Asian Tsunamis Kill at Least 20,000 People

AP ^ | 12/26/04 | DILIP GANGULY

[TexKat]

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Legions of rescuers spread across Asia Monday after an earthquake of epic power struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean, unleashing 20-foot tidal waves that ravaged coasts across thousands of miles and killed more than 13,340 people and left millions homeless in the fourth-largest temblor in a century.

The death toll along the southern coast of Asia — and as far west as Somalia, on the African coast, where nine people were reported lost — steadily increased as authorities sorted out a far-flung disaster caused by Sunday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake, strongest in 40 years.

Signs of the carnage were everywhere: Dozens of bodies still clad in swimming trunks lined beaches in Thailand. Villagers in Indonesia picked through the debris of destroyed houses amid the smell of rotting corpses. Hundreds of prisoners escaped a coastal jail in Sri Lanka.

More than one million people were driven from their homes in Indonesia alone, and rescuers there on Monday combed seaside villages for survivors. The Indian air force used helicopters to rush food and medicine to stricken seashore areas.

Another million were driven from their homes in Sri Lanka where some 25,000 soldiers and 10 air force helicopters were deployed in relief and rescue efforts, authorities said.

At Thailand's beach resorts, packed with Europeans fleeing the winter cold at the peak of the holiday season, families and friends had tearful reunions Monday after a day of fear that their loved ones had been swept away.

Katri Seppanen, 27, of Helsinki, Finland, walked around barefoot, in her salt water-stained T-shirt and skirt, at the Patong Hospital waiting room where she spent the night with her mother and sister. She had a bandaged cut on her leg.

"The water went back, back, back, so far away, and everyone wondered what it was — a full moon or what? Then we saw the wave come, and we ran," said a tearful Seppanen, who was on the popular Patong beach with her family. The wave washed over their heads and separated them.

Fifty-eight half-naked and swimming suit-clad corpses lay in rows outside the Patong Hospital emergency room. Three babies under the age of one were among the victims. A photo of one baby was posted on the wall of victims, the little corpse in a nearby refrigerator.

The earthquake hit at 6:58 a.m.; the tsunami came as much as 2 1/2 hours later, without warning, on a morning of crystal blue skies. Sunbathers and snorkelers, cars and cottages, fishing boats and even a lighthouse were swept away.

Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India each reported thousands dead. Deaths were also reported in Malaysia, Maldives and Bangladesh.

"It's an extraordinary calamity of such colossal proportions that the damage has been unprecedented," said Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa of India's Tamil Nadu, a southern state which reported 1,705 dead, many of them strewn along beaches, virtual open-air mortuaries.

"It all seems to have happened in the space of 20 minutes. A massive tidal wave of extreme ferocity ... smashed everything in sight to smithereens," she said.

At least three Americans were among the dead — two in Sri Lanka and one in Thailand, according to State Department spokesman Noel Clay. He said a number of other Americans were injured, but he had no details.

"We're working on ways to help. The United States will be very responsive," Clay said.

John Krueger, 34, of Winter Park, Colorado, described being inside his bungalow Sunday on Khao Luk Beach, north of Phuket, with his wife, Romina Canton, 26, of Rosario, Argentina, when the water filled it and blew it apart.

"The water rushed under the bungalow, brought our floor up and raised us to the ceiling. The water blew out our doors, our windows and the back concrete wall. My wife was swept away with the wall, and I had to bust my way through the roof," Krueger said while waiting to talk to a U.S. Embassy official at Phuket City Hall. "It was like being in a washing machine."

Canton was dragged into the ocean for more than an hour until a wave brought her back to land again, with a broken nose and foot scratches all over her body, Krueger said.

The quake was centered 155 miles south-southeast of Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province on Sumatra, and six miles under the Indian Ocean's seabed. The temblor leveled dozens of buildings on Sumatra — and was followed Sunday by at least a half-dozen powerful aftershocks, ranging in magnitude from almost 6 to 7.3, and one aftershock Monday that hit India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The waves that followed the first massive jolt were far more lethal.

An Associated Press reporter in Aceh province saw bodies wedged in trees as the waters receded. More bodies littered the beaches. Authorities said at least 4,448 were dead in Indonesia; the full impact of the disaster was not known, as communications were cut to the towns most affected.

The waves barreled across the Bay of Bengal, pummeling Sri Lanka, where more than 4,500 were reported killed — at least 3,000 in areas controlled by the government and about 1,500 in regions controlled by rebels, who listed the death toll on their Web site. There was an unconfirmed report of 500 more deaths on another Web site that provided no details. Some 170 children were feared lost in an orphanage. More than a million people were displaced from wrecked villages.

