ULTRA QUAKE PLACES

Heard something interesting about the ice on the poles melting. A scientist said that with the ice melting it's going to change the pressure on the surface of the earth causing the plates to move more and more earthquakes. Today on the news they said it's the first time now that the northwest passage is open for shipping because the ice has melted so much. That was from NASA." This came to me from a pal. More quakes? Hmmmmmm. Get the china off the top shelf, Mabel!

THIS THEORY is not mentioned at
http://www.livescience.com/environment/13-crazy-earthquake-facts-100309.html

AND ANOTHER PAL sent this an hour later:

Quakes terrorise Indonesia, experts warn of ‘big one’: Seismologists warned
the worst might be yet to come, even bigger than the 2004 quake which killed 230,000
people (AP), 15 September 2007

PADANG, Indonesia — Powerful earthquakes struck Indonesia for a third day,
terrorising thousands of people who refused to
return to coastal homes in fear of tsunami and falling debris.
Seismologists warned the worst might be yet to come.

Experts have been predicting a repeat of the monster temblor that triggered
the 2004 Asian tsunami, killing more than 230,000
people in a dozen nations. American Kerry Sieh, who has spent decades
studying the fault along Sumatra island, said the new
jolts could be leading up to the big one.

“No one can say whether it will be in 30 seconds or 30 years,” he said,
adding the recent developments made him nervous. “But
my intuition tells me it will be sooner rather than later.”

The 8.4-magnitude quake that shook Southeast Asia on Wednesday has been
followed by dozens of strong aftershocks that have
killed at least 13 people, damaged hundreds of homes and churned up a
3-meter (10-foot) -high tsunami. Magnitude 7.8 and 7.1
tremors Thursday were followed by a 6.4 on Friday.

Geologists say the colossal quakes are all on the edge of the Menawai
island patch — which last experienced a mammoth
temblor in 1833 -- and have piled even more pressure onto the fault.

“They are basically like dogs nipping at the heels of the horse,” said
Sieh, of the California Institute of Technology. “If a giant
earthquake happened tomorrow we would say, ’My God! How much more obvious
could it have been?”’

The wall of water that slammed into several fishing villages along
Sumatra’s coast on Wednesday swept away nearly a dozen
houses, but overall damage was “minimal,” Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono said after an air force aerial survey.

Many people said a public awareness campaign launched after the 2004
tsunami paid off, including warnings issued over mosque
speakers and training provided by local officials on how to escape a
disaster.

“When the earth started shaking, some people yelled, ‘It’s time to go up
the hill ... let’s get going,” said Fadil, 35, a father of two,
describing how he and hundreds of neighbours watched from above as the
3-meter (10-foot) wave approached. Hundreds of houses
were damaged, but no one died.

The latest quakes — together with the 9.0-magnitude temblor in 2004 and a
8.7 tremor in early 2005 -- deeply concern experts.

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago, with a population of 235
million people, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location
on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the
Pacific Basin.

One major fault, which runs the length of the west coast of Sumatra about
200 kilometres (125 miles) offshore, is the meeting
point of the Eurasian and Pacific tectonic plates, which have been pushing
against each other for millions of years. This can cause
huge stresses to build up.

“There is a strong indication this foreshadows the big one,” Danny Hillman,
an earthquake specialist at the Indonesian Institute of
Science, said of this week’s seismic activity. “We all agree there is an
8.5 or stronger earthquake waiting to happen.”

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