, does not take into account earthquake force. Its very expensive. Don't even want to think about the effect of such things.
Yeap.....true it is expensive but I think if it means safety, it is worth spending the money. Maybe can consider on the buildings on the west coast only since it is exposed to Sumatra.

[Dino]

Yeap.....true it is expensive but I think if it means safety, it is worth spending the money. Maybe can consider on the buildings on the west coast only since it is exposed to Sumatra.

I am no scientists but the question now is......what happens if it occur in South China Sea?

[WaterFish]

I wonder if the geography lesson for the classes should be modified... Maybe we will see tsunami and tremor included as our country natural disaster...

[Dino]

Ok...just found out that the gap between Malaysia and Borneo does not have the Tectonic plates.

[jimdiong]

Ok...just found out that the gap between Malaysia and Borneo does not have the Tectonic plates.
mind to share where u get this info?? :D

[Dino]

Try here.

http://www.moorlandschool.co.uk/earth/tectonic.htm

[Hisham]

No subduction zones between Malaysia & Borneo, aye. But if the fault east of the Philipines blows there might be heavy losses at Sabah and Sarawak and possible the east coast of the Peninsular.

http://nzphoto.tripod.com/volcano/PacificPlate.gif

[dtchieng]

subduction zone.
it means that at the fault line, where 2 tectonic plates meet each other, and with both of them colliding head on, one of the plate will tergelongsor underneath the other one.
imagine car accident, where ther is a pile up.. basically that's the picture.
so, when the plates gelongsor like that, the friction of d movement causes the vibration and in a mega scale, it translates into earthquake.
usually, there'll be volcanoes on the plate that is on top. that's why sumatera and basically all indonesian island are known as volcanic island.
the plate that tergelongsor underneath is made up of rocks, minerals as well as water. Water in the plate will be superheated by the mantel underneath earthcrust and the phase difference/perbezaan fasa between superheated rock+water will create an upward force that result on formation of volcanic cone.
volcanoes and earthquakes are sama-sama together one. they are nature's way of keeping her resources in dynamic balance.
malaysia is not on the pacific fire ring, where most of the fault lines are. we are spared the worst yet tht doesn't mean we r unaffected.

[Robin Kok CH]

aiyo aiyo....now at 23,000 already.....really kesian...really really bad.....number now at 48924 already, still expecting to rise significantly....very sad....

[Robin Kok CH]

really really bad.....number now at 48924 already, still expecting to rise significantly....very sad....Update update....now at 55,175
http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_1_38.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZNxdm414YYSG)

[Sarah]

Woohh Dih Ting..that's a good one.. making UM proud ar! :)
Yeah, it make sense to me now... :) cant believe it really happened. Its all so surreal... Cant imagine to be in the victims' shoes.

[daLady]

Update update....now at 55,175

Err... if you are reporting any more fatalities, I suggest you remove that grinning smiley from your signature. Not too appropriate hor... :(

[Robin Kok CH]

my bad my bad....

[Hisham]

It's now past the 100,000 mark. (http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/15630695?source=Evening%20Standard&ct=5)

Horrible.

That's more than 30 9/11 attacks.

[KoChun]

So sad... :(

[Sila]

i confess, i totally didn't think the huge earthquake could affect malaysia until i saw on CNN reports of deaths in malaysia. immediately called home... hey, if a quake hit south-ish of japan, the east coast and sabah/sarawak could possibly be affected by tsunamis?

mostly, we are lucky that sumatera is there to protect us from the worst of the elements - including the angin monsun barat daya...

on CNN today, i saw that doctors from malaysia (Mercy Malaysia, i believe) are in acheh and the situation there is just terrible. so far Mercy Malaysia was the first international aid to arrive in sumatera, so even though we mourn our (relatively minor, considering the number of casualties now) losses, we are also helping our neighbours as best we can.

