[Taxacom] Offtopic (earthquakes and tsunamis once again)

[Kenneth Kinman]

Dear All,
       I haven't commented here on earthquakes since January 2005 (see
below), but recent events make me wonder once again whether earthquakes
along one part of the zone between the Australian and Pacific plates are
related to others.  Back in January 2005, I speculated on the possible
relationship between the Macquarie earthquake and the following huge
Sumatran earthquake and tsunami of December 2004.              
      So now we have another two big earthquakes  along this zone.  A
larger one affecting the Tonga-Samoa area (which I clearly was so
concerned about back in 2005), soon followed by yet another one back
along the western coast of Sumatra.  I am now convinced (more than ever)
that such earthquakes are related to one another.  This time the
Tonga-Samoa area took the brunt of the energy and Sumatra just got an
aftershock.  Seems to me that if one jab of the Australian plate doesn't
absorb enough of the energy, that it then concentrates the remaining
energy into a region on the other side of New Guinea.  In 2004, the
Macquarie quake was probably just a foreshock of the huge Sumatran
earthquake (and tsunami).  This time, the larger one was in the east
(Tonga-Samoa), followed by a lesser one in Sumatra.  
      The question in my mind is whether there are similar such double
occurrences before 2004, and will such double occurrences occur in the
future?  If so, it might help us predict such double occurrences in the
future (perhaps not the initial one, but at least the secondary or
primary one that follows).  If you will, call it the "Double Bang"
hypothesis of Southeast Asian Earthquakes.  If so, perhaps the Macquarie
Quake of 2004 could have indicated to authorities beforehand that a
large earthquake and devastating tsunami in Sumatra was pehaps coming.  
         ---------Ken Kinman
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Offtopic (earthquakes again)
Ken Kinman
Thu Jan 13 21:36:31 CST 2005 
Dear All, 
      Ever since the big earthquakes near Sumatra and Macquarie last
month, I have been carefully watching for any earthquake activity
between New Guinea and New Zealand.  Don't ask why, it is just one of my
"feelings".  Where the Australian plate thrusts up into the Pacific
plate around the region of the Fiji and Tonga Islands is particularly
interesting, and the Tonga Microplate just seems very vulnerable to me
(in a similar way to that of the Burma Microplate). 
      Anyway, there have been a couple of small to moderate earthquakes
in the Tonga region in the last few days, and I just wonder if these
could perhaps be foreshocks to something bigger in that area.  If a
major earthquake was to occur in this region (7.5-8.5) could there be a
tsunami threat to islands in the area (Fijis, Tongas, Samoa, etc.)?  And
if so, is this area part of the existing tsunami warning area for the
Pacific Ocean? 
     ---- Thanks, 
              Ken Kinman