Massive 7.8 Magnitude EarthQuake Papua, Indonesia

by politisite | January 3, 2009 at 12:05 pm

4102 views | 36 Recommendations | 17 comments

Breaking now: a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake has struck the North coast of Paua, Indonesia. A local Tsunami warning issued.

EQ 7.8 Manokwari, Irian Jaya, Indonesia - PRELIMINARY REPORT

An earthquake with magnitude 7.8 occurred near Manokwari, Irian Jaya, Indonesia at 19:43:59.00 UTC on Jan 3, 2009. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

Update 2333 UTC (GMT) the USGS has reported a another earthquake 7.5 Magnitude hits Indonesia.

Mag

7.5     2009/01/03 22:33:43     -0.714     133.245     45.4     PAPUA, INDONESIA
5.0     2009/01/03 22:23:48     -0.510     132.214     35.0     PAPUA, INDONESIA
5.2     2009/01/03 22:07:48     -0.319     132.869     35.0     PAPUA, INDONESIA
5.6     2009/01/03 21:49:32     -0.363     132.834     35.0     PAPUA, INDONESIA
5.1     2009/01/03 21:30:48     -0.563     133.124     64.6     PAPUA, INDONESIA
4.8     2009/01/03 20:47:35     -0.282     132.880     35.0     PAPUA, INDONESIA
4.8     2009/01/03 20:20:37     -8.148     119.706     171.3    FLOREs, INDONESIA
7.6     2009/01/03 19:43:55     -0.510     132.783     35.0     PAPUA, INDONESIA

(Source; USGS)

Update 16:54 ET - Tsunami warning has been lifted.

Tweets are showing earthquake felt from Delhi, India, Islamabad and surroundings areas.

DjFlush: #Earthquake shakes felt in Islamabad by me while watching 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi'
AltafSayani: RT: @DjFlush: I just felt huge Earthquake shakes here in Islamabad.
imranhussain: minor earthquake tremor in lahore
DjFlush: #Earthquake made me literally jump out of my chair.
baldie: felt an earthquake here in Delhi. Hope I'm not hallucinating!
wnwek: A minor earthquake in Delhi. Scared the **** out of me.
tajdaroc: Mild earthquake here in Lahore just now. Waiting for the news to see if it registered in any way at all. Felt like quite a jolt.
aamir7: earthquake in Islamabad, long and strong one

Update 15:51 ET- MSM begining to report -

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 has rocked eastern Indonesia, meteorologists say.

The tremor struck south-west of Manokwari, West Papua, at 0443 on Sunday (1943 GMT), the US Geological Survey said.

A tsunami alert has been issued by the local geophysics agency.

The Indonesian archipelago straddles several continental plates where seismic and volcanic activity is recorded on an almost daily basis.

Update 15:45 ET- Strong quake hits off Indonesia's West Papua province: seismologists

JAKARTA (AFP) — A 7.2-magnitude quake struck at sea to the northwest of Manokwari in Indonesia's West Papua province early Sunday, the geophysics agency said in a text message alert, warning also of a tsunami.

The tremor, which hit at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), struck at 4:43 am (1943 GMT Saturday), about 135 kilometres from Manokwari, Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.

Update 15:41 ET-

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.

UPDATE 15:15 ET- The AP is now reporting that: USCG says strong earthquake in eastern Indonesia may have triggered tsunami.

Update- The Badan Meteorologi Dan Geofisika has issued a local tsunami warning following a major earthquake which struck off the coast.

First Report: MASSIVE 7.8 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE STRIKES NEAR THE NORTH COAST OF PAPUA, INDONESIA - TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER. (BULLETIN)

Earthquake Details

Magnitude Date-Time Location Depth Region Distances Location Uncertainty Parameters Source Event ID

7.8 (Preliminary magnitude — subject to revision)

Saturday, January 03, 2009 at 19:43:59 UTC

Sunday, January 04, 2009 at 04:43:59 AM at epicenter

0.700°S, 132.800°E

48 km (29.8 miles) set by location program

NEAR THE NORTH COAST OF PAPUA, INDONESIA

144 km (90 miles) W (278°) from Manokwari, Irian Jaya, Indonesia

169 km (105 miles) E (85°) from Sorong, Irian Jaya, Indonesia

612 km (380 miles) ENE (57°) from Ambon, Moluccas, Indonesia

915 km (569 miles) SSW (192°) from KOROR, Palau

Error estimate not available

NST=041, Nph=041, Dmin=600.6 km, Rmss=2.42 sec, Gp= 36°,
M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=1

West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center/NOAA/NWS

at00101183

This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

breaking Now, MTF

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recommend This comment thread is now closed

patgarcia

at 13:07 on January 3rd, 2009

Quick and complete information! I hope it stays as a warning and no more.

politisite

at 13:37 on January 3rd, 2009

Pat, it started with an 1 line Alert and grew from there. There was no MSM covering in the beginning. Then I saw a burst of Twitter users who felt the quake. Seems that there was another quake in Afghanistan as well at 5.6.

Amy Judd

at 15:00 on January 3rd, 2009

I thought I recommended this already.. weird.

Amy Judd

at 15:20 on January 3rd, 2009

A third earthquake has hit the area - magnitude not determined yet.

Amy Judd

at 15:25 on January 3rd, 2009

Magnitude has been determined to be a 6.0

politisite

at 15:28 on January 3rd, 2009

Thanks Amy. I just received an alert of a 7.5 magnitude

Amy Judd

at 15:31 on January 3rd, 2009

Oh, I have only seen 6 - 7.5 is obviously way worse..

politisite

at 16:26 on January 3rd, 2009

I added the USGS report lines. Just got another alert of a 6.0 a few minutes ago.. maybe you are psychic ESP Amy?

Amy Judd

at 16:34 on January 3rd, 2009

Yes that's probably it! :)

158

at 16:18 on January 3rd, 2009

A good and detailed report.

Thanks.

Amy Judd

at 16:33 on January 3rd, 2009

I have re-opened our Earthquake channel with scan here.

caleb horn (not verified)

at 16:43 on January 3rd, 2009

The earthquake felt in Delhi and Islamabad is not the same earthquake as this one. The earthquake felt in Pakistan actually took place in Afghansitan at almost exactly the same time as the one in Indonesia. Here's a link to the Afghanistan earthquake:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009bjbs.php

Amy Judd

at 17:15 on January 3rd, 2009

AP is reporting that two people have died from the earthquakes.

Amy Judd

at 17:47 on January 3rd, 2009

They are also reporting that a hotel has collapsed from the earthquake in eastern Indonesia, killing two and injuring five.

Paschen

at 19:10 on January 3rd, 2009

A Tsunami Attention has been issued by the Government of Japan for the areas on marked yellow on the mad, Attention is the lowest Tsunami warning and will most likely not change nor affect the cost other then raise the waves a little. Chiba and Tokyo are safe the Main concern would be the Japanese Islands of HahaJima, and its sister Islands. THose still belong to the Tokyo Prefecture are however almost 1000 KM away from Tokyo it self.

politisite

at 20:15 on January 3rd, 2009

Paschen thank your for your comment from the affected area.

Amy Judd

at 20:24 on January 3rd, 2009

Indonesia’s West Papua province was struck by two powerful earthquakes today, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A 10-year-old girl was killed and dozens of people were injured, Agence France-Presse reported.