[LiLiaN]

the climbing death toll is really scary... and i'm just barely over the shock... have been following 6-7 news channels on the satellite for the past week... lots of friends rang and/or text me to see if my family is ok in malaysia, and thank god, they are all well....

am now gearing up to organise a fund raiser in college when new term starts this coming week in order to get more aid into affected areas...

malaysia came under a close call this time round... if the centre has been on the other side of sumatra, it'll be malaysia on the headline, not sri lanka... pretty close call...

i don't think there will be a good warning system available soon though... scientists still don't have very good data to predict such event, and therefore can only detect tsunami as it happens and/or about to happen...

take some heed in nature's warning... the quakes in japan this year were some indications of tectonic plate movements... mount fuji has in recent years been releasing smoke, and as it is a dormant volcano, a near future eruption is possible.... and this is a worry for the scientists due to high population near the scenic sight that is japan's pride...

even weather has turned freakish this new year in ireland... yesterday a mini tornado hit north county dublin... and in matter of a few minutes, vehicles were overturned and houses were damaged... luckily no one was injured.... kinda a bit scary as i'm heading back to dublin today from wexford....

[KoChun]

malaysia came under a close call this time round... if the centre has been on the other side of sumatra, it'll be malaysia on the headline, not sri lanka... pretty close call...

Very close indeed, just a matter of East or West, I think. Phew...

[dtchieng]

Very close indeed, just a matter of East or West, I think. Phew...

few corrections to highlight..

it will never happen on the eastern side of sumatera, not in selat melaka, not in our lifetime..

take a look back at the map someone posted. take good look at the jagged lines that forms the pacific rim...

Imagine a football (the old ones with white n black pentagon patches, not the new nike silver ones), the tectonic plates are the patches, the jahitan are the fault lines.
Imagine that underneath the patches, it is filled with colloidal substance, semi-liquid la.. this semi-lquid stuff is at different suhu and fasa, so always in motion of perolakan, where the hotter stuff from the earth core tries to move to the surface which is cooler. this motion sets the tecton plates in motion at all times, not only when there's earthquake.. most of the time the motion is too small for us to feel it. when 2 plates collides, due to incessant motion of the semi-liquid stuff in the earth, mantel, the friction n force of collision manifests as earthquake.

the there is an active subduction fault line (jahitan) to the west of sumatera, where the epicentre of the 26/12 earthquake locates. there is NONE in selat melaka. the fault line runs along west sumatera, jawa, south of kalimantan, sulawesi and to the east of the philipines. Malaysia is practically sitting right in the centre of the plate (patches), NOT at the fault lines. All quakes and resulting tsunami only start on the fault lines.

if epicentre of the earhquake is on land, the magnitude of tsunami is slighly smaller than if the epicentre in on the seabed. So, if Japan got earthquake, Sabah S'wak not really affected. if affected also on small scale, like the one in Penang, it's considered small becoz we r not on fault line. Only countries sitting on fault line will b greatly affected like Indon, will bear the brunt of it.

[KoChun]

Thanks for the explanation. To be honest, me still no understand. Don't bother to go further, please.

[LiLiaN]

dt, yeah, i know that it'll never be happening at strait of malacca...
but just thinking of the closeness itself, a bit scary...
it was just plain "if only..." or "i supposed if..." type of thought...
we are very lucky to have indonesia as a shield...

[Sila]

terima kasih cikgu dt! for the explanation. seems like we may be surrounded by fault lines, but so far sumatera and other indon islands will bear the brunt of the damage. but i guess that anyone in malaysia was directly affected by the tsunami was such a surprise - always thought we would be unaffected if anything happened on those fault lines...

btw, my parents felt nothing that day - no tremors...they only heard it from their friends and on the news

[LiLiaN]

terima kasih cikgu dt! for the explanation. seems like we may be surrounded by fault lines, but so far sumatera and other indon islands will bear the brunt of the damage. but i guess that anyone in malaysia was directly affected by the tsunami was such a surprise - always thought we would be unaffected if anything happened on those fault lines...

btw, my parents felt nothing that day - no tremors...they only heard it from their friends and on the news
my grandparents didn't feel anything but my aunt felt something and was also very nauseous... she was a bit worried of getting pregnant again (just had a baby 6 months ago)...