G-D help that persons Thank you
Posted on 12/26/2004 11:08:49 AM PST by anonymoussierra
More than 9,500 people have been killed across southern Asia in massive sea surges triggered by the strongest earthquake in the world for 40 years.
The 8.9 magnitude quake struck under the sea near Aceh in north Indonesia, generating a wall of water that sped across thousands of kilometres of sea.
More than 4,100 died in Indonesia, 3,200 in Sri Lanka and 2,000 in India.
Casualty figures are rising over a wide area, including tourist resorts on Thailand packed with holidaymakers.
Exact numbers of people killed, injured or missing in the countries hit, are impossible to confirm.
Hundreds are still thought to be missing from coastal regions and, in Sri Lanka alone, officials say more than a million people have been forced from their homes.
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga declared a national disaster and the military has been deployed to help rescue efforts.
Click here for map of affected area
Hundreds of fishermen are missing off India's southern coast, and there are reports of scores of bodies being washed up on beaches.
Night has fallen in Indonesia and communications remain difficult, particularly to the strife-torn region of Aceh where the main quake was followed by nine aftershocks. Reports speak of bodies being recovered from trees.
Messages of condolences have poured in from around the world.
Pope John Paul said he was praying for "the victims of this enormous tragedy".
Harrowing reports of people caught in the devastation and dramatic tales of escape are emerging from the region.
Jayanti Lakshmi, 70, had gone shopping with his daughter-in-law in Cuddalore in southern India, only to return to find her son and twin grandsons dead in their hut.
"I wish I had died instead of the others, my daughter-in-law would have a life. I can't bear to watch her pain," he said.
In Thailand, hundreds of holiday bungalows are reported to have been destroyed on the popular Phi Phi island.
Resort owner Chan Marongtaechar told AP: "I am afraid there will be a high figure of foreigners missing in the sea, and also my staff."
Indonesia's location - along the Pacific geological "Ring of Fire" - makes it prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.
Sunday's tremor - the fifth strongest since 1900 - had a particularly widespread effect because it seems to have taken place just below the surface of the ocean, analysts say.
Bruce Presgrave of the US Geological service told the Reuters news agency: "These big earthquakes, when they occur in shallow water... basically slosh the ocean floor... and it's as if you're rocking water in the bathtub and that wave can travel throughout the ocean."
Experts say tsunamis generated by earthquakes can travel at up to 500km/h.
G-D help that persons Thank you
Water can be deadly.
Madras is a huge city, and its lowlands along the shore is heavily populated. Sheesh...
"Thanks to its tropical location and heavy rainfall, the island is heavily vegetated with coconut palm and ironwood trees."
Plus, it is inhabited by a population of wild donkeys. The descendents of those used at the coconut plantation that was there before the military took it over. The buildings of the plantation were still there when I visited in November 1974. They were on the other side of the atoll. The military was on another.
Thank you
Wow! That would have been a fortunate break for the personnel and inhabitants if a tall tsunami actually struck! I would hope, too, that if the US Geological Survey knew about the quake the moment it occurred, some fast thinking geologists would have warned DG and as many people and assets sent airborne (or on a ship into deep water) as soon as possible.
"I was looking at a map of DG and it seems the base itself and the housing is on the western side of the atoll ring. The tsunami would have come from the east. Perhaps it was broken up or deflected by the east side of the Atoll and the lagoon."
That is as I remember it. However, I am certain they must have dredged out the lagoon since 1974. It wasn't deep enough for large ships then (as I remember). I believe Aircraft Carriers go there now.
Thank you
"Yahoo News now says the death toll is nearing 12,000. This is an enormous tragedy.""This is an enormous tragedy"That is truth
http://www.dg.navy.mil/history/frameset.htm
Here's DG website...I was just wondering about them myself.
