HGS Guest Night, June 11, 2005
Will Discuss Earthquakes and Tsunami
with USGS senior science advisor Dr. David Applegate
By Linda Sternbach and Bill Osten, Guest Night co-coordinators
On Sunday Dec 26, 2004, a major earthquake and tsunami (tidal wave) struck the islands of Sumatra, Indonesia, causing over 235,000 deaths. The earthquake, whose epicenter was in the subsea, active subduction zone between the Indian and Burma tectonic plates, was one of 20th-21st centuries largest and most devastating, registering magnitude 9 on the Richter scale. The energy released from the earthquake is estimated to have been the equivalent to 475 megatons, or 23,000 atomic bombs (see their website for more info.) The tsunami waves that followed within minutes flooded the islands of Sumatra, Malaysia, Sir Lanka and Thailand early in the morning when people in low-lying areas were unprepared. Devastation was caused by the waves and debris. The earthquake could not have been prevented, but the loss of life would have been lessened by a modern geophysical warning system such as the US and Canadian governments currently have in place.
The Houston Geological Society is dedicating this year’s Guest Night to scientific understanding and public awareness of the risks, causes and steps the U.S. and world governments need to take to avoid the damage that major earthquakes and tsunamis cause. We are fortunate have been able to schedule an dynamic and knowledgeable USGS senior science advisor, David Applegate, to fly in from Reston, Virginia and present a talk at this year’s Guest Night event. Dr. Applegate’s talk is titled: “ Lessons from Sumatra: Reducing Earthquake Risk Worldwide.” HGS Guest Night will be on Saturday June 11, starting at 6:30pm, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, 1 Hermann Circle Drive.
The Guest Night event includes a buffet of Goode Company barbeque and fajitas, and access to the Houston Museum of Natural Science exhibits on the first and second floors before the main talk in the IMAX. As a special bonus, after Dr. Applegate’s talk, we will show the IMAX movie “Forces of Nature,” free to Guest Night attendees. The Guest Night event has to be limited to 400 people (due to IMAX seating limits) and registration closes Monday, June 6. There will not be tickets sales at the door the night of the event. Registration forms are in this issue and can be mailed or faxed to the HGS office, or members can register and pay by credit card on the HGS website.
Earth Scientists needed to help spread public awareness
This year’s Guest Night will be a great opportunity for earth scientists of the HGS, whether working in oil and gas, or environmental science, to bring their friends and family and learn about what could happen if a major earthquake or tsunami (tidal wave) hits the coastline of the U.S. Did you realize that tsunamis from earthquakes of magnitude 6 and below have caused significant destruction to the US coasts of Alaska, California and the Canadian Newfoundland coast in just the last 30 years? Did you know that the USGS and NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) monitors an early warning system of satellites and buoys? Even though Houston is not in a tsunami/earthquake high-risk zone, Houston is home to a large number of geoscientists who can be involved in public awareness. One of the important roles of the USGS is to get earth scientists involved in public education, so that local groups can be ready to support safety efforts in the event of an US major earthquake and tsunami.
Interview with Dr. David Applegate
Dr. David Applegate leads the Geologic Discipline''s Earthquake Hazards Program of the U.S. Geological Survey, based in Reston, Virginia. Dr. Applegate holds a B.S. in geology from Yale University and a Ph.D. in geology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
HGS Bulletin: What does your job at the USGS, involve on a daily basis and what are the big ongoing projects right now?
My job is to oversee USGS work on geologic hazards. I''m directly responsible for programs in earthquake hazards, global seismic monitoring and geomagnetism and coordinate with our other geologic hazard programs that address volcanoes, landslides and coastal hazards. These programs support several hundred scientists and support staff, who are spread across the most geologically hazardous regions of the country. Since almost none of them are stationed at USGS headquarters in Reston, Virginia, where I am, that means a lot of travel to stay in touch with them and with our many partners. In the case of the earthquake program, about a quarter of our funding goes right out the door to support targeted research and regional seismic monitoring networks at universities and state geological surveys.
We are currently planning a major initiative focused on catastrophic natural hazards. It will build on existing USGS capabilities and partnerships to take advantage of new technology to deliver information products that emergency managers and the public can use to reduce our Nation''s vulnerability to earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, tsunami, floods, hurricanes and wildfires.
HGS Bulletin: Where were you, and what were you doing, when you got the news about the Sunday, Dec 26, Sumatra earthquake and tsunami? Were the early reports accurate about the magnitude of the disaster, or was the early information not reliable? What was your initial reaction to the news of the tsunami disaster?
I was down in Florida enjoying the Christmas holiday with my family when I received word of the earthquake and subsequently hustled back north to Washington. But I was on the sidelines – our on-call duty seismologists at the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) in Golden, Colorado were the ones who first received the automated alerts and cut short their Christmas celebration to get to the office (because of the International Date Line, it was still Dec. 25th here in the US but the morning of the 26th in South Asia). Many more of our seismologists headed in to the office as they realized the magnitude of what had happened and the need to analyze data from the mainshock and expected aftershocks. Quite a number didn''t sleep that night or, for some, the next