Reports of major damage in American Samoa. West Coast from CA/Mex border to OR/WA border under a Tsunami Advisory, which means: First wave expected to hit SoCal around 8:45 PST and Oregon around 9:20 PST... so, there is plenty of time to prepare for what looks like a mild one.
That's sad. I recall watching an episode of Bizarre Foods on Samoa. The scenery was so awesome on there, I looked up real estate prices. Hopefully this won't be another Indoniesia-like catastrophe.
Wow, 8.0, thats a big boy, thoughts and prayers go out to all in Samoa, I'm sure American aid is on the way.
Doesn't look like it, but it does appear some particular areas have received a lot of damage. Emergency management folks are starting to worry a bit about Eureka, Arcata, and Crescent City in California, as they are all really low, flat areas. Here's a map of arrival times...
Tsunami leaves dozens dead in Samoa At least 50 people were killed in Samoa and neighbouring American Samoa after a tsunami struck following a powerful 8.3 earthquake off the coast of the islands. By Paul Chapman in Wellington Published: 11:20PM BST 29 Sep 2009 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...5053/Tsunami-leaves-dozens-dead-in-Samoa.html Several coastal villages in the South Pacific states were swept out to sea by the tsunami, which was recorded at just over 5 feet above sea level in Apia, the Samoan capital. Thousands of residents fled to higher ground. Unconfirmed reports said 40 people had been killed in the Samoan village of Lalomanu, at the southeastern end of the main island of Upolu. At least a further 14 are known to have died in American Samoa.The death toll is almost certain to climb, officials said, but communications and power outages were hampering rescue efforts. Graeme Ansell, a New Zealand tourist in Samoa, said the resort of Sau Sau Beache Fale had been wiped out by the tsunami. He and a number of Western tourists had taken refuge on a nearby hill. "It was very quick and it's all been flattened," he told Radio New Zealand by mobile phone. "We need help." Rua McCarney, a Samoan resident, said at least three schoolchildren were "killed when the waves came through" and that school buildings were under water. Daniela Brussani, and expatriate Italian, said her resort on the island of Upolu, had been flattened. The stuff.co.nz website said that as she was speaking to it she saw a policeman carrying a baby, which she feared was dead. A resident at the resort said: "Everything is gone. The building, the restaurant. Nothing left." There were also an unknown number of other deaths in American Samoa after the tsunami swept into Pago Pago, the capital, sending sea water surging more than 100 yards inland and turning streets into a muddy quagmire. Many buildings were damaged by the earthquake itself, which measured 8.3 on the Richter scale. The quake hit at dawn (17.48GMT on Tuesday), some 120 miles from Apia, and was followed by at least one large aftershock.
Just heard that we're looking at waves 1 foot high or so to hit NorCal and Oregon. That will cause some problems in places, as it will almost be high tide, but on the scale of what we've seen recently, this shouldn't be a big deal for the West Coast.
New image out from NOAA's Tsunami Warning Center that shows expected strength of Tsunami as it travels around the Pacific...
Just to those who don't know, this one is more than three times less powerful than the 2004 Indonesian one, so it shouldn't be nearly as catastrophic.
I was going to say...terrible. Thank god it isn't even bigger, that's only a couple of tenths away from being Indian Ocean Tsunami II.
I hope there aren't too many deaths from this and Samoa can recover. Its amazing to think that the waves will be hitting California soon.
Last night, I freaking had a dream about a tsunami hitting Houston... it's so scary hearing about that and hope there weren't that many lives lost... any crazy waves over there on west coast?
Its pretty crazy that they could feel the earthquake in Singapore. My family was near Singapore during the 2004 tsunami earthquake but didn't feel a thing. I don't think Singapore has been building to earthquake codes so if one were to affect it that could be catastrophic. In the meantime I hope Padang is able to recover from this and maybe they can make some changes to the city's access and infrastructure. I've never visited there but here its interesting and hope it is still there next time I'm in SE Asia.
Another earthquake has struck Sumatra. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33085687/ns/world_news-asiapacific