Devinda R. Subasinghe, the Sri Lanka ambassador to the United States, said the extensive damage will make the rescue effort more difficult. "It's going to take time to figure out access to these areas that have been impacted," Subasinghe said Monday in an interview on CNN. Up to 70 percent of the island's coastline was damaged, he said.

There was sporadic, small-scale looting in the towns of Galle and Matara, and authorities said about 200 inmates escaped from a prison, taking advantage of the chaos after guards panicked and fled when water entered the building.

About 2,300 were reported dead along the southern coasts of India. The private Aaj Tak television channel put the death toll there at up to 3,300, but the report could not be confirmed. At least 431 in Thailand, 48 in Malaysia and 32 in the Maldives, a string of coral islands off the southwestern coast of India. At least two died in Bangladesh — children who drowned as a boat with about 15 tourists capsized in high waves.

In India's Andhra Pradesh state, at least 32 Hindu devotees were drowned when they went into the sea for a religious ceremony to mark the full moon. Among them were 15 children. On Monday, bodies of women and children lay strewn on the sand.

"I was shocked to see innumerable fishing boats flying on the shoulder of the waves, going back and forth into the sea, as if made of paper," said P. Ramanamurthy, 40, of that state.

In Cuddalore, in the worst-hit Tamil Nadu state, survivors huddled Monday in a marriage hall turned makeshift shelter, as fire engine sirens whined outside. Broken boats law on the shore near smashed huts with only frail bamboo frames jutting out of the ground.

The earthquake that caused the tsunami was the largest since a 9.2 temblor hit Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1964, according to geophysicist Julie Martinez of the U.S. Geological Survey.

"All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation.

The quake occurred at a place where several huge geological plates push against each other with massive force. The survey said a 620-mile section along the boundary of the plates shifted, motion that triggered the sudden displacement of a huge volume of water.

Scientists said the death toll might have been reduced if India and Sri Lanka had been part of an international warning system designed to advise coastal communities that a potentially killer wave was approaching. Although Thailand is part of the system, the west coast of its southern peninsula does not have the system's wave sensors mounted on ocean buoys.

As it was, there was no warning. Gemunu Amarasinghe, an AP photographer in Sri Lanka, said he saw young boys rushing to catch fish that had been scattered on the beach by the first wave.

"But soon afterward, the devastating second series of waves came," he said. He climbed onto the roof of his car, but "In a few minutes my jeep was under water. The roof collapsed.

"I joined masses of people in escaping to high land. Some carried their dead and injured loved ones. Some of the dead were eventually placed at roadside, and covered with sarongs. Others walked past dazed, asking if anyone had seen their family members."

Michael Dobbs, a reporter for The Washington Post, was swimming around a tiny island off a Sri Lankan beach at about 9:15 a.m. when his brother called out that something strange was happening with the sea.

Then, within minutes, "the beach and the area behind it had become an inland sea, rushing over the road and pouring into the flimsy houses on the other side. The speed with which it all happened seemed like a scene from the Bible — a natural phenomenon unlike anything I had experienced before," he wrote on the Post's Web site.

Dobbs weathered the wave, but then found himself struggling to keep from being swept away when the floodwaters receded.

The international airport was closed in the Maldives after a tidal wave that left 51 people missing in addition to the 32 dead.

Indonesia, a country of 17,000 islands, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the margins of tectonic plates that make up the so-called the "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific Ocean basin.

The Indonesian quake struck just three days after an 8.1 quake along the ocean floor between Australia and Antarctica caused buildings to shake hundreds of miles away. The earlier temblor caused no serious damage or injury.

Quakes reaching a magnitude 8 are very rare. A quake registering magnitude 8 rocked Japan's northern island of Hokkaido on Sept. 25, 2003, injuring nearly 600 people. An 8.4 magnitude tremor that struck off Peru on June 23, 2001, killed 74.

