116,000

[Novall]

Never in our time has any one natural disaster taken the lives of so many people.

The only way I can relate to that is to take the closest city to me, and remove 2/3 of its 170,000 person population.

In the blink of an eye...116,000 lives were extinguished. We should never forget how precious life is and how lucky we are to live where we do.

Even though I dont know anyone who lived or was visiting that region, its still impossiable to try to image that much death and distruction happening in our world instantly.

We are so fragile in the world we live on.

[Seret Sajet]

The power of nature is an amazing thing. More devistating than anything man can devise when it wants to be. Now is a good time to realize how unpredictible the planet can be.

What is amazing is they say the tidal wave has altered the rotation of the earth. That simply had me awestruck.

Rest in peace to all those caught in this tragedy and my heart goes out to all the families who have missing loved ones.

[Skarr]

What is amazing is they say the tidal wave has altered the rotation of the earth. That simply had me awestruck.

where did you read/see this?

[Seret Sajet]

Here's a mention of it.

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story. ... 759370.htm

I should correct myself, nothing is confirmed as of yet but with something of this magnitude and the sheer amount of water that was moved its hard to say it won't effect the rotation of the planet, even if only in a minor way.

[MrDooo]

The comparison I heard mentioned (dunno the source) was like when a spinning figure skater brings her arms in, making the rotation faster. It was more the movement of the plates underneath the water that caused the rotation to change.

[Jabe Adaks]

From what I have read the rotation of the earth has been slightly slowed making the day a very minute fraction of a second shorter. In addition the axis of the earth has also tilted by one inch. Not enough to alter time significantly or change the weather. But I would guess that all the current atomic clocks aren't so accurate anymore..

As far as loss of life, I can not begin to imagine the anguish and suffering going on out there. Not to mention the trauma from the fact that this might not be over...

Jabe

[X'an Shin]

As far as loss of life, I can not begin to imagine the anguish and suffering going on out there. Not to mention the trauma from the fact that this might not be over...

3rd world nation death totals are nearly impossible to define properly. The first day they said it was 11,000. A few days later and it's more than 12 times that, with untold people still missing. All told, after the wave and the polluted water and the diseases that will follow, I would guess that the total dead will exceed more than 2-300,000.

In Chechnia, the first estimates of the Civil War there was 500,000 dead. Ten years later, experts think the number was actually a million.

I don't think we'll ever have an accurate reading as to how many people died in the Pacific Rim. They just don't have an accurate record-keeping system in place.

[Isleh]

From what I have read the rotation of the earth has been slightly slowed making the day a very minute fraction of a second shorter. In addition the axis of the earth has also tilted by one inch. Not enough to alter time significantly or change the weather. But I would guess that all the current atomic clocks aren't so accurate anymore..

As far as loss of life, I can not begin to imagine the anguish and suffering going on out there. Not to mention the trauma from the fact that this might not be over...

Jabe

http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041229/ ... 229-2.html

Geologists said changes on the Earth's surface were more noticeable, shifting the island of Sumatra 36 metres to the south-west. Ken Hudnutt of the US Geological Survey said: "Some of the smaller islands off the south-west coast of Sumatra may have moved to the south-west by about 20 metres."

From what i understand... the world actually shrunk...

[Seret Sajet]

Administrator's Note:

Some of you may have read replies to this thread that are now gone. Due to some people finding them insensitive and offensive they have been removed.

For anyone who objects to the replies being removed or is thinking of making a joke about this event I have this to say. Look at the title of this thread. That is the number of people who lost their lives. There is no room for jokes in this thread about the tragedy that caused so much grief. Save the jokes for your own personal amusement or other forums. Even jokes not related to the tragedy are not appreciated at this time. We like to have a good time here and act the fool but there is a place for that and this is not one of them.

[Isleh]

Administrator's Note:

Some of you may have read replies to this thread that are now gone. Due to some people finding them insensitive and offensive they have been removed.

