Massive Quake, Tsunami Devastate Chad

Chad, Jospro Sector — A massive earthquake and resulting tsunami on the Outer Rim world of Chad have "wiped out much of [the Chadra-Fan] civilization," according to alarming reports from the planet. The earthquake measured 13.1 on the standard scale and caused tidal waves that ravaged the mostly oceanic planet. Officials on Chad have described it as "the worst disaster in this world's history," and appealed to the Emperor for assistance.

"Chad has an unusual orbit that subjects it to unusual gravitic pressures," Wilm Levitt, a professor of seismology at the University of the Core Worlds, explained to The Coruscant Journal, "This, in turn, causes more seismic activity—more earthquakes, and especially more powerful earthquakes." The Chadra-Fan species, indigenous to Chad, live predominantly on shallow marshes and bayous. This, Professor Levitt notes, is likely to result in high casualties. "An earthquake of this magnitude," he explained, "will produce tidal waves that, on a world like Chad, will circumnavigate the planet several times." Levitt added, "I have no doubt that this is a disaster for the Chadra-Fan."

The planet is home to twenty million Chadra-Fan and an estimated fifteen thousand humans. The humans, however, are believed to have been less impacted by the disaster, since they tend to live on large colony ships on Chad's oceans—ships that would be largely uneffected by the earthquake and tsunami. Citing the small number of human deaths, the Governor Manning of the Jospro Sector has been reluctant to declare the event an emergency. Nonetheless, there is widespread agreement in the Sector and throughout the Outer Rim that Chad, and its Chadra-Fan people, are in dire need of assistance.

"The toll is catastrophic," Senator Tremaine Fowlkes (Mowgle) noted in the Imperial Senate this afternoon as he called for emergency relief aid for Chad. "We must act on this now," he declared. The Senator has proposed a relief package that is considered likely to pass. Whether Governor Manning will accept the relief package, however, remains to be seen.