[TexKat]

Tsunami victims wait for a airplane to be evacuated from Nicobar, in India's southeastern Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. More than 70,000 people have been killed across south and southeast Asia, and as far as Somalia on Africas east coast following a massive earthquake close to Indonesia on Sunday, which triggered devastating tsunamis. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Motorists ride past by cars damaged by tidal waves in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

This is an aerial view of the village of Meulaboh, Indonesia in Aceh province which was destroyed by Sunday's earthquake and tsunami taken on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. Officials have recovered 3,400 bodies in the village so far, but they said they expect to find at least 10,000 died here from Sunday's 9.0 magnitude underwater earthquake and massive tidal waves. (AP Photo/Fadlan Arman Syam)

This is an aerial view of the village of Meulaboh, Indonesia in Aceh province which was destroyed by Sunday's earthquake and tsunami taken on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. Officials have recovered 3,400 bodies in the village so far, but they said they expect to find at least 10,000 died here from Sunday's 9.0 magnitude underwater earthquake and massive tidal waves. (AP Photo/Fadlan Arman Syam)

Workers walk on the foundation of the damaged Yala Safari Game Lodge close to Yala Reserve Wildlife Park, 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. Wild life officials expressed surprise Wednesday that they found no evidence of large-scale animal deaths from the weekend's massive tsunami, indicating that animals may have sensed the wave coming and fled to higher ground. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

[TexKat]

Soldiers dump unknown dead bodies from Sunday's earthquake and tsunamis into a common mass grave Wednesday Dec. 29 2004 in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. At least 32,490 people were killed in Indonesia, all on Sumatra island, the Health Ministry said Wednesday. It said this figure did not include districts on Sumatra's hard-hit western coast, meaning the final death toll will almost certainly rise significantly. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

With an image of the Christian "Mother Mary" attached to debris, a local resident salvages a bicycle from the devastation to his fishing village by the weekend's massive tsunami, Wednesday, Dec. 29, in the eastern coastal town of Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. Sunday's earthquake-triggered tsunami has left over 21,000 dead and thousands still missing according to Sri Lanka's National Disaster Management Center. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

A destroyed jetty at the Medhufushi Hotel is seen hours after a tidal wave ripped through the hotel on the Meemu atoll, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Male, Maldives islands, Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004. About 300 guests, none of them injured, were evacuated by the Pakistani Navy from the atoll on Monday. At least 63,000 people are reported dead around southern Asia and as far away as Somalia on Africa's eastern coast, most killed by massive tidal waves that smashed coastlines after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Indonesia's coast on Sunday. (AP Photo/Yann Moaligou)

Pyres of victims who were killed by tidal waves burn on the beach at Alappad, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. More than 55,000 people have been killed across south and southeast Asia following a massive earthquake close to Indonesia on Sunday, which triggered devastating tsunamis. (AP Photo/Str)

A resident tries to douse a fire, which spread from embers of cremations into a colony in Nagapattinam, a place hit by tidal waves, India, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. At least 58,407 people are reported dead around southern Asia and as far away as Somalia on Africa's eastern coast, most killed by massive tidal waves that smashed coastlines after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Indonesia's coast on Sunday, followed by aftershocks in the region. The death toll in India is more than 4,400. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)

An aerial image taken from a helicopter shows villagers stand next to a road destroyed by Sunday's tsunami at Telwatte, about 100 kilometers (63 miles) south of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. Rescue workers reported another 3,009 deaths from Sunday's earthquake-triggered tsunami, lifting Sri Lanka's toll to 21,715, said the National Disaster Management Center. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

[TexKat]

U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is seen in Hong Kong waters Friday, Dec. 24, 2004. The Lincoln, a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and four other ships of the carrier's strike group are on their way, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004, to the Tsunami affected area and could be committed to relief efforts if necessary. (AP Photo/Anat Givon)

Volunteers look out from the lobby of a damaged beach front hotel near Khao Lak, Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. More than 1,500 people have been killed in Thailand by a tidal wave that struck the popular beach area last Sunday. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)

[TexKat]

Two Sri Lankan residents stand on a twisted rail track in front of the Paiyagala train station, some 50 km south of Colombo, after tidal waves hit the region. Sri Lanka pressed its entire public service and the military into a relief operation.(AFP/Jean-Philippe Ksiazek)

Tsunami death toll climbs past 80,000, disease threatens to push it higher

[TexKat]

A view from a helicopter of a partially submerged boat that was damaged during Sunday's tsunami in Phi Phi Island, south of Bangkok, December 29, 2004. One of the most powerful earthquakes in history hit Asia over the weekend, unleashing a tidal wave which devastated coastal areas of Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and tourist isles in Thailand, killing tens of thousands of people. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

Foreigners Killed in Asia Disaster

By The Associated Press

The tally of foreigners confirmed dead from the quake and tsunamis throughout southern Asia, according to their countries' foreign ministries. Authorities said many more are missing and feared dead. Thai authorities said 473 foreigners from 36 nations were confirmed dead from Thailand's southern resorts alone.