For anyone who objects to the replies being removed or is thinking of making a joke about this event I have this to say. Look at the title of this thread. That is the number of people who lost their lives. There is no room for jokes in this thread about the tragedy that caused so much grief. Save the jokes for your own personal amusement or other forums. Even jokes not related to the tragedy are not appreciated at this time. We like to have a good time here and act the fool but there is a place for that and this is not one of them.

I think it was just people trying to fight the horror with a little humor. I don't think any offense was meant. But...

To put this in perspective, the bombing on Hiroshima occurred on August 6th 1945. 5 months later, at the end of December 1945, estimates of total deaths were approximately 140,000.

In only a few days, the death toll for this tragedy has reached approximately 120,000.

There was a lot of Swedish and German tourist in Thailand this time of year.

"... 1,000 Germans are unaccounted for ..."

"... as many as 4,000 Swedes could be missing as the official 1,500 figure seemed to be based only on charter tours ..."

I can understand the reason why jokes were made. To bring some light into something dark. But there are over 200 users on this board from various countries and it is very possible that someone may have lost someone close. If it was me, If I was in their shoes, I would hope I could come to this forum and not see jokes about it.

Please, if you feel the need to make a joke to cope, please move it away from this topic.

For those of you who may have lost someone or their fate is unknown, all my hope.

[Jaminos]

Well forgive me of what I am about to say if you disagree. God is someone who we will never comprehend. His power works in many ways. We must remember for each life is taken that a new one shall be born. Yes many people died but those people show an example that God exists. (At least for me) It reminds me that what we take for granted can be swept away before you even knew what hit you. I believe this is reminder from god that our lives are limited and what you once held dear can be taken from you instantly.

[Keer]

We are not immune.

Ever heard of the La Palma volcano?

In other words, any time in the next few thousand years a huge section of southern La Palma, weighing 500 thousand million tonnes, will fall into the Atlantic ocean.

What will happen when the volcano on La Palma collapses? Scientists predict that it will generate a wave that will be almost inconceivably destructive, far bigger than anything ever witnessed in modern times. It will surge across the entire Atlantic in a matter of hours, engulfing the whole US east coast, sweeping away everything in its path up to 20km inland. Boston would be hit first, followed by New York, then all the way down the coast to Miami and the Caribbean.

There are few basements in Florida. The highest point in the state is 40 feet above sea level. Could be tomorrow, could be 6000 A.D.

Root article here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/20 ... nami.shtml

[Skarr]

Well forgive me of what I am about to say if you disagree. God is someone who we will never comprehend. His power works in many ways. We must remember for each life is taken that a new one shall be born. Yes many people died but those people show an example that God exists. (At least for me) It reminds me that what we take for granted can be swept away before you even knew what hit you. I believe this is reminder from god that our lives are limited and what you once held dear can be taken from you instantly.

ok 3 questions:

1. what makes you think that they believe in your mysterious god? Maybe they believe their god isn't mysterious and wouldn't wipe out a bunch of them for no reason. Maybe they believe it's just nature.

2. It takes the death of untold thousands of people to show you that God exists? That he didn't like those thousands of people so he decided to slap the ocean and wipe em out?

3. it also takes the death of ALL of these people to remind you life is short?

[Novall]

We are not immune.

Ever heard of the La Palma volcano?

In other words, any time in the next few thousand years a huge section of southern La Palma, weighing 500 thousand million tonnes, will fall into the Atlantic ocean.

What will happen when the volcano on La Palma collapses? Scientists predict that it will generate a wave that will be almost inconceivably destructive, far bigger than anything ever witnessed in modern times. It will surge across the entire Atlantic in a matter of hours, engulfing the whole US east coast, sweeping away everything in its path up to 20km inland. Boston would be hit first, followed by New York, then all the way down the coast to Miami and the Caribbean.

There are few basements in Florida. The highest point in the state is 40 feet above sea level. Could be tomorrow, could be 6000 A.D.

Root article here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/20 ... nami.shtml

The prooved about a year ago that the La Palma wave would only be about 50-70 feet (Still pretty big) By the time it reached us. The initial wave to those within 1-200 mi would be anywhere from 990-1200 feet high. We would in essence experience what Indonisa has, but in lue of the other waves generated by that event...ours would look like baby waves.