Categorized | Earthquake, News

Strong 6.6M quake in Indonesia Sunday (Dec 21), no tsunami threat

Magnitude
6.6

Event Time
2014-12-21 11:34:14 UTC
2014-12-21 19:34:14 UTC+08:00 at epicenter
2014-12-21 01:34:14 HST

Location
2.126°N 126.651°E depth=54.6km (34.0mi)

Nearby Cities
157km (98mi) WNW of Tobelo, Indonesia
168km (104mi) NNW of Kota Ternate, Indonesia
168km (104mi) NNW of Ternate, Indonesia
179km (111mi) ENE of Bitung, Indonesia
1042km (647mi) WSW of Koror Town, Palau

TSUNAMI INFORMATION STATEMENT NUMBER 1
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
1143 UTC SUN DEC 21 2014

...PTWC TSUNAMI INFORMATION STATEMENT...

PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS
---------------------------------

  * MAGNITUDE      6.6
  * ORIGIN TIME    1134 UTC DEC 21 2014
  * COORDINATES    2.2 NORTH  126.8 EAST
  * DEPTH          66 KM / 41 MILES
  * LOCATION       MOLUCCA SEA


EVALUATION
----------

  * AN EARTHQUAKE WITH A PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE OF 6.6 OCCURRED IN
    THE MOLUCCA SEA AT 1134 UTC ON SUNDAY DECEMBER 21 2014.

  * BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA... THERE IS NO TSUNAMI THREAT
    FROM THIS EARTHQUAKE.


RECOMMENDED ACTIONS
-------------------

  * NO ACTION IS REQUIRED.


NEXT UPDATE AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
--------------------------------------

  * THIS WILL BE THE ONLY STATEMENT ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS
    ADDITIONAL DATA ARE RECEIVED OR THE SITUATION CHANGES.

  * AUTHORITATIVE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EARTHQUAKE FROM THE U.S.
    GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CAN BE FOUND ON THE INTERNET AT
    EARTHQUAKE.USGS.GOV/EARTHQUAKES -ALL LOWER CASE-.

  * FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THIS EVENT MAY BE FOUND AT
    PTWC.WEATHER.GOV AND AT WWW.TSUNAMI.GOV.

  * COASTAL REGIONS OF HAWAII... AMERICAN SAMOA... GUAM... AND
    CNMI SHOULD REFER TO PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER MESSAGES
    SPECIFICALLY FOR THOSE PLACES THAT CAN BE FOUND AT
    PTWC.WEATHER.GOV.

  * COASTAL REGIONS OF CALIFORNIA... OREGON... WASHINGTON...
    BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALASKA SHOULD ONLY REFER TO U.S. NATIONAL
    TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER MESSAGES THAT CAN BE FOUND AT
    NTWC.ARH.NOAA.GOV.

USGS: How large does an earthquake have to be to cause a tsunami?

Magnitudes below 6.5
Earthquakes of this magnitude are very unlikely to trigger a tsunami.

Magnitudes between 6.5 and 7.5
Earthquakes of this size do not usually produce destructive tsunamis. However, small sea level changes may be observed in the vicinity of the epicenter. Tsunamis capable of producing damage or casualties are rare in this magnitude range but have occurred due to secondary effects such as landslides or submarine slumps.

Magnitudes between 7.6 and 7.8
Earthquakes of this size may produce destructive tsunamis especially near the epicenter; at greater distances small sea level changes may be observed. Tsunamis capable of producing damage at great distances are rare in the magnitude range.

Magnitude 7.9 and greater
Destructive local tsunamis are possible near the epicenter, and significant sea level changes and damage may occur in a broader region.

Note that with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the probability of an aftershock with a magnitude exceeding 7.5 is not negligible. To date, the largest aftershock recorded has been magnitude 7.1 that did not produce a damaging tsunami.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

 

Quantcast