Significant Earthquake and Tsunami Events

[Ivanthetornadoenthusiast]

In the SigTor thread I made a couple posts pondering over what could be the oldest photo of tornado damage (NOT the oldest photo of an actual tornado) and so far the oldest photo I've come across is of a destroyed bridge from the 1874 Lewistown tornado.

But that of course got me thinking about what could be the oldest photo of earthquake damage, and so far, these photos from the 1857 Basilicata earthquake seem to be the oldest:

As for tsunami damage, the oldest ones I've found so far are from the 1868 Arica (Peru, now Chile) tsunami:

I wonder what's the earliest photo of a tsunami waves?

 

[TH2002]

I wonder what's the earliest photo of a tsunami waves?

So far, the earliest I've found of an actual wave are from the 1946 Hawaii tsunami. I have a feeling there's something older out there, haven't had much time to look though.

This last photo is particularly crazy; the man seen here was among the fatalities:

A few more here: https://earthweb.ess.washington.edu/tsunami/general/historic/images_46.html

Footage of the thing, possibly the earliest tsunami footage:

 

[TH2002]

Today is the anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, which remains the deadliest natural disaster of the 21st century. In terms of fatalities, Indonesia was by far the hardest hit, with over 130,000 people killed there alone. But the effects of this disaster were far-reaching...

In The Maldives, at least 82 people were killed and damages were equivalent to 62% of the country's entire GDP. Due to the unique presence of phytoplankton in the Maldives' water, the tsunami took on an extraordinarily rare, almost "clear water" appearance.


This video is a true nightmare scenario. The only way to get to this resort is by boat. Nowhere to run and nothing you can do but pray that the entire building doesn't come down...


In Malaysia, where at least 62 died, the tsunami took on a polar-opposite, but more typical muddy appearance. Along Gurney Drive in Penang, traffic chaos ensued as drivers attempted to escape the rushing water:


The worst of the tsunami's impacts in Penang were along its beaches, where many picnickers and holiday-makers were caught off guard by the wave. This was much akin to the unfortunate scenario that played out in other hard-hit locations, where many people didn't realize what they were looking at until it was already too late and the tsunami was virtually on top of them. Hopefully, the lessons learned from this tragedy will continue to be used to increase tsunami preparedness and decrease future tsunami death tolls worldwide.

 

[locomusic01]

Today is the anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, which remains the deadliest natural disaster of the 21st century. In terms of fatalities, Indonesia was by far the hardest hit, with over 130,000 people killed there alone. But the effects of this disaster were far-reaching...

As horrific as tornadoes and other disasters are, I've always found tsunamis to be particularly terrifying. One time years ago we had major flooding in my area and a large beaver dam upstream from us broke in the middle of the night. I woke up suddenly to the sound of water rushing past just outside my bedroom wall and found that the normally small creek a hundred yards away had literally surrounded my house up to the bottoms of the windows. My neighbor's younger kids were home alone that night and the power had gone out so I had to wade through the water to go check on them.

It was nothing even remotely comparable to a tsunami, obviously, but that night gave me an all new appreciation for how frightening and unstoppable water can be. Especially when dawn arrived and I could see campers and pieces of debris from a campground up the road floating down through our yard (they weren't occupied at the time thankfully). I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like for the people impacted by this event, or any major tsunami for that matter.

 

[bjdeming]

"Even after 13 years, I still find myself watching this.A diagram of the USGS site after 7pm Japan time on March 11, 2011. Large earthquakes occur one after another over an extremely wide epicenter area. to the east of the trench axis.As I watched this in the constantly shaking laboratory, I wondered many times if it was a dream."



It was not a dream.

This NHK commemorative video is worth watching, even though they've turned off embedding.

Don't have the sources in front of me but I recall that this was what clued geologists in to how land above a subducting plate rises, and then suddenly drops back to its normal level in the quake.

Those seawalls would have held, if the land drop had been recognized and factored in. Now, it is (and also in other places like the lava barriers built over what would be a deflating sill in Iceland's Svartsengi plain during an eruption).

 

[TH2002]

Hard to believe it's been 13 years already. Even though I was only eight years old back then, I still remember watching live on TV as the tsunami hit the eastern coast of Japan. Hard to imagine the nightmare it was for them. I also remember watching it on TV again as it made its way to the coast of California, albeit as a much, much smaller wave.

The sheer scale of the disaster is also one that makes me think "hmmm... how do you coordinate resources after such an event?". When help pours in, most of it is obviously going to go to the large population centers where the most people were affected, which makes sense. But the people who lost their loved ones and/or homes in small towns and subdivisions need that help just as much, there are just less of them. After the Super Outbreak, which occurred the following month, one Hackleburg tornado survivor said that being in a small town after a major disaster "kind of makes you feel ignored, in a way."

The village of Tanohata, which lost 32 residents:


In the Shimanokoshi section of Tanohata, every single building was wiped out:


In Settai, near Miyako, the fishing port was destroyed (at right). At left, a cluster of homes were destroyed about a half mile further inland, likely due to the surge travelling up the Settai Rver.


This area known as Sukahata (near Watari) was obliterated. These homes were not rebuilt and the area was instead turned into a tsunami memorial park.

 

[bjdeming]

The NHK special highlights the small town of Osuma, too.

I think this year's Noto Peninsula catastrophe made the Tohoku anniversary even more painful.

 

[bjdeming]

"[Exclusive] First video of "tsunamis coming from two directions at the same time" observed at disaster-hit Suzu and Iida Port (TV Asahi)"



That video is worth watching but it will only play in the Japanese original; the Google-translated text tells you what is going on.

