Gallant Pig

I thought it was said the animals knew it was coming and got the hell out of there.

Myster X

sheeeesshh...... talk about stingy

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...i_041228233542

Sdallnct

And since the Pres actually did make a statement from Crawford, the only grip left is should it have been sooner. IMHO, I like the fact that the statement was well thought out and he had enough information to answer some questions. To me it rings more true then simply popping out the minute it happens and reading of some meaningless generic statement.

Sdallnct

You know, it is interesting how you measure how much to give. Evidently the whole UN thing got started as the UN compares how much you give to the GNP of the country doing the giving. It seems to me a more accurate and fair way to measure would be the percentage given by a coutry to the total amount given (or needed) by all countries.

Heat

One item from a newspaper article said that "hundreds" of fishermen were missing off of the coast of, I believe, India. What I don't understand is that out at see the tidal wave was only a foot or two high, though traveling at a high rate of speed (500 mph?). I wouldn't think that a 1 or 2 foot high wave would knock over a boat, but I'm apparently wrong since so many are missing.

Are there any reports from survivors of fishing boats or other boats that were hit by these small, but fast, waves on the ocean?

Sdallnct

I would think if they were small fishing boats they were probably not far off shore and thus they would be effected. I'm not sure how far off shore you would have to be, but based on how bad this is, I'm guess you had to be pretty far out to really "ride it out". How deep the water is would also play a role, as the wave get high as the ocean floor rises up to the land.

Rogue588

Save Ferris

Would a strategically placed nuclear device detonated deep off shore cause a catastrophe like this? Would anyone even know for sure if an attack was made this way?

Do you think any governments are concerned about how to cause/prevent such an attack in the future?

Roto

That was the speculation because nobody can come up with a better idea. I just thought it was pretty amazing that they haven't found any animals, sixth sense or not.

Roto

That would be a major waste of a nuclear weapon when it could do a whole lot more damage on land. Though I think you just laid out the plot for this season of 24!

devilshalo

Well, you'd think the fish would know.

Otto

No, no nukes that big exist. It's questionable whether existing nuclear bomb designs could be made big enough to produce that kind of energy release.

This quake was of 9.0 magnitude on the Richter scale (source: USGS). The amount of energy it released is roughly equivalent to converting 220 pounds of mass into pure energy (e=mc^2 and all that).

That's way, way, way the hell more than any existing nuke can do. It's roughly the amount of energy consumed by the US in a month. It's enough to boil 1300 gallons of water for every man, woman, and child on the planet. The Earth's moment of inertia is thought to have actually been decreased a bit by this blast.

This thing is tied for the 4th largest quake since 1900. It was a monster.

Save Ferris

Well if it was done by some sub out in the deep ocean, a government could do this to another country without declaring open war. Say one of those fancy new Chinese subs doing this to New York.

DaveNinja

The only man made way this could happen would be to launch a bunch of metal/garbage in to space and then crash it into the ocean.

Manco

Someone forgot to tell this cow.

Dead

Duran/Giantrobo, other members would like for the two of you to each take deep breath and just ignore each other for a while.

Manco

I would think there would be residual radiation if some one did that.

I vaguely remember a movie or a book with the plot of someone trying place nuclear device in the San Andreas fault in California to trigger a catastrophic earthquake.

jaeufraser

I think that was Superman.

DJ_Spyder

Here we go again with the conspiracy theories someone has been listening to the Art Bell/George Nouri radio show again there are some real wacko's who call into that show and point the finger of blame at Bush for this mess but then again that comes as no suprise to me.

kvrdave

I thought he used his powers for truth, justice, and the American way.

Myster X

as of 5:20PM PST Total Collected: $3,011,242.89

Amazon.com

seasmoke

james bond I think

some of the people on the island said the waves might have been as a high as 60 feet.............

Sdallnct

Hate that it is to late for this time, but at least "they" are getting right on it (this is only part of the article).

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science...eut/index.html

U.N.: Asia tsunami alert system by end 2005

GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) -- A tsunami early alert system, which could have saved thousands of lives around the Indian Ocean this week, should be in place in South and Southeast Asia within a year, a U.N. official said on Wednesday.

The technology to detect undersea earthquakes, such as the one off Indonesia that unleashed Sunday's devastating waves, is used elsewhere and could be shared with vulnerable coastal communities in the region, said Salvano Briceno, head of a United Nations' disaster agency.

"I want to see that every coastal country around South Asia and Southeast Asia has at least a basic but effective tsunami warning system in place by this time next year," the director of the U.N.'s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said in a statement.

ChiTownAbs, Inc

Check with your employers -- many of them do employee matching.

I'm going to donate some money that will be matched dollar for dollar to a charity.

DJ_Spyder

Question where is the money going to come from? To build and maintain this system? Since tsunami's are not very comon in South and Southeast Asia.