[waves]

Today there was an earthquake (7.1 on the Richter scale) in Haiti which is mess from that.

Tsunamis were sighted near the epicenter and tsunami warnings have were issued for various parts of the carribean.

the warnings have been cancelled now. but how can they really know...

i grew up in those parts. i'm still worried.

~ waves ~

[Mari]

Dear Waves,
I heard this on the radio in the car earlier.
The earthquake was shallow thus producing great destruction. But I think that that shallowness of it kept the tsunami effect low (but I am not 100% sure that I heard it right in the car.)

The quake was felt in Santo Domingo and parts of eastern Cuba.


Regarding tsunami:
http://news.discovery.com/earth/big-...in-effect.html

The only good news so far is that a widespread tsunami is unlikely, according to NOAA. Most of the predicted arrival times for a destructive wave have now passed, so the threat from the sea is low.

I have colleagues and students who have family in Haiti. I'm concerned for them.

M.

[waves]

yes i saw the NOAA advisory ... but local weather conditions can make one or another region more or less safe. i shall have to look for local information, i have not had much luck. waah.

tsunamis, even tho they "predict" them in such cases, are rather unpredictable.

i hope your colleagues and students' families are ok.

these things really suck.

i have a sick feeling in my stomach. all the people i went to school with, plus some family friends, plus people i worked with when i went back for a year at one point... that's a lot of people. and they all live on one small island. with a lot of low coastline.

and the island itself... i am rather personally attached to.

~ waves ~ from the islands

[waves]

no tsunamis in my parts...

everything is ok, even though earthquake aftershocks were felt in some of our areas. but not on my island fortunately. which is good, population is dense there and even the more modern/stable buildings are not architected for earthquakes.

we are actually providing emergency aid to Haiti which i think is really cool.

i saw some pix of affected areas of Haiti and it is a real mess. bunch of rubble and i hate to think what is under it.

~ waves ~

p.s. i looked at the weather report in the paper too - today's max to be only 67, but during the days following they are running back up in the high 70's... sigh... dream a little dream... how's about a few of us take a little trip...

[waves]

starting to see "numbers" come in from Haiti now.

of lives truncated that is.

it's horrible.

no aid will bring them back.

i can't even think about the injuries...

[bizi]

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/show.html

Dr. Jeff Masters wonder blog about the disaster.

[waves]

couldn't figure out where i'd read this... found it again - it was in this article

Originally Posted by Mari

http://news.discovery.com/earth/big-...in-effect.html

The quake occurred along the Enriquillo-Plaintain Garden fault zone, he added, which runs in an East-West direction along the southern edge of the island of Hispaniola (which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and into the Caribbean Sea for several hundred miles.

Worryingly, the island is riddled with shorter faults that run parallel to the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden. Lin said that geologists are concerned that this evening's quake could trigger additional tremors of magnitude 6.0 or greater along one of those faults in the near future.

that is ... apart from the aftershocks.

althemore terrifying with only 1 of three hospitals left standing.

~ waves ~

[waves]

i have heard/seen so many DIFFERENT figures - 50,000, 100,000, 500,000 and ONE THIRD of the population (3 of 9 the million total) ... that's NOT information ... its all guesswork and hearsay right now.

they don't know yet... and how can they really.

i saw pix yesterday and some footage today.

all you can see is pretty much rubble.

with people groping around in it.

no food or water either.

it is horrific.

one thing i know fwiw is they are going to get global aid... from US, from Europe, but also from neighboring Caribbean nations - whatever little they can do but everything counts - there is solidarity.

and i keep thinking what if there is another one. if only the island could be airlifted clear out of the sea to someplace safe while they try and sort people out. yeah. i know. crazy thought.

~ waves ~

[bizi]

http://www.lambifund.org/
this is a good place to donate if you are interested.
bizi

[waves]

Originally Posted by Mari

I have colleagues and students who have family in Haiti. I'm concerned for them.

Any update ... have your students/colleagues been able to contact their families?

If not... I saw that the Lambi fund page Bizi gave a link to offers a mechanism for assistance in contacting relatives in Haiti. Maybe they can help.

~ waves ~