SANTA CRUZ ISLAND
IS OFF OF THE SOLOMON
ISLANDS WHICH IS NEAR AUSTRALIA.
THE
SOLOMON ISLANDS HAD AN 8.0 QUAKE TODAY AND FIVE TOTAL QUAKES OVER A 6.0 IN THE PAST YEAR.
SOMETHING IS GOING ON EVERYWHERE RIGHT NOW. BUT WHAT AND WHY?
A powerful magnitude 8.0 earthquake has
struck off the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean, generating a "potentially
destructive" tsunami. The quake struck at a depth of 5.8km (3.6 miles)
near the Santa Cruz islands, part of the Solomon Islands nation, the
US Geological Survey said.
A tsunami warning was issued for the South
Pacific islands by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre. The centre said the
tsunami could be destructive near the epicentre. The warning was issued for the
Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, New Caledonia, Kosrae,
Fiji, Kiribati, and Wallis and Futuna islands. A tsunami watch was issued
for other nations in the South Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand and
Indonesia.
However, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology
later said Australia was not at risk from a tsunami. The quake struck at
01:12 GMT and France later issued a tsunami warning for its New Caledonia
territory, saying that the wave could strike at about 03:00 GMT. Residents near the
coast were being advised to evacuate.
The tsunami warning centre said a wave measuring
0.91m (3ft) had struck Lata Wharf in the Santa Cruz islands. The Solomon
Islands form part of "The RING OF FIRE," a zone of volcanic arcs and oceanic
trenches encircling the Pacific basin.
The 8.0 earthquake was followed by several
aftershocks, the largest measuring 6.4 magnitude. The region has been experiencing
a series of smaller quakes in recent days. In 2007 an 8.1 magnitude earthquake
triggered a tsunami that killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and
left thousands homeless.
SOLOMON ISLANDS IN BRIEF: The breathtaking
paradise of the nearly 1,000 islands that make up the sovereign state of the
SOLOMON ISLANDS is a haven for divers, snorkelers, and beach loungers
alike. The SOLOMON ISLANDS are located in the Oceania region of the Pacific
Ocean, East of Papua New Guinea, and are home to just over half a million people.
The ancient peoples of the Solomon Islands first arrived an estimated
32,000 years ago, and were known for headhunting and cannibalism before the
arrival of Europeans in the late 1500s. Today, the SOLOMON ISLANDS area has been
rising in popularity as a destination for scuba divers, though the growth
of tourism has been slowed due to lack of infrastructure and transportation
difficulties. But for those who can get there, the Solomon Islands are an
unmatched slice of heaven on Earth.
February 6, 2013 earthquake.
Image via USGS
Powerful 8.0-magnitude
earthquake struck at 01:22
UTC on February 6. Tsunami
alerts across the Pacific.
At least five dead in a
remote part of the Solomon
Islands
UPDATE FEBRUARY 6, 2013 4:35 A.M. CDT
(9:45 UTC) Many media are reporting that
at least five people have died from a
tsunami in a remote part of the Solomon
Islands, near Australia, after a rare
and powerful 8.0 magnitude earthquake
earlier today. The tsunami triggered
evacuations across the South Pacific.
The quake struck 340 km (211 miles) east
of Kira Kira in the Solomons. At least
100 homes in the community of Lata are
said to have been destroyed in the
tsunami. Water and electricity remain
down there at this writing. There are
unconfirmed reports of fishermen swept
out to sea./p>
According to the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS), the magnitude-8.0 earthquake
struck at 01:22 UTC on February 6, 2013
(Tuesday evening, June 5, in continental
U.S.). The Pacific Tsunami Warning
Center issued a warning for places in
the Pacific near the epicenter, and a
watch elsewhere in the Pacific. It later
canceled the warnings for the outlying
regions. The Pacific Tsunami Warning
Center commented in their bulletin:
AN EARTHQUAKE OF THIS SIZE HAS
THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A
DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THAT CAN STRIKE
COASTLINES NEAR THE EPICENTER WITHIN
MINUTES AND MORE DISTANT COASTLINES
WITHIN HOURS.
Here are the details of the earthquke
from USGS.
Event Time 2013-02-06 01:12:23 UTC 2013-02-05 19:12:23 UTC-06:00 system
time
Location 10.752°S 165.089°E depth=5.8km (3.6mi)
A 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck
near the Solomon Islands on February
6, 2013 (February 5 in U.S. and
Europe).
