2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 10:33, 29 December 2004
![]() | This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. |
For a partial list of charitable organizations accepting donations to assist the victims, see Donations for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/2004_Indonesia_Tsunami.gif)
The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake of moment magnitude 9.0 that struck the Indian Ocean off the western coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia on December 26, 2004 at 00:58:49 UTC (07:58:49 local time in Jakarta and Bangkok). It was the largest earthquake on Earth since the 9.2-magnitude Good Friday Earthquake which struck Alaska, USA, on March 27, 1964, and the fourth largest since 1900. Tens of thousands were killed by the resulting tsunamis, which were as high as 15 m and struck between 15 minutes and 3 hours after the quake, causing one of the most cataclysmic disasters in modern history.
The multiple tsunamis struck and ravaged coastal regions all over the Indian Ocean, devastating regions including the Indonesian province of Aceh, the coast of Sri Lanka, coastal areas of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the resort island of Phuket, Thailand, and even as far away as Somalia and several other countries in Africa, 4,500 km (2,800 mi) or more west of the epicenter.
The plight of the affected people and countries has prompted a widespread humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
Quake characteristics
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/2004_indian_ocean_earthquake_details.png/250px-2004_indian_ocean_earthquake_details.png)
The quake was initially reported as 6.8 on the Richter scale. On the moment magnitude scale, which is more accurate for quakes of this size, the earthquake's magnitude was first reported as 8.1 by the United States Geological Survey, but after further analysis they increased this first to 8.5 and 8.9 and finally 9.0.
For comparison, the largest recorded earthquake was the Great Chilean Earthquake of 1960, having a magnitude of 9.5. The only other larger quakes worldwide since 1900 were the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake (9.2) and a March 9 1957 quake [1] in the Andreanof Islands (9.1), both in Alaska, USA. The only other recorded 9.0 magnitude earthquake, in 1952 off the southeast coast of Kamchatka, U.S.S.R., spawned tsunamis that caused extensive damage in Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and the Hawaiian Islands. (See Top 10 earthquakes.)
The hypocenter was at 3.298°N, 95.779°E, some 160 km (100 mi) west of Sumatra, at a depth of 10 km (6.2 mi) underwater, within the "Ring of Fire" zone of frequent earthquakes. The quake itself (apart from the tsunamis) was felt as far away as Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and the Maldives.
The earthquake was unusually large in geographical extent. An estimated 1,200 km (740 mi) of faultline slipped 15 m (50 ft) along the subduction zone where the India Plate dives under the Burma Plate. This formed a shock wave in the Indian Ocean, creating tsunamis that traveled at up to 800 km/h (500 mi/h).
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Neic_slav_fig72.jpg/300px-Neic_slav_fig72.jpg)
The India Plate is part of the great Indo-Australian Plate, which underlies the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, and is drifting northeast at an average of 5 cm/yr (2 in/yr) (or 15 m (50 ft) per 300 years), relative to the Burma Plate. The Burma Plate carries the Nicobar and Andaman Islands and northern Sumatra, and is pushed by the Sunda Plate to its east. Both the Burma and Sunda Plates are considered portions of the great Eurasian Plate. The tectonic activity that results as these plates scrape against each other led to the creation of the Sunda Arc.
Numerous aftershocks of magnitude between 5.7 and 6.3 were reported off the Andaman Islands in the following hours and days. Aftershocks off the Nicobar Islands were also reported, including ones of magnitude 7.5 [2], and 6.5 [3]. Other aftershocks between magnitude 5.0 and 6.3 occurred near the location of the original quake. See also: USGS current earthquake information.
The earthquake came just three days after a magnitude 8.1 earthquake in a completely uninhabited region west of New Zealand's sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands, and north of Australia's Macquarie Island [4]. This would normally be unusual, since earthquakes of magnitude 8 or more typically occur an average of once per year. Seismologists have speculated about a possible connection between these two earthquakes, saying that the former one might have been a catalyst to the Indian Ocean earthquake, as the two quakes happened on opposite sides of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate [5]. Coincidentally, the earthquake struck almost exactly one year (within an hour) after a magnitude 6.6 earthquake killed an estimated 30,000 people in the city of Bam in Iran [6].
The total energy released by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake exceeds the total amount of energy consumed in the United States in one month, or the energy released by the wind of a hurricane like Hurricane Isabel over a period of 70 days ([7]). Using the mass-energy equivalence formula , this amount of energy is equivalent to a mass of about 100 kg (220 lb) (much more than is actually converted to energy in a nuclear explosion), or enough to boil 5000 litres (1,300 US gallons) of water for every person on Earth.
