The EARTHQUAKE has happened

Well ,

To the mulitudes of people affected by the recent earthquakes i am terribly sorry guys. My deepest condolences to those people that were caught in the middle of it all.

To the rest of the Malaysians who might be reading this. I would like to point out one thing. Being alarmed during tremors such as these recent ones is totally acceptable. We HAVE to go into panic mode everytime we feel something. We HAVE to evacuate and run every single time. Please do not be lazy or macho and stay inside thinking that it will pass. Some people reading my blog might feel that i am being paranoid. Some might be thinking in your heart as to why PANIC? We need to calmly get out in an orderly manner to avoid casualties.

The problem lies in the fact that we as a COUNTRY have never been exposed to Earthquakes. We have seen movies yet it has never occured in Malaysia and by default we are thinking it will NOT hit us. Yet the multitudes of people felt the buildings shake at the highest floors in an area covering Penang, Langkawi, Kedah all the way down to Klang and i guess further south but i haven't heard anyone from there making any claims personally. In Klang, My dad said he was lying down on the sofa watching TV in the ground floor of our double storey house and he felt the tremors. Same goes to my best fren who lives a few hundred metres away from my house. I heard it from Hock that his fren felt in some apartments up in Penang.

Now to the important part. Malaysian buildings were not built to withstand quakes like buildings in Japan and other countries that thrive along the Pacific Rim of Fire. Even if there was a standard practice to adhere to so that minor tremors will not affect the buildings, we HAVE to ask ourselves about the integrity of our contractors and developers. Simple things like 'piling' works from a nearby new project has been known to crack house walls and floor tiles, NOT from old houses but, of houses that were JUST completed in an earlier phase. Meaning the soil that houses are built on are not exactly compacted to a level it won't break apart during kinetic energy transfers.

So, how are they supposed to withstand Earthquake-waves travelling underneath the ground??? Simple fact of life is, waves travel better in more compact mediums. Sound waves for example travel faster in liquid as compared to gas and even faster in solid stuffs. They are called sound waves cause they carry sound energy. Earthquake-waves are a primary source of kinetic energy transfer (energy of MOVEMENT in any direction). These waves that travel in the ground can actually transfer this kinetic energy across the building foundations easily and cause the same energy to be transferred upwards along the very beams that support the buildings, causing the beams to vibrate and tremble in any direction.

Number one, i don't think OUR developers would have used any special materials or techniques in the construction phase to make our buildings Quake-proof. Next, judging by the low threshold of endurance the new houses are displaying i feel very inclined to question, "HOW MANY TREMORS CAN MALAYSIAN BUILDINGS TAKE BEFORE THEY START CRACKING DOWN THE MIDDLE? HOW MANY KITCHEN WALLS ARE GOING TO BREAK AND PART FROM THE MAIN HOUSE WALLS? HOW MANY SINKHOLES? HOW MANY CRACKS IN BUILDINGS THAT USE DIRECT GAS LINES?

I know that we will never be hit by any earthquake since the nearest fault line can only cause tremors on our shores when it's groaning with a magnitude of 8.2 . But every wave of kinetic energy that is cruising past across malaysia is causing problems underground at a level that we cannot imagine. Saying "Nolah, nothing like that could happen", is what the MALAYsian government will do because they do NOT want to get off their bloody butts and do something to PREvENT things for once. They will just sit there until some real high profile people in a high and mighty condominium all DIE!!~... because the authorities never checked how everything was changing under their butts. After that point the parliment will be trying to discuss who is to blame and which developer is supposed to take the fall when in actual fact it is their own STAFF to be blamed. They were the ones who were everyday praying and going back home at 4pm instead of taking the initiative to find out what we DON'T know about the world underneath us .

Please GOD, a simple physics student like me can realise the magnitude of what can happen after a bunch of cumulative tremors start cracking up building foundations slowly over the course of let's say .....abt 15 years? Gas pipes leaking becoming fire hazards, cracked water pipes causing erosion underneath buildings. We HAVE to take into account the fact that there are many more kinetic waves that are travelling underneath us unnotticed because they are deeper, weaker and our legs aren't really seismic detectors. Those unnoticed tremors nevertheless are also still transferring kinetic energy in all directions causing changes underneath us, SLOWLY but SURELY. PLease GOD, LET some GEOLOGIST expert in Malaysia be aware of these facts and take action please!!~ At least to let us know which areas could be affected the most by these recent geological activities. Who cares about the public panic or foreign investors' alarm? ...if at the end of the day, people are ready to act the day something bad happens because the Fire Department, RELA and everybody is aware of the high risk areas to lend immediate support.

Prevention is better than CURE. And YES, now Malaysians need to be thought how to deal with an incident where buildings could collapse on them (or under them to be politically correct). How to minimise damage to themselves and their loved ones, especially children. Just a general topic on this and letting everybody know is not going to be a problem right? PLEASE take action!~ If u need help then i guess i am ever willing to help, if it is going to save lives in future!!~

Current Updates!

Quake kills at least 300 on Indonesian island
Vice president says up to 2,000 could be dead
Tuesday, March 29, 2005 Posted: 2:40 AM EST (0740 GMT)

(CNN) -- A major earthquake struck off the west coast of Indonesia late Monday, killing hundreds, but fears of another tsunami like those that devastated the region in late December have faded.
On Indonesia's Nias Island at least 300 people died and hundreds more were reported injured or trapped, said government spokesman Agus Mendrova.
But international news agencies are reporting that between 1,000 and 2,000 people may have been killed on Nias Island.
"It is predicted -- and it's still a rough estimate -- that the number of the victims of dead may be between 1,000 and 2,000," Vice President Jusuf Kalla told the el-Shinta radio station, according to The Associated Press.
Between 500 and 1,000 homes were destroyed, and the island's public market was ablaze, Mendrova said.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 people ran to hilltops for safety in case of a tsunami, Mendrova said. Many of the doctors and nurses who normally would staff the hospital fled to higher ground.