400,000 Dead In Indonesia ?

[Rasker]

This was "only" an earthquake caused tsunami, which for some reason unknown to me has an inherent top limit of 30 feet or so on the shore height of the wave(s) it will produce.

Tsunamis caused by very large landslides or impacting asteroids(mega-tsunamis) have the potential to produce waves that will reach heights of one thousand feet or more when reaching land.  There is a volcano on Las Palmas in the Canaries Islands called the Cubres Viejos which has the potential to collapse and produce a 1,000 foot wave hitting the entire eastern seaboard of North America and the Caribbean 6 to 8 hours later - meaning goodbye New York City, Boston, Norfolk, Miami, Jacksonville, Charleston, very possibly Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore and all other places and people below one thousand feet of elevation and not sheltered behind higher ground or long stretches of land. Archeologists working in Washington State have found evidence of past megatsunamis, possibly caused by big chunks of the Hawaiian Islands falling into the sea.  Just a cheery thought for this holiday season.

[Vulcan]

Originally posted by JB73
i'd say besides pompei, probably the worst natural disaster in recorded history.

i can not think of a thing similar in any of my learnings of 32 years on this planet.

my heart goes out to anyone who lost a friend or family member in this tragedy, and my soul prays for the millions affected by this.

what is *kind of spooky to me, think of the "doomsday" scenarios of a comet / asteroid landing in the ocean. this was a tiny tsunami caused by a little rumble in the earth. just imagine a massive catastrophy like that.

Such short memories:

Rescue workers pressed on into isolated villages shattered by a disaster that could yet eclipse a cyclone that struck Bangladesh in 1991, killing 138,000 people.

[JB73]

Originally posted by Vulcan
Such short memories:

sorry the gulf war was in full swing, and being a recent HS grad at the time, that and poontang was all that was on my mind



i'll bet the total body count is more than bangledesh in 91

heck it is over 120,000 now, only afew days after

[Holden McGroin]

Originally posted by Rasker
This was "only" an earthquake caused tsunami, which for some reason unknown to me has an inherent top limit of 30 feet or so on the shore height of the wave(s) it will produce.
 

In the 1964 Good Friday Alaskan quake,

The largest wave height was 67 meters (220 feet) in the Valdez Inlet at Shoup Bay.

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by Rasker
This was "only" an earthquake caused tsunami, which for some reason unknown to me has an inherent top limit of 30 feet or so on the shore height of the wave(s) it will produce.

Tsunamis caused by very large landslides or impacting asteroids(mega-tsunamis) have the potential to produce waves that will reach heights of one thousand feet or more when reaching land.  There is a volcano on Las Palmas in the Canaries Islands called the Cubres Viejos which has the potential to collapse and produce a 1,000 foot wave hitting the entire eastern seaboard of North America and the Caribbean 6 to 8 hours later - meaning goodbye New York City, Boston, Norfolk, Miami, Jacksonville, Charleston, very possibly Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore and all other places and people below one thousand feet of elevation and not sheltered behind higher ground or long stretches of land. Archeologists working in Washington State have found evidence of past megatsunamis, possibly caused by big chunks of the Hawaiian Islands falling into the sea.  Just a cheery thought for this holiday season.

Just the physics of the whole thing amaze me.  The major culprate here is gravity.  It pushes on the water so it has to go somwere.  Think about dropping a rock in a bathtub how much of a splash and wave that creates.  Now take into account the fact that you are moving TRILLIONS of gallons of water just a few feet.  The water (or more or less the energy of) has to go somwere and gravity means it spreads out.

Just amazing.

[Holden McGroin]

Originally posted by Vulcan
Such short memories:

Earthquake July 27, 1976 China, Tangshan 255,000 dead

[Bluedog]

The Indonesian Army, Kopassus in particular, would be loving this, sad as it is.
They have been running amok in Acheh Province for the last few years, basically indiscriminately killing people.http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/09/28/aceh9388.htm 400 000 dead from a tsunami will no doubt make the job of covering the Indo Army's activities a lot easier.

The people of Archeh have had a very rough time of late and I wonder if the Indonesian Govt will really help them as fully as they can, or will they let the political environment between them influence their giving of aid?

[whels]

Originally posted by Holden McGroin
In the 1964 Good Friday Alaskan quake,

The Lituya Bay wave is generally described as the largest tsunami ever recorded in modern times, and has been given the special name of mega-tsunami. It was caused by a massive landslide, triggered by an earthquake of magnitude 8.3. When the wave rushed across the bay it ran up the valley walls to a height of 576 m at its maximum, (1720 ft) and over 100 m for the rest of the bay area.

[Flyboy]

i belive that this is only the start.
can you imagine the size of the epidemic all those corpses will cause, its hot humid and there are very few modern medical care centers.

those corpsesare just lying there unburied.
its about to get a whole lot nastier.

[Holden McGroin]

Lituya Bay was July 1958.

[whels]

Originally posted by Holden McGroin
Lituya Bay was July 1958.

yea it didnt quote the message right when i clicked quote.
it was in respoce to the 1 about biggest tsunami.

1700 feet wow thats alot of water.

[Fishu]

Originally posted by GScholz
The numbers you see on TV only tells you that they have not been able to count more than 20,000 bodies per day. The body count isn't even subsiding yet.

Indonesia already stopped counting the bodies

[Fishu]

Originally posted by GScholz
They're just burying them now?

Burning

[Masherbrum]

"Little is known of the world's most lethal earthquake that struck the Chinese city of Shaanzi in 1556. No magnitudes are quoted, and of course no recordings exist, for the event which is said to have claimed the lives of 830,000 people."

"Originally thought to be an earthquake, though this is unlikely from a tectonics point of view, the event in 1737 that killed some 300,000 people in Calcutta, India, is now ascribed to a typhoon, certainly making it the most expensive atmospheric event ever in terms of casualties."

Karaya

[eskimo2]

Originally posted by whels
The Lituya Bay wave is generally described as the largest tsunami ever recorded in modern times, and has been given the special name of mega-tsunami. It was caused by a massive landslide, triggered by an earthquake of magnitude 8.3. When the wave rushed across the bay it ran up the valley walls to a height of 576 m at its maximum, (1720 ft) and over 100 m for the rest of the bay area.

Article:

The Lituya Bay Earthquake and Tidal Wave

Big Splashes in a Little Bay



Lituya bay, Alaska, July 9, 1958: Site of the largest tsunami ever recorded in modern times. More accurately referred to as a Mega-Tsunami due to the gigantic scale of the event. This tsunami was caused by a colossal landslide. The maximum tsunami run-up measured was 576 meters on the opposite side of the landslide area. The rest of the bay suffered run-ups in excess of 100 meters. All vegetation, including full grown pine trees were stripped by the tsunami, leaving a washed rocky surface.



This picture is also from the Lituya bay tsunami, Alaska, July 9, 1958: Here you can distinguish the area were the run-up passed the 500 meter mark, close to the glacier. There is very little preparation if any for an event like this, since landslide occur without warning.  



Lituya bay tsunami, Alaska, July 9, 1958: This time a closer look at the landslide impact zone.



Lituya bay tsunami, Alaska, July 9, 1958: This view shows the devastation caused by the mega-tsunami along the full area of the bay. Notice that both shores, left and right suffered run-ups in the hundreds of meters.

http://poseidon.uprm.edu/gallery-02.html

eskimo