Magnitude 8 earthquakes are rare. The
February 6, 2013 earthquake occurred as
a result of faulting
– the movement of rocks along a fracture
in Earth’s crust – on or near the plate
boundary interface between the Australia
and Pacific plates. In the region of
this earthquake, the Australia plate
converges with and subducts – or dives – beneath the
Pacific plate, moving towards the
east-northeast at a rate of
approximately 94 mm/year.
Here is the original bulletin from
the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
(later cancelled):
TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001 PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING
CENTER/NOAA/NWS ISSUED AT 0118Z 06 FEB 2013
THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS
WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC
OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS…EXCEPT
ALASKA…BRITISH
COLUMBIA…WASHINGTON…OREGON AND
CALIFORNIA.
… A TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH ARE
IN EFFECT …
A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT
FOR
SOLOMON ISLANDS / VANUATU / NAURU
/ PAPUA NEW GUINEA / TUVALU / NEW CALEDONIA / KOSRAE / FIJI /
KIRIBATI / WALLIS AND FUTUNA
A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR
MARSHALL ISLANDS / HOWLAND AND
BAKER / POHNPEI / TOKELAU / SAMOA / KERMADEC ISLANDS / NEW
ZEALAND / AMERICAN SAMOA / TONGA / AUSTRALIA / NIUE / COOK
ISLANDS / INDONESIA / WAKE ISLAND / CHUUK / JARVIS ISLAND
/ GUAM / NORTHERN MARIANAS / PALMYRA ISLAND / YAP / JOHNSTON
ISLAND / MINAMITORISHIMA / BELAU
Bottom line: A magnitude 8.0
earthquake struck near the Solomon
Islands on February 6, 2013 (February 5
in the U.S.). It generated a small
tsunami that left at least five dead in
a remote part of the Solomon Islands.
Historic Seismicity Magnitude 5.1 SANTACRUZISLANDS REGION Tuesday,
February 05, 2013 at 19:39:39 UTC Major Tectonic
Boundaries: Subduction Zones -purple, Ridges ...
BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake
measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale jolted
SantaCruzIslands at 22:16:36
GMT on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey
said. The ...
BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- An
earthquake
measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale jolted
SantaCruzIslands at 06:18:35
(Beijing Time) Saturday (22:18:35 GMT Friday),
the ...
An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the
Richter scale jolted SantaCruz
Islands at 06:18:35 (Beijing Time) Saturday
(22:18:35 GMT Friday), the U.S. Geological
Survey said ...
An earthquake measuring 5.7 on
the Richter scale jolted Santa
CruzIslands at 06:18:35
(Beijing Time) Saturday (22:18:35 GMT
Friday), the U.S. Geological Survey
said ...
(Before It's News) USGS reported
strong earthquake of magnitude
6.2 and depth 7.1 km (4.4 miles) in
SantaCruzIslands on
February 01, 2013 at 05:36:41 UTC.
Earthquake Location Magnitude 4.5
SANTACRUZISLANDS
Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 11:35:51
UTC Major Tectonic Boundaries:
Subduction Zones -purple, Ridges -red
and ...
Baku-APA. An earthquake measuring
6.0 on the Richter scale jolted SantaCruzIslands at 18:58:06
GMT on Saturday, the U.S. Geological
Survey said, APA reports. The ...
HONG HONG, February 3 — An earthquake
measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale
jolted SantaCruz
Islands at 18:58:06 GMT on Saturday,
the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The ...
BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- An
earthquake measuring 5.7 on the
Richter scale jolted Santa
CruzIslands at 06:18:35
(Beijing Time) Saturday (22:18:35 GMT
Friday), the ...
SantaCruzIslandsearthquake map courtesy USGS.
... i following a 6.7 preliminary
magnitude earthquake in the
SantaCruzIslands
that occurred at 12:17 p.m ...
Subsidence in the Solomon Islands, where Santa
Cruz Islands are a subset island group, is marked on the below map
dated November 21, 2012. Areas with red checks are subsiding over
periods of years. The Santa Cruz Islands are inside both of the two
triangles drawn in black and red. The map was made to show areas for
TimeStar glyphs in November and December 2012, and I added the
stress points with red checks to show where subsidence is ongoing.
The red checked areas are displacing stress onto Alaska, Canada and
USA’s West Coast. Seismologists might argue these stress points, but
they just discovered that the Japanese megaquake in 2011 was caused
by a stress point they didn’t know existed. The off-coast areas of
Peru and Child have a different story to tell. Peru, Chili and New
Zealand are not indicated with red checks, because I believe lands
are rising in those areas – land in some areas subside and others
rise.