_ Britain: 26

_ Germany: 26

_ France: 20

_ Italy: 14

_ United States: 12

_ Switzerland: 11

_ Australia: 9

_ Sweden: 6

_ Denmark: 6

_ Netherlands: 5

_ Japan: 5

_ Austria: 5

_ Finland: 4

_ South Korea: 4

_ South Africa: 4

_ Singapore: 2

_ Brazil: 2

_ Belgium: 2

_ Poland: 1

_ Russia: 1

_ Colombia: 1

_ Taiwan: 1

_ New Zealand: 1

[TexKat]

Taiwanese rescue workers make their way for an afternoon break as they search for victims of Sunday's tidal waves and flooding at Khao Lak in Pang-Nga province, southern Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004. Rescuers were hoping for 'individual miracles' of survival as they combed the beaches and islands of southern Thailand Wednesday for missing tourists and locals swept away by earthquake-powered tidal waves. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

[Jonx6]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1309689/posts

This must be a lie. I read on this thread how no one would bring politics into this tragedy except someone as evil as you.

Reading the personal attacks on you, because of your position, has been enlightening.

[Jon Alvarez]

huh?

what's a lie?

Israel's aid was initially rejected...

Why should the USA be the sole country providing the lion's share of aid? Where's China? France?

I say help those countries who have helped us in our time of need...let the UN help India.

And why help those who burn our flag?

Not with my money...sorry Charlie

[PeterFinn]

"Same goes for India, one of our longest term allies."

We have no formal military ties with India. We do have friendly relations with them, though, as an extension of their membership in the Commonwealth and due to joint concerns in the region. In recent years India has cozied up to the USA and distanced itself from its past close ties with Russia/USSR. Even to the extent of hosting joint Naval exercises such as the Malabar IV exercise.

It is possible the US & India may enter into a formal alliance at some point, but the US Senate will hang up on issues such as India's ongoing support of the Tamils in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), India's nuclear program which includes an ICBM capability, and past concerns about India's expansionist desires. India was not considered friendly to the USA during the 1970's to the mid 1990's and a Naval War College seminar I attended in 1993 cited India as a potential aggressor force in the IO. Some people, such as myself, do not easily forget these things. I am hopeful that the progress made in the last few years will continue.

[PeterFinn]

See #209. India isn't exactly an ally, but they are working towards not being an adversary as they used to be.

[Jon Alvarez]

apparently they are closing their doors to outside aid...we shall see. great info, btw. We are definitely learning alot about this part of the world.

[TexKat]

U.S. Air Force Airman Autumn McHam (left) helps cover an aircraft pallet of Meals Ready to Eat at Kadena Air Base, Japan, on Dec. 28, 2004. The meals will be flown to Southeast Asia as part of disaster relief following an earthquake that caused tsunami waves that affected 12 countries. McHam is assigned to the 733rd Air Mobility Squadron, 18th Air Wing. DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Richard Freeland, U.S. Air Force. (Released) Search

[TexKat]

Israel's aid was initially rejected...

What I took from the articles that I have read, is that the military part of the Israeli aid offer was rejected.

If you find where I am incorrect, please fill free to point it out.

Israel to ship emergency aid to Sri Lanka

"The original plan was for a medical delegation and two IDF (Israel Defense Forces) officers to go along but it was changed following instructions from the political echelon," a military source said, without further elaborating.

[Jon Alvarez]

not my intent at all...or desire.

[Jonx6]

Perhaps my post could have used some html tags and editing to make my meaning a bit more clear.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1309689/posts

<sarcasm>The story, in the link above, must be a lie. I read on this thread how no one would bring politics into this tragedy except someone as evil as you.</sarcasm>
Reading the personal attacks on you, because of your position, has been enlightening.

There... I think that's more like it.

[Jonx6]

The posted link, that I referenced, says that a 150-person rescue group was rejected by Sri Lanka because 60 of the people were Israeli military.

[Jon Alvarez]

ahhh, gotcha...thx. yes, it's amazing to see freepers being attacked for being conservative in their approach to giving away millions od dollars of our own money to these people:

Anti-US demonstrations have been getting steadily bigger as the US prepares for possible military action over the 11 September attacks on Washington and New York.

