Recalculating quakes.(Briefly Noted)(earthquakes)(Brief article)

Emergency Preparedness News, March, 2006

RECALCULATING QUAKES. The Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of December 2004 was so much larger than any previously measured rupture of its type that it is causing scientists to reevaluate areas of the world that were previously thought to be at low risk for tsunami-causing quakes. Researchers funded by the National Science Foundation estimated that the 2004 tsunami was caused by a 1,000-mile rupture of the megathrust, the longest of any recorded quake.

Former quiet zones being reevaluated because a similarly large rupture could cause a deadly tsunami include the Ryukyu Islands between Taiwan and Japan, and the Caribbean Sea. Contact: Cheryl Dybas, NSF, (703) 292-7734, cdybas@nsf.gov, www.nsf.gov.