Wow, seems like Mother Nature is Pissed right now as within a very short period of time from each other there has now been some very large earthquakes around the Pacific.

Magnitude 6.9 earthquake off the coast of Okinawa, Japan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100226/...pan_earthquake

Magnitude 8.8 earthquake down in Chile
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35615455...cas/?gt1=43001

The Chile quake has sparked a Tsunami Warning in Hawaii.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/quake_tsunami

Now, when I think of Tsunami's, I'm thinking they are supposed to be these Massive Waves, but these Tsunami Warning's seem to be for waves that are roughly 6-8 feet. How is that even classified as a Tsunami for waves that seem like they are about the size of normal waves?

 

Cause its the entire volume of water from the surface to the ocean floor, not just surface waves caused by wind.

 

Ive been glued to the TV for the last 3 hours... This is CRAZY! And 8.8 hits in a populated land mass, and in case you don't know how the richter scale works, for every decimal point, the magnitude DOUBLES, from a 7.0 to a 7.1, the earthquake DOUBLES in strength, so just imagine how massive an 8.8 is!!! They are saying that this quake had 500x more energy then the Haiti quake...

I cant imagine how devastating the damage in Chile is right now... They are a 3rd world country and their infrastructure isn't much better than Haiti, so I imagine that the entire country is leveled.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those people that have been effected in any way. godspeed to all.

 

BTW, a Tsunami is much different then a regular wave... With a Tsunami, the ocean level basically raises for a period of time, which makes an 8 foot tsunami soooooo much more devastating than a regular wave. Think about an 8 foot wave that keeps coming and coming and coming... Basically the ocean raises by 8 feet, so the water rages towards the shore and doest stop. The current involved is unbelievably strong and is the reason that these "waves" (they shouldnt be called waves because they are nothing like waves at all) are so devastating.

When they say that the tsunami is going to be 8 feet, don't picture a wave that hits the shore that is 8 feet tall... Picture the entire ocean level raising by 8 feet and enveloping ANYTHING that is below 8 foot elevation. It's not just the water, it's the violent current that makes the tsunami so deadly.

RIP to all the fallen victims. They are reporting that 147 people have been killed, but as we all know that number is just a mere scratch on the surface... Communications have been taken out and reporting casualties has been almost impossible. The Indian Ocean tsunami that hit a few years ago originally reported a few hundred people dead, but a few days later we learned that over 200,000 people were killed.

This is history that we're living through... This will probably be the, or at least one of the biggest earthquakes that hits a populated land mass during our lifetimes. An 8.8 is sooooooo much more devastating then our Loma Prieta earthquake that hit in 1989, it's not even comparable. This 8.8 is over 500x (500 times!!!!) stronger than the quake of 89. (it's 500x stronger than a 7.0, and the 89 quake was a 6.9, and a 7.0 is double the energy of a 6.9, so just take that into consideration.)

This is unreal and I hope to god that people don't have to suffer.

 

Chile got an aftershock of like 6.something too

 

yeah, their aftershocks were as big as our major earthquake that hit us in 1989. That in itself is crazy.

 

srsly

 

Chile isn't a third world country. They are one of the top ones economically and socially in south America and in no way compares to hati which is the poorest country in the Americas.

 

yeah, I didn't mean to say that they are 3rd world, because I know they have major economical strength (compared to other countries in the region), however, their infrastructure in terms of their buildings and construction is very poor in terms of strength, and will not hold up well in something like this.

 

I think when you're talking 8.8, it doesn't matter what you start out as, you end up third world.

 

I believe the Richter scale is logarithmic (base 10)? Henceforth an increase in increase of 1.0 in magnitude makes the shaking amplitude 10 times stronger, and releases ~32 times more energy.

 

Chile is indeed a third world country, you are mistaken. Or Developing Nation, if you want to be politically correct.

 

yes, you are correct, i jumped the gun on that one... horrible still.

 

Agreed.

For those who are open to investigating alternative causes to the recent streak of natural disasters, this is something interesting to look into (geological weapons):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Fr...search_Program

 

really? few hundred to 200k? jeez.

i was thinking the 150 people were nothing compared to Haiti, especially from such a bigger earthquake and aftershocks, but i guess this could end up being tragic.