Friday, March 14, 2008

Java Tsunami/Earthquake

Breaking news! We’ve just been informed that a tsunami caused by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake, has hit the coast of Java, and Indonesian island! Read on to learn more about the location, the injured people, and some facts about this deadly ‘quake.
On July 17, 2006, the west coast of Java was it by a 3-meter high tsunami. The water reached an astonishing 200 yards inland, destroying all houses, restaurants, and hotels that stood in its path. The tsunami was created from a 7.7 magnitude earthquake, whose epicenter was approximately 150 miles from Java’s coastline. However, this Indonesian island is quite familiar to tsunamis, considering it was hit by the 2004 tsunami that had a whopping 9.3 magnitude! Now don’t worry folks, this type of destruction will probably never happen to you. That is, unless you live on an island on top of the pacific ocean’s “Ring of Fire” plate boundary, where Java is located.
Now as you can imagine, this type of natural disaster doesn’t just leave people unharmed. The total number of confirmed deaths caused by the Java tsunami is 547, while 595 were left injured. If that wasn’t enough, 54, 256 people were displaced. Most people harmed were from the Pangandaran Beach, where many tourists and locals stayed. Because so many people were tourists, they did not know how to evacuate very well.
Other than tourists, there is another, much larger, reason so many people died or were injured. The State Minister of Research and Technology received bulletins warning about the tsunami expected to hit in 45 minutes. However, he did not post these bulletins because he didn’t want to start an “unnecessary alarm”. Perhaps he did not expect suck a dangerous tsunami with an intensity of III-IV. He also wasn’t prepared for the 22 aftershocks that followed the tsunami/ earthquake.
As you can see, this Java earthquake/ tsunami was dangerous and deadly. I hope you have learned more about the location, the injured, and some other facts to help you understand how much of an impact this disaster made.


KM3.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It really grabbed my attention and held it. I felt as though i was reading a real newspaper artical. I also had never heard of this earthquake so i learned about that too. Nice job on the facts too.

MJS3

Anonymous said...

It was a very attention grabbing article. I actually thoubht I was reading a magazine article! You gave a lot of really interesting facts, and I learned a lot. SC3

Anonymous said...

i liked the info. It sounded very professioonal. Thats good enough to get you into the star tribune!

Anonymous said...

Wow this actually sounded like this was a real newspaper. you did a great job on this tsunami/earthquake. AH5

Anonymous said...

Yeah i love this one haha -CG5

Anonymous said...

That a lot of good information and i really enjoyed it good job :) MR.

Anonymous said...

very descriptive and sounded like an actual newspaper article.
good facts and well written.
nice job !

KG3