Hope these pictures show up.....but they are safe...........so far.



Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 09:42:06 +0700
From: "joyce"
To:
Subject: We are Safe




Yes, we are alright. Indonesia has had a LOT of earthquakes in 2004. With
magnitude of at least 7 on the Richter scale. We have had major earthquakes on
the island of Sumatra, Papua and Alor islands, and now Sumatra again with the
biggest ever. The death toll from the quake and the resulting tsunami in
Sumatra has killed at least 5000 Indonesians living in the coastal area of
Sumatra and still counting. Dead bodies are stacked on the beach by hundreds.
We were cautioned today, that Bogor - or West Java where we live - may have an
earthquake within these two weeks.

They simply said that it would be enough to make trees fall down - which means
that the earthquake will have some magnitude. Bogor is well known for its
botanical gardens, and we have old trees everywhere ... so that is not good
news. It is too close to home. Although it is still prediction, with what has
happened in the last few months where we have had earthquakes in the west of
Indonesia in Sumatra, and one in the east side of Indonesia in Papua, it is only
logical that Java might also have an earthquake.

The last earthquake in Indonesia before this latest earthquake in Sumatra was in
Nabire, Papua - but did not have as much casualties (around 29 people died, 43
severely injured, 155 lightly injured), because buildings there were mostly one
story buildings and it was inland. The ports were damaged, but since Nabire was
not a busy port, there were not many casualties in the coastal line in Papua.

The one in Sumatra is different. We were also surprised that it had taken such a
death toll and affecting a lot of people in the Asian region with resulting
tsunamis. I heard that there was an earthquake in Sumatra, and by noon, heard
about the tsuname. The recorded magnitude was 9 on the richter scale on the
epicenter of the earthquake. Biggest in the world history in 40 years or so, I
hear.

We are safe since Bogor where we are is considered high grounds. It is near
Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia which is on the northern beach of Java, but
Bogor is higher than Jakarta and is inland. It does create a question though,
since the East side of Indonesia just had a great earthquake and now the West
side just had a great earthquake, the question is whether another earthquake is
going to happen affecting Java which lies in the middle. If there are movements
in the East, and movements in the West of Indonesia, then the middle might move,
and we don't know what is going to happen to a lot of the volcanos that run
across the Indonesian archipelago.

But yes, we are fine and well. We are praying for those in Sumatra. Please keep
them in your prayers. This is not over yet, as another follow up earthquake will
hit the region again. And where we are, is also subject to an earthquake as a
result. We shall have to see within these two weeks.

The tv coverage of Sumatra pictures such a devastation. Pictures of before and
after was just so bad. They have lost a lot in seconds without warning. There
was a man who lost his 6 children, wife, parents, brothers all within a swoop.
Has not found them yet.

One of the addicts in our care has a house by the beach where the disaster
struck. He has not heard from his family just yet. There are still difficulties
in communicating with the disaster area. The only way in is through choppers.
Imagine that the water went inland for about 4 miles! Nothing was safe in its
path as tons of water just swept the area and sucked everything into its
undercurrent along with all the debris, before spewing it back! Even if you
don't get hurt by the water, you would get hurt by all these large debris in the
water ..... The water alone is enough to have you lose your breath and render
you unconscious, let alone the large debris of wood, rocks, etc in the water.
Death toll is at 23.200 and still counting ......

A lot of children died because they have no protection whatsoever and many of
these babies were sleeping in their cots and kids were playing on the beach when
earthquake and the wave suddenly hit them.

So keep us in your prayers..... !

Here are some of the latest earthquake data from Indonesia in the year 2004
.....



Much love,

Joyce & David


















December 26 -- Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra -- 9.0M ** Largest and
Deadliest Earthquake in 2004
November 26 -- Papua, Indonesia -- 7.1M
November 11 -- Kepulauan Alor, Indonesia -- 7.5M
July 24 -- Southern Sumatra Indonesia -- 7.3M
February 07 -- Papua, Indonesia -- 7.3M
February 05 -- Papua, Indonesia -- 7.0M
January 28 -- Seram, Indonesia -- 6.7M



Seismotectonics of the Indonesian Region

The Indonesian region is one of the most seismically active zones of the earth;
at the same time it has a leading position from the point of view of active and
potentially active volcanoes. It is a typical island-arc structure with its
characteristic physiographic features, such as a deep oceanic trench, a
geanticline belt, a volcanic inner arc and a marginal basin.
In most subduction zones, motion of the subducted plate is nearly perpendicular
to the trench axis. In some cases, for example Sumatra, where the motion is
oblique to the axis, a strike-slip fault zone is seen, and is lying parallel to
the volcanic chain.



