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2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami
We all know about it. I'm not going to repeat facts, numbers, statistics here; duplicating Wikipedia isn't very productive. Let's just say that this seismic event was unusually strong and unusually long-lasting.
To my knowledge, an earthquake is the product of tension releasing. Tectonic plates press against each other, causing tension, and then something breaks and the result is energy release in the form of a great lurch. Kinda like trying to cut through really tough meat with an ordinary food knife (not a steak knife), pulling and tearing until suddenly it breaks, sending pieces of meat flying all over the place. Only different.
The thing I have been thinking about, ever since 2004, is whether that release occurred naturally or not. Directed explosive devices should be able to trigger a tension release and subsequent earthquake. However, why would anyone do this? What would there be to gain?
The amount of energy released in the 2004 earthquake was huge. Ergo, the energy build-up (tension) must have been really huge. But this is not the only thing that was unusual about this particular seismic event. According to Wikipedia, "this earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes". This leads me to believe that the tension released might have been far more than what was expected, which in turn leads me to believe that this might have been an experiment, not to induce earthquakes, but to prevent them, to find a way to release the tension while it was still within safe amounts.
Something went wrong, in that case. Perhaps only a part of the tension was to be released. Perhaps only a part of the tension was believed to even exist. In any case, this would explain the unusually long duration of faulting, since the artificial release triggered a chain-reaction, releasing even more energy.
The location of choice supports the theory of an experiment as opposed to an actual attempt to safely release tension. The countries affected by this disaster was primarily ones along the east coast of Africa, along with India, Thailand, Indonesia, and so on. If you were to experiment with complete disregard for human life, you would probably pick a location that would affect only parts of the world for which you have no interest.
I have two possible types of perpetrators in mind.
- Specific nations
- Independent corporations
A specific nation would pick a location which wouldn't affect themselves if the shit would hit the fan. A nation that could afford experimenting with artificial seismic activity is probably a filthy rich one, and as such would choose a place with poor countries. Likewise, an independent corporation would choose a place not affecting potential future business partners. Ergo, poor countries. Either way, the location of the 2004 event fits perfectly.
What do you guys think? Corporation or nation? What nations would conduct such an experiment? What nations are the most desperate to rid themselves of the threat of earthquakes and tsunamis? Which of these would be able to foot the bill?
Also, could the date of the event (December 26th) be significant? Did any single country respond unusually fast to it, like the disaster was to be expected?
(Note that this is all conjecture. I have no evidence that this is real. I doubt there is any. But it does sound plausible, and anyway it's always fun to discuss, real or not.)
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Originally Posted by konaya
