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 DENVER (AP) - Researchers at a U.S. university have recrunched data from December's devastating earthquake in Sumatra and found it was even more powerful than previously believed, but other scientists suggest their findings are premature.
A study by seismologists at Northwestern University increases the intensity of the Dec. 26 earthquake from a magnitude 9.0 to a whopping magnitude 9.3. That's about three times more powerful than initial estimates.
However, the new magnitude has yet to be accepted by the U.S. Geological Survey — regarded as one of the world's leading authorities for such information — and the international earthquake research community. Several other studies to recalibrate the earthquake's magnitude aren't completed yet.
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