Rob Marciano has been reporting on the quake for CNN. He is a meteorologist reporting on the tsunami watch and that people are evacuating to higher ground in Banda Aceh and probably the smaller islands offshore of Sumatra(sensible precaution). But, they have missed, I think, that it is strike-slip (or maybe he caught that in earlier report, he was saying something about thrusting and tsunamis).

It would be a good idea if major news organizations like CNN had earthquake geologists or seismologists who they could call if there is something major like this. What if it had been a M9 subduction quake in the middle of the night offshore Cascadia, and the right information needed to get out really quickly?

Chris