For the so-called 'seismologist' - Here's some proof

In response to the comments of the so-called "Seismologist" who denies the magnitude of the November 22, 1995 Eilat Quake

Late last night, stumbling home from the office after a very long and hard day, I was greeted by the second message from somebody purporting to be a government seismologist denying the strength and magnitude of the Eilat, Israel epicentered quake of November 22, 1995. He challenged me to post data, so I am dutifully complying -- now I challenge him to produce his. For my part, consider these:


Baer, G., Sandwell, D., Williams, S., Bock, Y. and Shamir, G. 1999 "Co-seismic deformation associated with the November 1995, Mw=7.1 Nuweiba earthquake, Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba), detected by SAR interferometry
Journal of Geophys. Res., 104:25221-25232

As readers will recall, A. Hofstetter of the Israeli Geophysical Institute had reluctantly admitted to me that the various observers had measured the quake at between 7.1 and 7.3 magnitude. It had a depth of 10 kilometres (Approximately 7 miles). Hofstetter told me in a private email that he personally had measured that quake at 7.2 mw and having 10,000 aftershocks. This quake came only two days after Javier Solana on behalf of the European Union and Shimon Peres on behalf of Israel signed the Treaty of Association between those legal entities.


http://www.springerlink.com/app/home/contribution.asp?wasp=d933d721320c48fab4c4fbc2ad198c2c&referrer=parent&backto=issue,8,11;journal,9,33;linkingpublicationresults,1:100300,1
Journal of Seismology
Publisher: Springer Science+Business Media B.V., Formerly Kluwer Academic Publishers B.V.
ISSN: 1383-4649 (Paper) 1573-157X (Online)
DOI: 10.1023/A:1021206930730
Issue: Volume 7, Number 1
Date: January 2003
Pages: 99 - 114
Source mechanism of the 22/11/1995 Gulf of Aqaba earthquake and its aftershock sequence
A. Hofstetter1, H.K. Thio2 and G. Shamir1
(1) Geophysical Institute of Israel, P.O. Box 182, Lod, 71100, Israel
(2) URS Greingr, 566 El-Dorado St., Pasadena, CA, 91101, U.S.A

"Abstract The Gulf of Aqaba earthquake occurred on 22/11/1995 with M W = 7.2 and was the largest event to occur along the Dead Sea Transform in at least a century. We determined the source mechanism of the event based on the inversion of the P and SH waveforms observed by teleseismic stations. Our solution consists of 2 similar subevents, where the first exhibits a left-lateral strike-slip motion with a normal component and the second subevent shows an almost pure left-lateral strike-slip motion along the gulf major fault system. The total seismic moment is 7.7 × 1026 dyne-cm, with source duration of 15 seconds. The aftershock sequence was recorded by the regional broad band stations BGIO and JER, of the Israel Seismic Network, and KEG, of the MEDNET regional network for earthquakeswith M W > 4.0. Aftershock epicenter seems to cluster mainly in the Eilat basin and the Aragonese basin. The dominant mechanism indicates left-lateral strike slip motion along the gulf trend, similar to the mainshock.

http://www.springerlink.com/app/home/contribution.asp?wasp=d933d721320c48fab4c4fbc2ad198c2c&referrer=parent&backto=issue,8,11;journal,9,33;linkingpublicationresults,1:100300,1>


Interestingly, in Hofstetter's email to me, he had added a cryptic statement " But the public perception of it is 6.2 and that is where it shall remain." Hofstetter could not change the truth and neither can another claimed (let us see the critic's credentials/bona fides) who claims the quake is much less than it really was

Constance E. Cumbey
April 13, 2005