Tsunami Quake Stronger Than Believed

By REUTERS
Published: May 21, 2005

WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) - The Asian earthquake that triggered the deadly tsunami in December was more powerful than scientists had estimated, according to new studies published in Friday's issue of Science.

"The Earth is still ringing like a bell today," nearly six months after the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, Roland Burgmann, professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, told the journal.

According to the study, researchers now believe the quake had a magnitude of 9.15. Initial measurements put it at 9.0. The quake generated a tsunami that killed about 300,000 people in states around the Indian Ocean.

It also set records for the longest fault rupture and the longest duration of faulting, the researchers reported.

In another study published in Friday's issue of Science, Professor Jeffrey Park of Yale said the quake's rupture moved giant slabs of rock a record distance, equivalent to moving from Florida to New England.