"Most powerful earthquake in 40 years."

[Chad]

Originally Posted by Tarolisol

DID you hear, the force of the wave moved the entire island of sumatra 100ft

''


I'm not sure how a wave could move land. Islands don't float on water, they are still part of the earth's crust. Perhaps the earth quake moved the plate that much?

[AJ_77]

Originally Posted by Gujustud

Where did you read this? Most of the geologists that say this, are generally ones NOT from this area.

As its known, if there was to be a tsunami, Vancouver Island would take all the battering. The waves would not reach here, past all the islands. Water level may increase, but it would not cause richmond to disappear into the water.

It's believed that a localised earthquake, not the wave, would shake the lands built on silt (Delta, etc) and they would "settle out" or slide into the Pacific... or at least parts of them. The ground is not solid like the Island - while they may take the brunt of a Tsunami, a strong quake might cause low-lying areas of the coastal mainland to become even lower...

[Chin_Lee]

quote="SeaHorse_Fanatic"]According to geologists, if the Lower Mainland was hit by an earthquake 8.0 or higher, Richmond & all the Fraser River Delta lands would liquify & disappear into the water. Not a pleasant thought, eh.[/quote]

Well i worked in Richmond for 8 years between 1995-2003 and saw many high rises go up in the city center during that time period. My observations include:
1) NOBODY has basements in Richmond because I was told they would flood.
2) the building companies put a 20-30 feet high mound of sand in the building area for about a year and then pound that sand and huge poles for months into the ground before building in that area. I talked to some construction workers who explained that it was required to stabalize the ground because it was too soft to build high rises.

I talked to a geologist who did some studies for the City of Richmond (and may be employed by the City) who said that Richmond is nothing more than a build-up of silt from the Fraser River hence the creation of the north fraser and south fraser arm around richmond into the ocean. They said that a strong earthquake could easily settle that silt making Richmond sink or dissolve the silt into surrounding water. I didn't ask him about south delta but i believe its the same type of land formation as Richmond.

Its kinda scary driving all around the perimeter of Richmond and notice that its completely surrounded by a dyke. A few years back when we had the huge snowfall winter and the fraser river rised too high in the spring causing floods in various areas of Richmond. If anybody lives in Richmond, can you confirm if you can purchase earthquake insurance? I've heard from different people that it is not an option for residences in Richmond but then I've also heard otherwise so I can't confirm.

[Samw]

Originally Posted by Samw

Imagine going to Phuket or some other beach resort in SE Asia and relaxing on the beach and then all of a sudden, Earthquake comes, followed by Tsunami and then whoosh.

Sadly, I heard from an old friend of mine in Singapore that her coworker was vacationing in Phuket and lost the youngest daughter as described in this report.

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/top/sto...,80134,00.html

[Delphinus]

If you would like to help ....

www.redcross.ca
www.oxfam.ca
www.unicef.ca
www.worldvision.ca

[Gujustud]

Originally Posted by chin_lee

Its kinda scary driving all around the perimeter of Richmond and notice that its completely surrounded by a dyke. A few years back when we had the huge snowfall winter and the fraser river rised too high in the spring causing floods in various areas of Richmond. If anybody lives in Richmond, can you confirm if you can purchase earthquake insurance? I've heard from different people that it is not an option for residences in Richmond but then I've also heard otherwise so I can't confirm.

I live in Richmond. We have earthquake insurance. For the price it is well worth it.

The funny thing about floods, etc, is when it does rain quite heavly I find Richmond NEVER had floods. I believe Richmond is far more prepared for such disasters, from simple heavy rain, you won't find big pools of water on the roads/hwy's. But goto a place like coquitlam, arg, how brutal. Specially up on roads like lougheed/schoolhouse (since we go there for work often), that place is almost always flooded in heavy rain.

[cc_bruno]

Bah, that's where you're wrong... Lougheed and Schoolhouse never flood... it's a permanent pond that just dries up in the summer . I know what you mean, though, I work in Richmond and live in Poco, and drive right through Lougheed and Schoolhouse... Yup, never found a large pool of water in Richmond, (which always amazes me), but parts of Coquitlam, well, you can have instant water front property... and sometimes, you're close enough to having your own boat house. Here's hoping we never have to see what would really happen if we got hit that bad.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

As of Wednesday:

The official Death Toll has now surpassed 70,000 & continues to rise as aid workers reach secluded villages & areas devastated by the tsunamis.

For those who can't imagine this many people dead, BC Place stadium in Vancouver can hold just under 60,000 people. The Red Cross predicts that the total will reach over 100,000, not including any future outbreaks of disease or pestilence.

Just hope that people of the world have a long enough memory to continue helping the devastated countries for the long term, since not only were people killed & homes destroyed, but the economies of these areas are toast.

[Buccaneer]

The owner of our company and senior management ( 20 in all with kids ) were in Phuket when the Tsunami hit ... in fact the VP of sales & marketing and the owner were snorkeling when the wave came in ( wife of VP watching in horror from the hotel windows and owners wife & kids stopped in hotel lobby to do some shopping prolly saved their lives )

We were really worried for them till we heard the good news that just some bumps and scrapes were all they got and they all survived.

[Tarolisol]

Canada has just increased its contribution from 4 million to 40 million. Hopfully that will provide a little relief for those in need.