Being a native Californian, I'm no stranger to earthquakes. When talking to a student last night about earthquakes, he asked if I had ever felt an earthquake before.... My immediate answer was, "Yes, of course... Since I was a kid." Nothing as big as the one in American Samoa, though! I cannot even begin to imagine an earthquake of that strength and force... I read somewhere on line that the quake lasted 3 minutes... I cannot imagine that, either!
The tsunami warning went out after the earthquake hit 2o miles under the ocean floor... and I read that there were warnings that went out to California. So far, the tsunami has taken the lives of at least 119 people and wiped out entire villages -
Four tsunami waves 15 to 20 feet high roared ashore on American Samoa about 15 minutes after the quake, reaching one mile inland...
The quake was centered about 120 miles south of the islands of Samoa, which has about 220,000 people, and American Samoa, a U.S. territory of 65,000.Another strong underwater earthquake rocked western Indonesia on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the Samoan quake, briefly triggering a tsunami alert for countries along the Indian Ocean. The 7.6-magnitude quake toppled buildings, cut power and triggered a landslide on Sumatra island, and at least 75 people were reported killed. Experts said the seismic events were not related.
It's very sad that the forces of nature take the lives of people around the world... My thoughts and prayers are with the survivors and their families....
* Picture taken from internet.
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