Tsunami quake displaced land as far as China: study

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2005

PARIS (AFP) — The December 26 quake that originated off Sumatra ripped a gash of at least 1,000 kilometres (625 miles) in the Indian Ocean's floor and displaced Earth's crust as far as southern China, a study says.

The data comes from Global Positioning System (GPS) stations that have been dotted across Southeast Asia in a network designed to monitor land movements caused by seismic activity.

Initial estimates were of a seabed rupture that spread northwards from a point just west of Sumatra, on a weakened fault some 450 kms (250 miles) long.

But the latest paper confirms later calculations that the rupture was at least 1,000 kms (625 miles) long, ending at a point just south of Myanmar, and that it proceeded at a dizzying speed rather than at a slow...