In the subduction zone southwest of Sumatra, the Sunda trench axis strikes
approximately N 37°W. The Indian Ocean crust is moving in an azimuth of
approximately N 23°E relative to Southeast Asia, giving an angle of obliquity of
60°. Eastern Indonesia, forming the southeastern extremity of the Southeast
Asian lithospheric plate, crushed between the northward-moving Indo-Australian
and the westward-moving Pacific plates, is certainly the most complex active
tectonic zone on earth. The rate of subduction is some centimeters per year; for
example, it is 6.0 cm per year in the West Java Trench at 0°S 97°E (azimuth
23°); 4.9 cm per year in the East Java Trench at 12°S 120°E (azimuth 19°); and
10.7 cm per year in New Guinea at 3°S 142°E (azimuth 75°).
Frequent volcanic eruptions and frequent earthquake shocks testify to the active
tectonic processes which are currently in progress in response to the continued
movement of these major plates. The distribution of small ocean basins,
continental fragments, remnants of ancient magmatic arcs and numerous subduction
complexes which make up the Indonesian region indicate that the past history of
the region was equally tectonically active.
Indonesia's 18,000 islands are prone to earthquakes because the nation sits
along the Pacific `ring of fire,'' a zone of active volcanoes and faults in
tectonic plates. There are 76 active volcanoes, with 1,171 eruptions placing
Indonesia second (after Japan) for the region with the most dated eruptions


Abridged from Southeast Asia Association of Seismology and Earthquake
Engineering, Series on Seismology, Volume V - Indonesia, June 1985.

See also: Earthquakes & Plate Tectonics




Indonesia's Sumatra Struck by 8.5-Magnitude Quake (Update1)

Dec. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The Indonesian island of Sumatra was rocked by a
magnitude 8.5 earthquake, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site. That
may rank it among the 10 strongest earthquakes in the last century.

Hundreds of people were injured in the quake that caused hundreds of buildings
to collapse, said Indonesia's Detik.com news, citing Sunardi, a seismologist in
northern Sumatra. Reuters, citing El Shinta radio in Jakarta, said nine people
died in flash floods triggered by the quake.

The temblor, which struck about 7 a.m. local time, was centered offshore about
1,605 kilometers northwest of the capital Jakarta, at a depth of 10 kilometers,
U.S. seismologists said in a preliminary report on the Web site. It was felt 950
kilometers (589 miles) away in Singapore.

The earthquake would rank among the 10 strongest recorded since 1900, if the
preliminary reading isn't revised lower, according to U.S. Geological Survey
data. The worst earthquake was a 9.5-magnitude temblor in Chile in 1960.

It what may be aftershocks, the Geological Survey also reported five earthquakes
of between 5.8 and 6.1 magnitude in the Bay of Bengal near the Andaman Islands.
The quakes rattled part of eastern India, AFP said.

Tidal Wave

It isn't known if those earthquakes were related to a tidal wave in Sri Lanka
today that caused flash floods and displaced thousands of people, AFP said,
citing local police.

The Indonesian quake is the second this year of magnitude 8 or greater. Last
week a magnitude 8.1 temblor was recorded in the Southern Ocean between
Australia and Antarctica.

Magnitude 8 earthquakes are capable of causing severe loss of life if centered
near heavily populated areas. An 8.1 quake in Mexico City in 1985 killed about
9,500 people.


Last month 17 people were killed and 33 injured in a 6.4- magnitude earthquake
in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua.






Sandra Tara Balduf (Ane)

Frontline Hepatitis Awareness

Support for patients and educational materials

http://frontline-hepatitis-awareness.com

1-866-Hep-GoGo 866-437-4646




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]