Earth 'still ringing'

2005-01-09 11:55

Sydney - Much of the Earth was still "ringing like a bell" two weeks after the December 26 earthquake that unleashed devastating tsunamis around the Indian Ocean, Australian scientists said on Sunday.

Australian National University scientists said hyper-sensitive gravity measuring equipment showed minute reverberations may continue for weeks.

Herb McQueen, from the university's Earth Sciences Research School, said the equipment at the Mount Stromlo observatory in Canberra showed the planet was "ringing like a bell" which had been forcefully struck.

He said the movement was imperceptible to all but the most sensitive equipment.

"(It) corresponds to about a millimetre of vertical motion of the earth," he said. "The early signals were much stronger."

McQueen said it was a rare seismic event, picked up by the observatory's machines, which are normally used to map the structure of the planet's interior.

Immediately after quake, which measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, US geophysicists said it made the Earth wobble on its axis and permanently altered the map of Asia by moving some small islands up to 20m.

- AFP