No Tsunami today. A sigh of relief. Warning systems worked.

Around the world, thousands breathed a sigh of relief today.

As the Sydney Morning Herald and many other news sources reported early today, a magnitude of 8.6,   earthquake happened off the Indonesian province of Aceh. It was one of the largest ever recorded.
Yet the massive tremor, which was followed by an 8.2-magnitude aftershock, did not cause a severe tsunami such as the one on December 26, 2004, which devastated countries around the Indian Ocean and killed more than 200,000.

What is important to know is why didn't the tsunami happen? What was the difference? This article from the Sydney Morning Herald helps to explain the difference in how the horizontal and vertical movements of the sea floors and where the quake took place

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/why-earthquake-did-not-cause-a-tsunami-20120412-1wvik.html#ixzz1rnntfJ8J

Fortunately, so far, there are no deaths reported from the earthquake.

The good news from this earthquake was the test of the new Tsunami Early Warning System. Within 6 minutes of receiving the news, authorities across S and SE Asia were warned, and sounded sirens and systems to tell people to move to higher grounds.

The San Francisco Chronical reported a quote from Thailand: "The warning system worked quite well," Smith Dharmasaraja, who headed Thailand's National Disaster Warning Center set up after the 2004 tsunami, said today by phone. "Officials know exactly what they are supposed to do."