Vanuatu Earthquake

Hi All,

Just received an email from Suey (who is on the Star at the moment) advising they were woken at about 4:30am with an announcement over the loud speaker advising the assessment crews to take position, then another about 15 minutes later to stand down. They found out while shopping in Port Vila today that there was an earthquake in the region. No damage apart from things falling from the shelves in the shops. No injuries or structural damage. I just checked www.news.com.au and found the below report. I'm sure Suey will get on line when they get a moment and tell us all about it.

Apparently it is raining heaps and quite dark. Although I not as dark as cruise cam is showing I am sure. I hate it when you want to follow someone on a cruise and it stops working!! Maybe the earthquake did do a little damage to the ship.:confused:

Cheers,

Chaz:)

Strong quake hits Vanuatu

From correspondents in Wellington

October 04, 2006 09:47am

Article from: Agence France-Presse

A STRONG earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 struck near Vanuatu early today but there were no reports of casualties or damage, officials said.

The epicentre was 165km under the seabed, 70km north-west of the island of Tanna and 150km south-east of the capital Port Vila, the US Geological Survey said.

An official at the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office said no injuries or damage had been reported after the earthquake, which hit at 0403 (AEST). No tsunami warning was issued.

The earthquake occurred close to the faultline separating the Australian and Pacific plates of the earth's crust, where quakes and volcanic activity are common.

The reading was based on the open-ended moment magnitude scale, often used by US seismologists, which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total energy released.

Wow, how scary.

I was just reading about a volcano and the island in the brochures I received. They have a post office like the underwater one. Guess we won't be going there in a hurry.

Edit: funny how I ready earthquake and substituted volcano in my brain. Anyway bit of trivia for you all.

http://www.volcanopost.com

http://www.underwaterpost.com

We figure they were just being cautious putting assessment teams on standby, Mum said that in all her 29 cruises she has never heard an announcement like that in the middle of the night before. Not much damage in Vila although they said they felt it. Sunny and fine today with a slight chop in the ocean. This is the life:)

Cruise cam is finally working again. Looks like rain!! Hope it's not too rough.

Cheers,

Chaz