Via Wired: Why no tsunami this time? Answer lies in location.
The powerful quake that struck off Indonesia on Monday probably did not generate a killer tsunami because it was deep and in a fortuitous location, experts said on Tuesday.
But they said the uncertainty over whether there would be a tsunami after the 8.7 magnitude quake under the Indian Ocean floor showed just how little is known about earthquakes and their effects.
“That is why a tsunami early warning system is still badly, badly needed for this area,” said Jian Lin, a marine geophysicist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
Indeed.