Samoa and Sumatra

The tsunami caused by the Samoan earthquake I posted about yesterday has killed more than 100 people and destroyed villages on several islands in the region.

The image below is a screenshot from Google Earth, with the USGS Real-Time Earthquakes overlay on. The BBC also has lots of articles, maps and video clips about the tsunami and its impacts.
Although I couldn't get it to display properly in the Humanities Block, I am told that we did manage to record the earthquakes in the Samoa region, and also another one today off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Sumatran earthquake is thought to have killed at least 75 people, and the death toll is expected to rise further.

All being well with the ICT side of things, I will upload the seismographs tomorrow, and you can keep an eye on the BGS Schools Seismology site, where other schools that are part of the project will no doubt be uploading data soon.

Samoa eathquake and tsunami warning...

After some difficulties over the summer with the seismometer and the computer that is recording the data, we think that we now have it set up properly.

I have just seen on the news that there has been a series of earthquakes, including one at magnitude 8.0, in the Samoa Islands region of the Pacific. Tsunami warnings were issued, and the waves were expected to reach Hawaii.

Hopefully, we'll have managed to pick up the earthquake - will post again tomorrow with a seismograph if we have. In the meantime, USGS reports are here and a Google News search will provide you with plenty of information about the earthquakes and the areas affected.