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.
Do you have a link for that? Thanks much.
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4126327.stm
Timeline: Quake disaster
BBC News looks at how the world's strongest earthquake for 40 years, which triggered sea surges and killed several thousand across southern Asia, developed.
All times approximate and GMT and local
Sunday 26 December
0100 GMT (0800):The 8.9 magnitude quake occurs under the sea near Aceh in northern Indonesia, generating a wall of water that speeds across thousands of kilometres of sea
0130 GMT (0830):Eyewitnesses on Phuket island's main beach experience a series of towering waves which hit the coast around this time
0400 GMT (0930): Parts of India's eastern coast experience mild tremors
0430 GMT (1030): Reports emerge that tidal waves have flooded southern and eastern areas of Sri Lanka, 1,600km (1,000 miles) from the epicentre
0540 GMT (1140): BBC correspondent Roland Buerk in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, says that bodies are being pulled out of buildings in the ruined resort and many survivors are wandering around in shock
Click here for map of affected area
0540 GMT (1110): Reports from the southern Indian city of Madras say tidal waves have claimed lives
0615 GMT (1215): Tremors from the quake are felt in Bangladesh
0630 GMT (1130): High waves and floods are reported in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean
0700 GMT (1230): BBC correspondent Matthew Grant in Calcutta, India, says the sea surge has caused devastation across southern and eastern parts of the country, with the number of people reported dead continuing to rise
0710 GMT (1510): People are reported to have been swept away from beaches near the island of Penang in Malaysia
1110 GMT (1640): Our correspondent in Calcutta says up to 800 people have died in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and the sea surges have also struck the Indian Andaman and Nicobar islands
1500 GMT (1800): Reuters news agency reports that in Somalia, strong waves and winds capsized boats and kept fishermen in port
1625 GMT (2325): The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Jakarta says that the current death toll in Indonesia is about 2,000
Voice of Russia Radio:
http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=25 (Click on to language and day)
Thank you
Your post came through while I was posting the link. See just above.
Thank you Happy Christmas America good friend that is totalna tragedia G-D help that persons!
WRN Station List;
http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/index.php?CurrentLetter=1/
Freeper incindiary is in Indonesia on a missionary project. Please pray for her.
"Thank you Happy Christmas America good friend that is totalna tragedia G-D help that persons!"
Thank you and Merry Christmas. Yes, may G-D help the people of such a tragic happening.
I think this disaster will be up in the hundreds of thousands dead - and millions displaced. Prayers for them and rescuers, and open hearts and wallets of those that can help.
Expect it to go to at least 30,000 if not higher. It is much worse than being reported.
Nobody wants to say what happened there. Can't find any news myself.
May I ask where you are?
Injured western tourists wait for further treatment after being given first aid at Phuket International Hospital in Phuket.
An injured Swedish tourist Gerdh Vall, whose husband and a daughter are missing after a tidal wave hit the beach, sits in shock while waiting for medical treatment at Phuket international hospital in Phuket.
help (Czy ktorys z was moglby to przetlumaczyc)Wesolych Swiat
http://info.onet.pl/1029027,12,1,0,120,686,item.html
Thank you Dzieki
G-D help that person Thank you
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.