Larissa

It certainly puts our niggly problems into proportion. I found it really odd that there wasn't much news on the TV this morning; they seem more bothered about sport etc. Maybe they focus more on the tourist aspect as many Aussies will have friends and family on holiday in the area. I can think of a few people (aquaintances) myself and am not sure if they are back yet or still out there.
Not looking forward to the inevitable rising death toll.

Pollyana

We were watching the footage on Sky News (on Foxtel) last night - on the feed that comes from London. When they went back to the Aussie sections they were on about the normal "cricket/fat housewife loses weight/someone ripped over new fridge" junk. The Bloke admitted it was weird wtaching it on UK news, but the coverage was so much better.
I guess the coverage will increase if/when they realise Aussie tourists are missing.
Heard from my pilot friend in the UK - he was flying yesterday with a Captain who had just returned the day before from a village on the South East tip of India, where he was visiting friends. The news was breaking while they were working during the day and he said it was heartbreaking to see the guy getting distressed, and knowing there was nothing he could do - they couldn;t even find out how people were, and whether they were still alive.

Puts life into perspective doesn't it.

Quinkana

Tsunamis in Western Australia

Larissa

Interesting articles, my hubby was just asking about Tsunami activity here. One of the accounts mentioned the waves going for 2-300 metres inland, but this seems fairly small to me. I guess if there was a large tidal wave here we would all be stuff£d as the land is so flat and so wouldn't absorb much of the power of the waves.
Makes you think.

tiredwithtwins

anyone know if northern/north-eastern aus was affected??

im worried

artep

I have friends holidaying in Phuket for xmas... I've tried texting them but as yet have had no reply, but then again the networks are bound to be jammed with thousands of others trying to do the same.

Their daughter is my daughter's best friend......I so hope any news I get is good, but for now all I can do is wait and pray.

Pollyana

The TV here (Brisbane) hasn't even mentioned the small surge that Kala decribed in WA, so I don't think any part of Aus was affected at all.

bondipom

Over 20,000 dead was the last figure mentioned on SBS news. North Eastern and the direct northern part of Australia is blocked from the epicentre by a lot of land. Only northern WA would have been hit.

The same thing could happen to the Eastern coast of Australia if a quake happens off the coast of NZ. Highly unlikely but the risk is there. The risk of a tsunami in the Indian Ocean is also small but there and has now happened.

I believe it is the speed of the tsunami which gives it the horrendous power. 5+m waves hit Australia several times a year but never at 500kmh.

tiredwithtwins

hiya poll,
think just wa was affected as its on the abc news website - its very scary!
my sister in law's aunty is on holiday in thailand, but is ok.
never heard anything about an earthquake in tassy on the news - it aparently measured 8 or something (according to cnn) - even scarier!!

bondipom

8.4 on the Richter but 800 kms away. According to the news the plates slid horizontally otherwise Southern Australia would have been looking at a similiar incident.

Pollyana

Scared a few penguins....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4123927.stm

Scossie

The tsunami did hit WA, although on a much lesser scale.

There were reports today of the sea level around Perth, and north and south of Perth, rising by as much as 2 meters.

Apparently, Geraldton was hit pretty bad, with some boats moored there sinking.

Far out at sea, a tsunami generally is undetectable and may only rise a meter or so above the water. But it can stretch for hundreds of miles and reach speeds in excess of 600 mph -- faster even than a jetliner. A tsunami can travel from one side of the Pacific to the other in less than a day, its speed dependent on the water depth. As it nears the shallower waters along the shore, the tsunami -- its energy flux unchanged -- begins to "shoal" or heighten, quickly growing to several or more meters in height. When the tsunami finally makes landfall, it may resemble a rapidly rising or falling tide or a series of large breaking waves.

We have friends here in Perth who have family living in the countries bady hit.
Thankfully, it seems they are all OK.
I'm sure, however that everyone on the BE forum will share my feeling of deepest sympathy to the family and friends of all the, unfortunately ever growing, list of casualties arising from this disaster.

John...

Pollyana

Thats where the first poster on this thread - Kala - is living.

Exactly. I don't think it matters whether you know personally anyone who has been affected. You cannot help but feel sympathy for the millions of people affected. Makes me feel helpless, too.

starman

This is just bringing back my memories of the Turkish quake back in 1999 and how the figures just kept going up and up untill the authorities gave up counting after 18,000. I was lucky to be living in a bungalow at the time in northern istanbul and regretted not thinking to use my video camera which I was charging next to my bed when the quake hit.

heading downunder 2002

It makes you realise how lucky we all are, sitting in our homes,our children around us surrounded by Christmas presents, and there on the telly is a poor man carrying his dead child, it certainly brings home to you what is important and what really doesnt matter. My cousin and his wife are on holiday on an island off Malaysia I just pray they are ok.

Susan