Tsunami Warning

[Mick (Michael)]

A large earthquake in Chile has triggered a Tsunami Warning for some of the east coast of Australia.

http://www.bom.gov.au/tsunami/qld_alerts.shtml

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle7043637.ece

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Wow.
Something's happening over there.
Thanks.

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

Saw the news on SBS about the quake and had checked the BOM warning site when they mentioned the possibility of an sunami being generated . Will be interesting to see how much energy reaches the east coast tomorrow morning, might have to cancel my morning surf though and grab the kids and find a safe spot to watch the coast.
The warning is saying from Sydney north to central Queensland but we should get some ocean movement where I am just 60 km south of the emerald city.
Did I mention deja' vu, as a young lad on school holidays with the family in 1960 in Maroochydore I witnessed an unusual fall and rise in the sea level, followed by a series of large waves, which we later found out were caused by an earthquake in Chile the previous day.

Regards

Jeff

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

http://www.bom.gov.au/tsunami/lordhowe_alerts.shtml
SUMMARY:
Tsunami warning for the marine environment for NORFOLK ISLAND.

Possibility of dangerous waves, strong ocean currents and foreshore flooding
for several hours from 08:30 am (UTC+11.5hrs) Sunday.

Sea level observations HAVE confirmed a tsunami has been generated.

[citivolus (Ric)]

Both New Zealand and Hawaii are anticipating 2-3m in bays. Given the first waves will be arriving at Brisbane about 30 minutes before high tide, it has the potential to be a bit dangerous.

Also, we get a refraction pattern generated by New Zealand, which could result in either an addition or subtraction of waves.

I'm paying close attention to this as my wife was supposed to be out dragon boating in the morning, but I'm not letting her near the water now.

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

you think it would never happen in your own back yard. for everybodys sake i hope that nothing happens.! good luck

[GrahamL]

thanks .. my son and his wife were about to head to sea diving .

better wait and see , I'll stay out of town to most of ballina is not far above high tide .

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

LOL My theory is more crackpot than yours Steve. You know, the one about a connection between earthquakes and whales doing strange things.
I grew up in the Brighton/Sandgate area, it's been a nightmare of mine growing up, there being a tsunami hitting the district. The tide goes out soooo far there, revealing mudflats.
I hope all goes well.
I imagine that there would be quite a few up on the cliffs waiting and watching.

[DeanoNZL (Adrian)]

Chatham Islands to the east of Mainland NZ had 2+ m wave height.
Northland NZ had 1m wave height.
Here is an Tsunami model from Japan.
http://outreach.eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp/wo...eTsunami_1.gif

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

Originally Posted by nightstalker

thanks .. my son and his wife were about to head to sea diving .

better wait and see , I'll stay out of town to most of ballina is not far above high tide .

Best place to be (apart from several miles inland)! They will probably barely notice it.
I seriously doubt that we'll get more than a little tidal surge. A couple of metres,-tops.
Seems we all love a good, old fashioned panic. Its getting like that scene in "1,000,000 Years BC" where the volacano erupts and rather than just moving away calmly, the trogs all run around squawking like headless chickens and get fried for their efforts.
Forewarned is fore-armed. Stay away from the beach during the ETA period, and have a nice cuppa.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

You have to admit though, the power of nature is awesome.
That an event occurring in one region can effect 1/3 of the globe. And we can watch it unfold!

My heart goes out to the people in Chile affected by the earthquake. Tragic.

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

Chile's a lovely country, but like most of the Pacific rim, is built on the "Ring of Fire" and has, since pre-history, been subject to catastrophes of this nature.
Earthquakes scare the s*** out of me. They're not like volcanos or tornados or tsunamis where you can, with warning, leg it somewhere else. When one hits there's just NOwhere to go.

One of the problems is you can't tell the bigguns from the littleuns before hand. And in that part of the world the little'uns are so frequent that virtually nobody pays any attention when a big one hits. The result being that most people stay inside or hover around, buildings and get pancaked.

Personally, I make sure we all have our emergency jet-packs fueled so whe can stay aloft during any unpleasantness!

[Robert9 (Robert)]

For the wave to arrive on the shores of Australia about 13-15 hours after the event means the wave front was traveling at around 700Km/hr.!!!!!
Just mind blowing.

[Liz]

This doesnt affect us up north, but is it over ... or still expected to arrive? Much of a rise in tides in the end?
Never had any experience with earthquakes, but would be scary as hell
Quite a few deaths have occurred in Chile

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous

Earthquakes scare the s*** out of me. They're not like volcanos or tornados or tsunamis where you can, with warning, leg it somewhere else. When one hits there's just NOwhere to go.

Try a mag 7.6 100km away when you are asleep on the 14th floor of your LA hotel (with much better building codes). Watch the pool in the hotel next door empty itself across the carpark.

Originally Posted by Waxing_Gibbous

One of the problems is you can't tell the bigguns from the littleuns before hand. And in that part of the world the little'uns are so frequent that virtually nobody pays any attention when a big one hits.

California is a bit the same. The only real attention anyone pays is to whatever damage that they can claim on insurance.

[Matt Wastell (Matt)]

I have been down at the Gold Coast for a few days R and R and not one word of this was mentioned!
I wondered why it was very quiet down near the water - there were quite a few Emergency Services workers milling around!
They do tell me Qld is one hour and twenty years behind the rest of the country - the warning is still coming!

[multiweb (Marc)]

Was at Austinmere this arvo and SES staff advised us to get out of the water. Beach was pretty much empty but for a few surfers. We were body boarding all day and didn't notice anything. I think the warning was for QLD primarily.

[space oddity]

Looks like New Zealand prevented most of the tsunami hitting NSW. Went down to the beach, camera at the ready, waiting for a once in a lifetime event, but nothing. Mind you, Sydney is a bit of a tsunami capital. A big earthquake on the western side of NZ would send a tsunami straight for Sydney with only a couple of hours warning. Do note, it takes a bit of "moving and shaking" to get 12,000 foot high mountains. We live 65metres above sea level here in Bondi, so it has to be a whopper to get us, but there is no escaping nature. Down at Bondi beach, I did notice the surfers still out there(useless waves) and a number of people wandering around the shore, probably oblivious to potential danger.
If you are down at the beach, and the water mysteriously recedes......POQ . If animals go funny, they still have their 6th sense, beware.