Another earthquake 'likely' in Solomons
Pastor Dale Morgan
Another earthquake 'likely' in Solomons*
By Shelley Markham
April 02, 2007 06:31pm
Article from: AAP
THE Solomon Islands should brace for another big earthquake in the next
few weeks, an Australian seismologist said today.
An 8.1-magnitude earthquake hit near the Solomon Islands at 6.40am
(AEST) today, about 350km west-north-west of the Solomon Islands'
capital Honiara and at a depth of 10 kilometres, sparking a tsunami.
Gary Gibson, who is a senior seismologist with the Seismology Research
Centre in Melbourne, said earthquakes were not uncommon in the area but
one of magnitude eight was big.
"I have just gone through my records of earthquakes in the Solomon
Islands region and although we have earthquakes of magnitude seven and
above ... we've never had a magnitude of just over eight before,'' Mr
Gibson said.
He expected aftershocks in the region over the next few days and weeks.
There was also the possibility of another big earthquake.
"Any earthquake of that magnitude would have aftershocks for days and
weeks,'' he said.
"One of the characteristics of this area is that you will often get,
days or weeks or even a couple of months later, another big earthquake.
"There is absolutely no way of knowing for sure, but there is a
significant chance of another big one.''
Mr Gibson said while big, today's earthquake was not as big or damaging
as the one off Sumatra which caused the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami on
December 26, 2004.
He said today's quake occurred on the fault line between the Australian
plate and the Pacific plate.
"One side of the fault ruptured on a fault break that was probably 100
kilometres long or more and 100 kilometres deep,'' Mr Gibson said.
"One side moved about two or three metres relative to the other.
"It's a big earthquake by normal standards.
"But the Sumatra earthquake was gigantic. It was over 1,000 kilometres
long by a couple of hundred kilometres deep.''
The Sumatra quake in 2004 was 9.3 magnitude, with its epicentre about
320 kilometres west of Medan, Sumatra.
Mr Gibson said the issuing of a tsunami threat to Australia's east coast
and the closure of beaches in Queensland and NSW today was not premature.
"This one was plenty big enough for a very damaging earthquake in its
own right and to generate a tsunami, which it apparently has along the
coastline of the Solomons,'' he said.
"It's shallow, which means it had the implications that it could have
ruptured the surface and generated a tsunami.''