Destruction in Java / First named storm of 2006 for North America

The destruction in Java from the earthquake yesterday is now evidentally much worse than was apparent last night. While the quake has been reassessed at magnitude 6.3, and some areas experienced MM Intensity VIII shaking, this was still not a gigantic quake in the overall scheme of things. The Northridge Earthquake, for instance was almost 6 times larger than this quake. The Great Northern Sumatra Earthquake of last year was nearly 3,000 times larger, yet struck a much less populated area. The reported death toll of over 3,000 shows that population density, building codes, and earthquake readiness have a greater affect on the deadliness of an earthquake than magnitude does.

Here in North America, the hurricane season is kicking off with the formation of Tropical Depression 1E. This disturbance is expected to intensify into Tropical Storm Aletta within the next 10 hours or so. There is a little disagreement in the hurricane models as to what will happen to it after that. The consensus has Aletta remaining a tropical storm off of the coast of Mexico and bringing maybe 3-5 inches of rain as it brushes along the shore. Some models show the storm making landfall around Acapulco as a category 1 hurricane, so further attention will have to be paid to it.

UPDATE: Aletta is here. Tropical Depression 1E has now strenghthened into Tropical Storm Aletta, with 40 mph winds.