[TexKat]

TRAGEDY DELUGE: Members of the Greater Jakarta Students Executive Board unfurl a banner at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta, protesting a plan to increase fuel prices. They said on Wednesday the hike would add greater burden to people following a string of disasters that have hit the country in the past two months. (JP/Arief Suhardiman)

A PRAYER FOR THE VICTIMS: A group of citizens hold candles and pray for the victims of the quake and tsunami in Aceh. Hundreds of religious leaders, celebrities, experts and non-governmental activists joined the prayer held at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Jakarta on Wednesday evening. (JP/Arief Suhardiman)

[TexKat]

Palestinian couple comes to rescue of Israeli honeymooners hit by quake

29 December 2004

JERUSALEM - A pair of Israeli newlyweds described Wednesday how a Palestinian couple came to their rescue during Thailand’s tidal wave disaster, paying for them to fly back home after they had lost all their cash.

Yossi and Inbar Gross from Kiryat Gat, an Israeli town close to Tel Aviv, and Samy and Sally Khuri, from east Jerusalem, were staying in the same hotel in the island resort of Phuket.

After a romantic stroll on the beach Sunday, the Israeli couple went up their room only to find “a huge wave arriving,” Yossi Gross told the Maariv newspaper after arriving back in Israel.

He and his wife managed to flee but their belongings, including money and passports, were washed away by the killer wave.

The Khuris lent them the necessary cash to fly back to Israel.

“It’s simply an amazing couple. They paid for one hotel night and our plane tickets. It’s wonderful,” said Yossi Inbar.

Israel’s foreign ministry said Wednesday it was still awaiting news from 150 citizens in various Asian countries hit by the quake, which has killed more than 60,000 people so far.

[TexKat]

Scandinavians fear worst in Asian disaster

By Patrick Lannin and Gleb Bryanski STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - More than 2,000 Scandinavians and 1,000 Germans are still unaccounted for, three days after their tropical paradise was devastated by Asia's tsunami.

Throughout Europe, the Indian Ocean disaster dominated the news on Wednesday. In Sweden, probably the worst affected European country, holidaymakers began arriving home, some still not knowing what had become of loved ones. Some 1,500 Swedes are still missing.

European leaders held out hope for signs of life, but simultaneously tried to prepare people for the worst.

Norway's foreign minister said the tsunami threatened to become one of the worst disasters for his nation in modern times.

The wall of water killed more than 77,000 people when it crashed onto south Asian shores on Sunday after a massive underwater earthquake.

"This will affect Swedish lives for a long time to come," Sweden's Prime Minister Goran Persson said, shortly after King Carl XVI Gustaf made a rare public broadcast to express his grief.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer urged people to give money to victims instead of buying New Year fireworks, and across Scandinavia there were signs people would do the same.

Sweden planned to fly flags at half mast on New Year's Day.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder cancelled his holiday as the scale of the tragedy became clear.

He told citizens to expect that hundreds of missing compatriots had been killed, as did Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini, announcing that 600 Italians were missing.

"We have to prepare for the worst," he said.

Sweden, accused by local media of underestimating the problem, sent its foreign minister to Thailand, and Scandinavian airline SAS scrambled extra planes to bring holidaymakers home.

"The government made blunder after blunder, the people's verdict could be harsh," the Aftonbladet newspaper wrote.

Around 1,200 Swedish were expected back during the night. Some were still in shock, others were critical of the authorities.

"If someone handled things badly (in Sweden) he should take responsibility. The victims should have got at least some help. It is a disaster down there," returning holidaymaker Knut Larsson, 29, said.

"When the wave struck, I only had my underwear on, nothing else. I later managed to find other things scattered around," Tony Jagerholm, who was in Phuket, told Reuters Television.

RESCUE SEARCH

An Aftonbladet poll showed 64 percent of people believed the government had done too little.

But some Norwegian tourists also said Swedish diplomats had stepped in when they got little help from their own government.

Two Norwegian brothers aged eight and 10 arrived alone and barefoot at Copenhagen airport from Bangkok, not knowing the fate of their parents, said Danish daily Berlingske Tidende.

Governments around Europe opened telephone helplines. Friends and families were posting names of missing loved ones on Internet message boards in the hope of receiving news.

Israel, with 100 missing, suspected the tsunami might have killed more Israelis than any Palestinian suicide bombing in a 4-year uprising. News of the hunt for survivors eclipsed upcoming Palestinian elections and Israeli political troubles.

"I cannot recall facing such a terrible problem of despair for years," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on a visit to a control room set up to help track down Israelis caught in the disaster. Some 1,500 have been found alive so far.

Asia's beaches are a top destination for Israeli youngsters, especially those seeking escape after compulsory army service.

Ultra-orthodox Jews from the Zaka rescue service, used to rushing to the scene of bombings to pick up human remains, set off for Thailand to identify any Israeli dead and ensure a proper burial in accordance with Jewish law.

Sunday's tsunami hit Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Maldives and East Africa.