Mega-Quake Leftovers

March 06, 2008

Sometimes really cool facts just don't fit into a news story. Here's one I left in my notebook while writing up my story on the frequency of magnitude 9+ earthquakes worldwide. Geophysicist Seth Stein of Northwestern University was commenting on the significance of such large quakes:

"It's important to understand how much bigger a 9 magnitude is," Stein said. In the Great Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake of Dec. 26, 2004, "an area the size of California moved by 30 feet. This is an unbelievable event."

Compare that to those historic images of fences being offset a few feet north of the Golden Gate after the infamous 1906 event. Kid's stuff compared to a M9!

Another issue covered in the new stud (by Robert McCaffrey) was how that Sumatra-Andaman quake showed us how little we understand about how  and which subduction zones make monster quakes -- and potentially murderous tsunamis. The implication is that we now have to consider any subduction zone as a threat, which just the sort of thing my brother on the Island of Maui does not want to hear. In the center of the Pacific, Hawaii is surrounded by most of the world's most active subduction zones.

There is a solution, though it's not cheap. What's needed are wave buoys along every major subduction zone in the world. That way there's warning when tsunamis are generated: The buoys detect the tsunamis, send the signals to the emergency managers who activate alarms for folks in vulnerable places, who then hot foot it to higher ground. Good old shoe leather!

Comments

[Random Comment Generator]

Fascinating stuff. Buoys seem like such a simple solution to potential catastrophes -- do you know what the major expense is (installation or maintenance/monitoring)? After 2004 I don't see how we can afford to *not* have such a system.

[Larry O'Hanlon]

Good question. I don't know the answer. I should ask the folks at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (in Hawaii). At very least this paper makes a case for funding of such an expanded buoy program.