# 6277
Yesterday’s 8.6 magnitude earthquake off the northern shore of Sumatra did not end up generating a devastating tsunami, but that bit of good fortune wasn’t apparent until several hours after the event.
For a time vulnerable coastal regions across the Indian ocean were under a tsunami watch, and evacuations were ordered in some areas.
Below you’ll find a graphic from OCHA (the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), showing the alert response across the Indian ocean.
The timeline, showing the first quake and warnings, followed 2 hours later by a second 8.2 quake, are excerpted below.
After the tremendous earthquake and tsunami that devastated many coastal regions across the Indian ocean in 2005, tsunami warnings and preparedness have been taken far more seriously.
Last year’s earthquake/tsunami in Japan only reinforced the need for timely warnings and evacuations.
For the most up-to-date tsunami information for the Pacific, Indian Ocean, and the Caribbean you will want to bookmark the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
As you can see, yesterday’s Sumatran earthquake have now slipped to positions 3 & 4, with 2 strong quakes in Baja California overnight.
Neither of these most recent quakes produced a tidal wave.
For more on tsunami preparedness, you may wish to revisit a blog from last month called Tsunami: The Other Coastal Threat.
There I wrote about the history of tsunamis that have struck along the Atlantic coastline, and provided information and links for National Tsunami Preparedness Week.
As I wrote last month . . .
Tsunamis are relatively rare, but they are just one of many potential threats, which is why most experts recommend an `all threats’ preparedness strategy.
Disasters happen.
And so you need to have adequate emergency supplies (including a good first aid kit), a NOAA weather radio, and a disaster plan, in order to give you and your family the best protection.
Good places to get preparedness information include:
FEMA http://www.fema.gov/index.shtm
READY.GOV http://www.ready.gov/
AMERICAN RED CROSS
And you can click the following link to search this blog for my PREPAREDNESS ESSAYS.