Basically, earth movements during the New Year's Day quake on Japan's Noto Peninsula spawned, among other things, these two different tsunamis that combined and hit the seawall with additional force. Read the whole article for details.

 

[TornadoFan]

Taiwan just had a major earthquake. 7.5

 

[KevinH]

and a 6.5 a few mins after that

 

[JayF]

Japan is under a Tsunami Warning.

EVALUATION
----------

* AN EARTHQUAKE WITH A PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE OF 7.5 OCCURRED IN
TAIWAN AT 2358 UTC ON TUESDAY APRIL 2 2024.

* TSUNAMI WAVES HAVE BEEN OBSERVED.

* BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA... HAZARDOUS TSUNAMI WAVES ARE
FORECAST FOR SOME COASTS.


TSUNAMI THREAT FORECAST
-----------------------

* TSUNAMI WAVES REACHING 1 TO 3 METERS ABOVE THE TIDE LEVEL ARE
POSSIBLE ALONG SOME COASTS OF

CHINA... AND TAIWAN.


* TSUNAMI WAVES REACHING 0.3 TO 1 METERS ABOVE THE TIDE LEVEL
ARE POSSIBLE FOR SOME COASTS OF

JAPAN.


* TSUNAMI WAVES ARE FORECAST TO BE LESS THAN 0.3 METERS ABOVE
THE TIDE LEVEL FOR THE COASTS OF

GUAM... INDONESIA... NORTHERN MARIANAS... PALAU...
PHILIPPINES... REPUBLIC OF KOREA... VIETNAM... AND YAP.


* ACTUAL AMPLITUDES AT THE COAST MAY VARY FROM FORECAST
AMPLITUDES DUE TO UNCERTAINTIES IN THE FORECAST AND LOCAL
FEATURES. IN PARTICULAR MAXIMUM TSUNAMI AMPLITUDES ON ATOLLS
AND AT LOCATIONS WITH FRINGING OR BARRIER REEFS WILL LIKELY
BE MUCH SMALLER THAN THE FORECAST INDICATES.

* FOR OTHER AREAS COVERED BY THIS PRODUCT A FORECAST HAS NOT
YET BEEN COMPUTED. THE FORECAST WILL BE EXPANDED IF
NECESSARY IN SUBSEQUENT PRODUCTS.

 

[JayF]

4,8 Earthquake in New Jersey this morning.

4.8 magnitude earthquake in New Jersey, aftershocks felt across NYC and Tri-State

An earthquake centered in northern New Jersey registered a magnitude of 4.8 on Friday morning, startling millions of people but causing no major reports of damage.

abc7ny.com

 

[locomusic01]

4,8 Earthquake in New Jersey this morning.

4.8 magnitude earthquake in New Jersey, aftershocks felt across NYC and Tri-State

An earthquake centered in northern New Jersey registered a magnitude of 4.8 on Friday morning, startling millions of people but causing no major reports of damage.

abc7ny.com

Happy to report that I survived the Great Northeast Quake of 2024 here in PA. It was actually pretty strong for being ~90 miles away.

 

[bjdeming]

Just for the record, the Northeast does shake, rattle, and roll sometimes. AFAIK (not far), no one really knows why.

Unlike the West Coast, this eastern coast been a passive margin since at least Triassic times, so plate tectonics causes are unlikely.

What we know as New Jersey does have an interesting history, though.

I heard a little discussion in school 40 years ago, and while regular tectonics is probably involved to some extent (things like big igneous intrusions such as the White Mountains settling some of their enormous weight down on the underlying crust), the most popular explanation at that point seemed to be glacial rebound: a mile-thick ice cap weighs down land and that will rise again once the ice melts. Twelve thousand years is only long to us -- the ground up there, I believe, is still rising though perhaps at a slower rate now.

Maybe more recent thinking is different?

There is an active and unexplained area of frequent seismicity up near Montreal and -- I'd have to check -- possibly one around the northeastern US border, too.

Did anyone else experience the unexpected thrill ride today?

 

[bjdeming]

I really don't know where to put this -- figured this thread is appropriate because the quakes are significant and also because it's premature to start a "Cascadia" thread now (plus it would cause widespread cases of the vapors and that's not helpful):



As of this moment, it's fifteen M4+ per the USGS. (Updated through 1618 UTC, July 11.)

This (PDF download from Canadian government source) is what would have people reaching for the smelling salts.

I'm concerned because that many moderate quakes is a change of pattern (there is usually episodic tremor here, which is exciting in its own laidback way as well as seen frequently in subduction zones).

Yet there are changes of seismic patterns from time to time, without short-term consequences, especially in tectonically active areas.

This could be that or it could be something else. It's comforting, when you live in this zone, to know that it is thoroughly monitored and that some of the planet's best minds work on this 24/7.

When they express public concern, that's when a Cascadia thread is called for. Meanwhile, I'll just make sure the go-bag is up to date. Had one in the South, too, for weather concerns -- Earth is a perilous place but SO beautiful sometimes.

The boffins probably are watching this closely now. John had a tweet about viewing seismicity, too:

 

[bjdeming]

Only one new one, a four-pointer, yesterday and none today thus far.

 

[bjdeming]

USGS quake page

 

[bjdeming]

Canadian perspective on that 6-pointer:



The USGS list shows a 5-pointer a few minutes before -- not sure if that would be called a foreshock or if the two would count as a doublet.

 

[bjdeming]

 

[bjdeming]

More -- Read the whole thread (I'm a little too far south to have gotten the warning):