U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver
Magnitude 8.9 - OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
2004 December 26 00:58:50 UTC
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/
Thank you
Very tragic :(
Thank you America good friend "Very tragic :("That is truth :{
looking at that map above your post, Diego Garcia would be in the farthest out or penultimate ring, by Maldives which has recied lots of coverage. DG at its highest point is only 22' but likely concrete, but the silence about its status is disconcerting.
I went to the DG phone company web site and it is still up (although no news on the web site), so perhaps the islans escaped the worst of the tsunami.
Thank you for this information.
It is just awful! Makes me feel guilty. We've had a lot of snow and below-zero weather. My water pipes broke, and I was moaning & groaning about that. The horrible events on the other side of the word sure puts my pitiful problem into perspective!
BTW, I wonder if this quake has anything to do with the 8.1 quake at the South Pole?
Since I'm not spending much time online right now, I'd appreciate your putting me on your ping list for updates. Thanks.
Sadly, it's probably 2 or 3 times that amount..we'll never know...in the 70's I think..a cyclone i the Bay of Bengal drowned 100,000+ in Bangladese...they stopped counting the dead..just put them in mass graves..
Thank you Yes
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/4126241.stm
Relief agencies are gearing up to bring aid to the areas hit by the disastrous Asian earthquake.
Humanitarian agencies around the world have been preparing to deploy aid once they establish where help is needed most.
Andrew Sundersingh, a relief director from World Vision International in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, said it would be setting up relief stations on the east and south coasts where massive waves had hit.
"We are right now preparing to target about 1,000 people with a feeding programme. We will be setting up in four districts affected," he said.
Speedy response
But he said that more than one million people in Sri Lanka alone had been affected by the surges.
Mr Sundersingh said World Vision would also be bringing blankets and children's clothing.
"We are saying we will need about $1m (£521,000) just for the first seven days of the operation," he said.
Unicef said that many of the victims had been children.
"At least one third of the reported dead are children as the beaches and the coastal areas are home to thousands of people, living in makeshift huts and houses where children play and help their families," a spokeswoman said.
The organisation would be distributing water purification units, oral rehydration salts, high protein biscuits and basic emergency health kits.
Oxfam warned aid would need to reach the stricken areas as quickly as possible if further deaths were to be averted.
"The flood waters will have contaminated drinking water and food will be scarce. Oxfam already has staff in the worst affected regions assessing how we can best help," said Oxfam's international director Jasmine Whitbread.
Oxfam flood experts were flying to the worst hit regions, she added.
The search and rescue agency International Rescue Corps (IRC), which specialises in locating people trapped in collapsed buildings or rubble, said it was waiting to hear if its services - which include boat handling and flood victim rescue - would be needed.
"We have about half a dozen rigid inflatable boats which we have used in the past to try band find people lost in floods," a spokeswoman said.
The boats had been used in disaster relief in Nicaragua and Honduras after recent hurricane damage, as well as in the UK.
Information 'paramount'
"At the moment it's a waiting game, we're waiting to see if our assistance is needed," she said.
The European Union has pledged 3m euros (£2.1m) to disaster relief, which will be distributed by non-governmental agencies such as the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
The British Red Cross has said it has stockpiles of supplies in many of the countries and would be trying to get the equipment to the disaster area as quickly as possible.
"For us at the moment gathering information is absolutely paramount," a spokesman said.
He said the International Red Cross had launched a preliminary appeal to try to raise 7.5m Swiss francs (£3.41m). The British Red Cross is also launching its own appeal.
'Long term consequences'
Britain's Secretary of State for International Development Hilary Benn said: "It's clear that many people have lost their lives in this terrible tragedy, while hundreds of thousands of others are now having to deal with the aftermath.
"We are doing all we can to offer practical help and support.
"Department of International Development disaster response teams have been working since early this morning."
Christian Aid said it was sending £250,000 to help with the immediate relief effort in Sri Lanka and India, and had set up an appeal.
Local partner groups in India, Bangladesh, Burma and Sri Lanka were already delivering food and water to victims, a spokeswoman said.
"The long term consequences of this disaster will be massive and far reaching," she said.
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