Tidal wave quake hit 9.0 on Richter scale: US Geological Survey

TERRA.WIRE

Tidal wave quake hit 9.0 on Richter scale: US Geological Survey
LOS ANGELES (AFP) Dec 27, 2004
The US Geological Survey said Sunday that the earthquake which sparked huge tidal waves in the Indian Ocean measured 9.0 on the open ended Richter scale and was the fourth biggest quake in the past century.

Don Blakeman, a senior geophysicist at the survey, said the figure had been revised up from 8.9 after the study of new data during the day.

"This was a very major event, the fourth largest earthquake since 1900," Blakeman told AFP from the survey base in Golden, Colorado.