Sea surges kill thousands in Asia -tragedia"9,500 people have been killed"

BBC News ^ | BBC News

[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.

[expatguy]

Shah Alam, Malaysia

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[anonymoussierra]

"Peach reports: "Freeper incindiary is in Indonesia on a missionary project. Please pray for her."Thank you

[Dog]

Good blog you have there. ....thanks for answering me.

[StayAt HomeMother]

DGAR should be OK. The buildings are solid and they have their own earthquake station (see below).

Having said that, please ping me if you hear anything.

---

http://www.igpp.ucsd.edu/ne/2004/02/09.html

Febuary 09, 2004
New IDA station installed in Diego Garcia

... installed the fortieth station in the IDA network on the island of Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory. The choice of Diego Garcia as a site for a seismic station was an obvious one to make: this atoll in the Chagos Archipelago is the only suitable land for over 1500 miles in any direction in the central Indian Ocean! IDA scientists strive to distribute their sensors in as globally uniform a fashion as possible given the distribution of continents and islands. Although great progress is being made at Scripps and elsewhere to install seismic instruments on the seafloor, the vast majority of seismometers are still installed on land. By placing instruments over a broad region of the globe, scientists can more accurately locate earthquakes and better develop detailed models of the Earth's interior by measuring the changes seismic waves undergo as they travel around the globe.


... The location for the sensors, in a seismic vault constructed on the US Air Force's GEODSS installation, provides a superb platform from which to view earthquake activity in this part of the world. Diego Garcia is located very close to very active seismic regions along the Southwest and Southeast Indian ridges. There are very few islands that can accommodate seismic instruments in the Indian Ocean. Project IDA has sites on four of them: in the Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Cocos (Keeling), and now Diego Garcia. ...

[Peach]

May God watch over and guide her. What a terrifying thing to happen; those poor souls.

[expatguy]

Thank you for you kind comments. I update daily. Please visit often and spread the link and word.

[anonymoussierra]

"May God watch over and guide her. What a terrifying thing to happen; those poor souls."Yes that is truth! G-D help that persons Thank you be strong!

[Lokibob]

Lack of ANY news, good or bad, out of DG is what has me alarmed.

[nhoward14]

USGS has upgraded the quake to 9.0

[brooklin]

The 8.1 quake was actually closer to New Zealand than the south pole.

[reformedliberal]

Interesting blog. Thanx for the link. I'll check back.

[blackie]

Prayers are on the way.

[anonymoussierra]

Thank you

[anonymoussierra]

G-D help that persons Be strong! Thank you

[blackie]

It's my pleasue.

[blackie]

Amen!

[anonymoussierra]

"Amen!" Thank you G-D strong good G-D help that persons help G-D Thank you G-D!!!

[Lazamataz]

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.

I remember that.

[Twinkie]

Prayers for all those suffering, those who have died, and for those in grief.

[anonymoussierra]

Thank you