Tsunami Hits South Part of New Zealand!

[Marmoot]

OMG....I hope the people in Bluff are ok.












"a 20cm tsunami was recorded at Bluff after a magnitude 8.1 quake in the Southern Ocean."
Quoted from New Zealand Herald today (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10112973) .

I never knew journalistics can be very exciting. :spudwhat:
Damn media...... :angry2:

[Hitcher]

Dunno what your problem is mate. Everything that was reported is true/subject to verification. OK, it's a piss poor wave compared to Indonesia on Boxing Day, but the news value in this is that not all big undersea earthquakes end up wiping out tens of thousands of innocent people (not deferring to the discussion recently had on the Scottish thread regarding innocence). It's a good local story -- "there for the grace of god" type stuff.

[Marmoot]

well, according to The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Tsunami is "A very large ocean wave caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption."

And, according to WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University, a Tsunami is "a huge destructive wave (especially one caused by an earthquake) [syn: tidal wave]".

I never knew 20cm is classified as 'a very large ocean wave' unless the journo is relatively (very) small.

This highlights the sick idea of our society being managed by media where they sell ideas and manipulate statistics, dictating what we should and should not do.
Same idea as "bikers keep left", "front number plates" and "traffic above all else" doctrine, eh?

Unless, of course, you are a journo? In such case I would apologize for my mistake and make sure I buy your newspaper every fortnight.

[TwoSeven]

A Tsunami in bluff ?

Always thought it was time for NZ to get an enema.


(A tsunami isnt a high wave - its a wide one, so 20cm is perfectly capable of flooding land 20km inland if the amplitude of the wave is 20km wide - it would certainly make all the rivers run the wrong way which would mean the water coming out would have to find somewhere else to go).

[idb]

I was wondering how you would know which wave was the tsunami when it hit the beach but, in fact, a 20cm wave at Bluff would be obvious simply because it was so damn small!

[Biff]

Sorry everyone, it was actually me (well, my Avatar). I jumped in the sea of Brighton pier in ChCh and my fat arse caused one hell of a ripple.

[Marmoot]

A tsunami isnt a high wave - its a wide one, so 20cm is perfectly capable of flooding land 20km inland if the amplitude of the wave is 20km wide - it would certainly make all the rivers run the wrong way which would mean the water coming out would have to find somewhere else to go.

That is assuming the river and surrounding land is perfectly level and there is no riverbanks involved in the equation? Plus not to mention the ommitions of soil's water absorption (unless Bluff is now a concrete-jungle metropolis) and wind/sun related evaporation.