I am always being told that global warming is going to raise sea leaves and such. So you think that people living on an island would be happy to have an earthquake that rises said island up in the air by 10 feet. But no, they are crying about what a catastrophe it is (h/t Pierre Legrand).

In an instant, the grinding of the Earth’s tectonic plates in the 8.0 magnitude earthquake Monday forced the island of Ranongga up three metres (10 foot).

Submerged reefs that once attracted scuba divers from around the globe lie exposed and dying after the quake raised the mountainous landmass, which is 32-kilometres (20-miles) long and 8-kilometres (5-miles) wide.

Corals that used to form an underwater wonderland of iridescent blues, greens and reds now bleach under the sun, transforming into a barren moonscape surrounding the island.

The stench of rotting fish and other marine life stranded on the reefs when the seas receded is overwhelming and the once vibrant coral is dry and crunches underfoot.

Dazed villagers stand on the shoreline, still coming to terms with the cataclysmic shift that changed the geography of their island forever, pushing the shoreline out to sea by up to 70 metres.

Snark aside, I do feel for the actual people affected, but I think that it is cool that an earthquake can raise an entire Island by 10 feet.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 at 4:29 pm and is filed under Knowledge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.