8.7 Earthquake an aftershock???

[Ken Kinman]

Dear All,
      One early report referred to the earthquake that struck off Sumatra (a few hours ago) as an "aftershock" of the 9.0 earthquake three months ago.  That seems like a long time in between to be calling this one an aftershock.  And now that this one has been upgraded from 8.2 to 8.7, it would seem to make more sense to call this one a great earthquake in its own right (with its own set of aftershocks).

      I checked the depth of this earthquake, and it is exactly the same depth (30 km.), so there should be some tsunami activity, but perhaps only 10% as high as the tsunami in December.  Cross your fingers.
      ---- Ken