Dear Friends:
This story is from the N Y Times of April 11, 2012 -bhuban Tsunami Threat Ends for India’s Andaman Islands By SRUTHI GOTTIPATI, NIKHILA GILL and NIDA NAJAR Manish Swarup/Associated Press A fisherman casts his net from the shore in Port Blair, in India’s southeastern Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in this Jan. 3, 2005. The Indian Ocean-wide Tsunami Watch set in motion by a powerful earthquake off of Indonesia on Wednesday put the tiny Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as well as the eastern coast of India, on alert. While the earthquake itself had not triggered a tsunami by Wednesday afternoon, weather experts remain concerned because of a massive aftershock. UPDATED 6:49 P.M. IST Srinivasa Kumar, in-charge Tsunami Warning Centre: “The threat has passed,” Mr. Kumar said at 6:30 p.m. He noted that although the alert has been lifted, it is up to local officials to decide when to let people back on the coastline. His center recommends that people stay off until at least two hours after the alert is withdrawn. “But that’s a call they (local officials) take,” he said. Tsunami Warning Centre put out their last bulletin at 6:30 pm, removing the alert for the east coast of India as well as the warning for Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The earthquake had generated minor tsunami waves of 10 centimeters on the east coast of India, 30 centimeters at Andaman and Nicobar and 1 meter in Indonesia, Mr. Kumar said. Prabhakar Rao, head official for the District Disaster Control Room at Andaman and Nicobar: The control room has been alerted by the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services for waves up to 3.9 meters on the islands. Indira Point, which is on the tip of Campbell Bay could see waves of up to 3.9 meters, as well as Little Nicobar island next to it. Katchal could see waves of up to 2.8 meters and Nicobar was issued a warning about potential waves of 1.7 meters. Disaster officials felt a second wave of aftershocks more than an hour after the first, he said, at 5:23 p.m. Shashidhar Reddy, vice-chairman, National Disaster Management Authority: The tsunami warning was issued by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services or INCOIS, according to which a two meter tsunami was expected to hit Andaman and Nicobar at 2:40pm I.S.T. and the East Coast at around 4:30-5pm. But the first tremors were caused by a strike slip earthquake, which means there was no vertical displacement of water — a necessary condition for a tsunami to be generated. “The National Disaster Management Forces in Chennai, Hyderabad and Andaman and Nicobar have been alerted and are ready to take necessary action and carry out rescue operations, if required” Mr. Reddy said. “A lot has changed since seven years ago; we are now prepared to deal with a crisis.” Vinnie Kalia, owner of the Island Vinnie’s Tropical Beach Cabanaon Havelock Island, had his 23 guests evacuate the resort around 3:45 p.m. to a hill next to the resort: “We evacuated about half an hour ago, but the ocean is calm as anything, so we canceled the evacuation. And now they’re all coming back in to the resort.” Deepika Mandal of the Fortune Resort Bay Island in Port Blair: “We’ve received a tsunami alert but nothing has changed. I’m looking at the sea as I speak to you and it’s absolutely calm.” A scientist for the Tsunami Early Warning System of India said Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh remain under alert: “There’s been no major tsunami threat on the east coast of India. We’re monitoring sea level gauges.” _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
