Weird. I sent Glenn Reynolds a note to tell him about the Command Post coverage half an hour ago, and he posted a link about 5 minutes later. He seemed quite unaware of what had happened until I told him.

Maybe it's just that I've been staring non-stop at the news for the last 8 hours, but I can't believe that there could be anyone who hasn't heard about the disaster yet.

Could anybody give me the moment magnitude (not Richter which was designed for shallow focus earthquakes) of the biggest quake?

By the way, There are some calculations out there that is an order of magnitude off. But just to be sure, according to "Physical Geology" by Plummer et al an earthquake of "Richter" magnitude of 8.9 would have an energy of approximately 2000 MT of TNT, which is 2 billion tons of TNT. If this translates to a moment magnitude of 9.4 that would be 32 billion tons of TNT, which is why I really want the more accurate MM and not the deeply flawed Richter.

Whoops, 4000 billion pounds of TNT. By the way, Foxnews is comparing it to the Alaskan earthquake of 1964 which had a MM of 9.2 which would be 8000 billion pounds of TNT.

It was my understanding that a Richter magnitude of 9.0 was equal to 32 billion tons of TNT, but it's been several years sind I studied seismology so I'm a little hazy on the facts. I'm not sure of the MM.

Any word on Diego Garcia? I can't find any news, they would have been pretty close to the epicenter and on the likely path of any tsunami wave.

Diego Garcia is only 4 feet above sea level , so I expect it got hit. Fortunately, due to the shape of the island most of the infrastucture is located on the western arm. The east would have taken the brunt of the waves. Also, Garcia is a fair distance from India and Sri Lanka. By the time the waves reached the island they'd probably have lost some of their force.

At the end of the day, if you're worried about friends or relatives based there, is there any safer place to be after a natural disaster than a US Navy outpost?

Hadn't even thought about Diego Garcia. But they should have some time to prepare ( a chart I have seems to give them 6 hours from earthquake to Tsunami. SO maybe they have four. Frankly I am waiting for more very bad news from Bangledesh.

Side, 2004NM4 if it hit the earth would impart a little less than half the energy of this earthquake (assuming a MM of 8.8)

As I live in the UK there is quite a bit of interest in this story. There are several known British deaths and I expect it to go significantly higher. That part of the world is very popular with people attempting to escape the cold and wet of British winter weather.

I suspect I will know someone or someone I know will know of someone affected by this terrible event.

I am still waiting for news from Diego Garcia. Sure, most of the infrastructure is on the west side of the island, but the Officer's Club, dining facilities, and dormitories are all at the northern tip, within feet on the beach. One good wave could definitely sweep away the OClub. I have many friends still on active duty who are there, and I would like to know if they are ok. I am praying for them, and the families of all those affected by this earthquake.

From running a search on 'diego garcia "no significant damage"' got:

"PENTAGON The U-S Navy says all of its ships and other assets survived south Asia's killer tsunami with no significant damage.

The closest U-S base to the affected area is on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. The base emerged unscathed."

But this is just a single AP post. Nothing else. I pass it along w/o comment.

RE: Diego Garcia
A Pentagon official and an officer in Pearl Harbor both have said there was not any damage. On a radio talk show yesterday [Dec 27], KFI640 had info that there was water in some buildings, but that was the only problem [no damage].

rec.radio.shortwave (shortwave; the 'other' Internet) support that DG came out there were no problem. Normal broadcasts on expected frequencies were heard.

One posting in this newsgroup claimed to have been told that DG "experienced waves 3 to 4 feet high but suffered no damage."

In DGs case the tsunami sounds more like a town in a Mississippi flood, just time compressed.

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