Tsunami alert issued after strong Indonesian quake

[Turborama]

Source: AP

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Authorities and witnesses say a strong earthquake in eastern Indonesia has sent panicked residents running outside.

The country's meteorology and seismology agency warned that with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 it was strong enough to cause a tsunami. There were no immediate reports of giant waves.

It struck at 2:43 p.m. EST, around 85 miles off of Manokwari, Irian Jaya, at a depth of about 6 miles.

Hasim Rumatiga, a local health official, said electricity went off and residents ran to higher ground.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gCeFe6qrUA2J6TpqBUjMoyp8nthAD95FSPS80

[aquart]

1. Better safe than sorry.

When will we know for sure?

[Baby Snooks]

2. About an hour ago...

Usually the first wave hits within 30 minutes. But they can generate up to an hour after the quake if I remember my geology correctly.

The tsunami in 2004 resulted from the ocean floor literally displacing an enormous amount of water as one plate rose while the other dropped. The most dangerous quakes are along the plate lines just to the west of Sumatra. This was to the east. There are several of these plate boundaries in the Indonesia area. Why the area is so prone to earthquakes and to tsunamis. It isn't the size of the earthquake so much as where the earthquake strikes.

One earthquake off the coast of Chile, I believe in the 1960s, was along a plate boundary. The tsunami reached Hawaii.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. Also depends on how the land moves

insofar as how powerful the tsunami might be, and which way it might go. It's not always equal in all directions, like dropping a round stone in a pond.


Some people are going to need help. Damage map, versus population levels: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/pager/events/us/2009bjbn/index.html