JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The fault line that spawned the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami has ruptured nearly 20 times this month, causing three strong earthquakes. The activity shows the stress the seam is under and could be a harbinger of worse to come, scientists warn.

Kerry Sieh, from the California Institute of Technology, has studied the fault for more than 10 years. He likened it to a length of rope in an imaginary tug of war between a group of men and an elephant.

"One by one, two by two, the men are getting worn out and are letting go of the rope. That puts more stress on each of the remaining men," he wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. "Who knows which one will let go next, or whether they will let go all at once?"

Sieh and other scientists using Global Positioning System transmitters to measure the uplift of the quakes say another massive temblor sometime in the next 100 years or so is likely, but they cannot predict exactly when that will occur.

The fault line is the boundary between the Eurasian and Pacific tectonic plates that have been pushing against each other for millions of years, causing huge pressure to build up. It runs the length of the west coast of Sumatra about 125 miles offshore.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j...Hz5_AD8V22HJ80


The 2004 earthquake off Aceh province in northwest Sumatra had a magnitude of 9.2, making it the most powerful temblor in four decades. It triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in 12 Indian Ocean countries, more than half in Indonesia.

Three months after the tsunami, a magnitude 8.6 quake farther down the fault line killed 1,000 people. Then in September last year, an 8.7 quake opposite Bengkulu province damaged thousands of homes, killed about 25 people and sent a 10-foot tsunami crashing into nearby coastlines.

Last Wednesday, a magnitude 7.4 quake killed three people and damaged scores of houses. Since Sunday, four other events strong enough to prompt tsunami warnings by international agencies have jolted the region.
As they say, "scientists using Global Positioning System transmitters to measure the uplift of the quakes say another massive temblor sometime in the next 100 years or so is likely, but they cannot predict exactly when that will occur." :doh" Science has once again come to the rescue with useful information!