What's With All that Shaking in Indonesia?

tags: , ,

I carefully follow the news of Indonesia and other places in the South Pacific Ocean because that's where my research birds come from. So I was listening to radio reports of the recent spate of Sumatran earthquakes with great concern, worried that yet another tsunami would result. But as I listened to these reports, I noticed something else that was unusual; the reporters referred to multiple earthquakes occurring in the region, rather than one quake that was preceeded by foreshocks and followed by aftershocks. So of course, I had to ask the resident expert on ScienceBlogs about this, my friend and occasional roommate, Chris Rowan. He wrote a wonderful reply to my many questions, which he quotes in his response.

More like this

A 6.3 earthquake has just struck the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, killing dozens and leaving dozens more buried in rubble with rescue workers trying to dig them out. On the TV this morning, the mayor of Christchurch told his story: Having just left a series of meetings, he was sitting on a…
The Great San Francisco Earthquake(s) On October 8th, 1865, the "Great San Francisco Earthquake" hit south of the city of San Francisco, magnitude 6.3. On October 21st, 1868, the 'Great San Francisco Earthquake" hit near Haywards, east of the city, across the bay, magnitude 6.8. On April 18th, 1906…
tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula, with insect egg or pupa in its beak. Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [larger view]. News of Birds in Science A fascinating paper was just published by some of my colleagues in the top-tier…
In the wake of Monday's earthquake in the L'Aquila region of Italy that killed over 200 people, news emerged that one Italian scientist had predicted the earthquake less than two weeks earlier. Giampaolo Giuliani's predictions were broadcast on March 28 but was dismissed by Italian authorities--and…