The moment of inertia of Earth decreased a bit due to the earthquake. Because the angular momentum is conserved, this results in an increase of the angular velocity of Earth's rotation. In other words, the earthquake shortened the length of a day by as much as 3 µs. However, due to tidal effects of the Moon, the Earth's rotation slows by 15 µs per year. So any rotation speedup due to the earthquake will have no long-lasting effect at all.
Based on one seismic model, some of the smaller islands southwest of Sumatra have moved southwest up to 20 m (66 ft). The northern tip of Sumatra, which is on the Burma Plate (the southern regions are on the Sunda Plate), may also have moved southwest up to 36 m (118 ft). Other models suggest that most of the movement would have been vertical rather than lateral. Further measurement onsite with handheld GPS devices is needed to determine the extent of any actual movement. The massive release of energy and shift in mass may have also caused the earth to minutely "wobble" on its axis. [8]
Experts are also entertaining the possibility of a seismic chain reaction across a wider area of Australasia. Significant seismic activity was reported near Tasmania on December 24, while on December 26, a series of earthquakes peaking at 5.0 struck China's Yunnan province, killing one person and injuring twenty-three.
Damage and casualties
The earthquake triggered massive tsunamis which struck the coasts of the Indian Ocean (Pacific Ocean coasts saw only minor sea level fluctuations). The death toll from the tsunamis and the resultant floods was reported to be more than 68,000, with tens of thousands of people reported missing, and over a million left homeless. The head of the European Union's humanitarian relief operation, Guido Bertolaso, has stated, "I fear that in the end it will be more than one-hundred thousand (100,000) deaths." [9] Governments and NGOs fear the death toll may double as a result of water-borne diseases such as cholera and dysentery, and other diseases such as malaria. Relief agencies report that one-third of the dead appear to be children. This is a result of the high proportion of children in the populations of many of the affected regions and the fact that children were the least able to resist being dragged by the surging waters.
The death toll may be particularly high due to the fact that this is the first time in over 100 years that a tsunami of the Indian Ocean has struck land, leaving the affected countries unprepared and the people unable to recognise the telltale signs of an impending tsunami. The last tsunami in the area was caused by the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. Tsunamis usually occur along the Pacific Ocean coasts of the "Ring of Fire", where populations and government authorities are better prepared and early-warning systems are in place.
In addition to the large number of local residents, some tourists during the busy Christmas holiday travel season were among the casualties.
States of emergency were declared in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Maldives. The United Nations has declared that the current relief operation would be the costliest one ever.
For purposes of establishing timelines of local events, the time zones of affected areas are: UTC+3: (Kenya, Somalia); UTC+4: (Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles); UTC+5: (Maldives); UTC+5:30: (India); UTC+6: (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka); UTC+6:30: (Cocos Islands, Myanmar); UTC+7: (Indonesia (western), Thailand); UTC+8: (Malaysia, Singapore). Since the quake occurred at 00:58:49 UTC, add the above offsets to find the local time of the quake. A list of times can be found at [10](a USGS site).
Casualty summary
Country | Deaths | Injured | Missing | Displaced | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Confirmed | Estimated | ||||
Indonesia | 32,502([11]) | 40,000 | 100,000+ | Thousands | — |
Sri Lanka* | 21,715 | 25,000+ | 4,000+ | 20,000+ | 1.5 million |
India | 12,419 | 15,000 | — | 30,000+ | Hundreds of thousands |
Thailand | 1,657 | 2,000+ | 8,953 | 4,086 | 29,000+ |
Somalia | 110 | Hundreds | — | — | — |
Myanmar (Burma) | 90 | 100+ | 45 | — | 200+ |
Malaysia | 65 | — | 183 | 26 | 5,000 |
Maldives | 55 | — | — | 76 | — |
Tanzania | 10 | — | — | — | — |
Seychelles | 3 | — | — | 7 | — |
Bangladesh | 2 | — | — | — | — |
Kenya | 2 | — | — | — | — |
South Africa | 1 | — | — | — | — |
Madagascar | 0 | — | — | — | 1,200 |
Total | 68,631 | 85,000+ | 100,000+ | 50,000+ | 1.5-2 million |
* The numbers for Sri Lanka include reports from both government- and Tamil-held regions.
India
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Chennai_damage_6.jpg/250px-Chennai_damage_6.jpg)
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, just north of the earthquake hypocenter, have had the most casualties. The tsunami reached a height of 15 m in the southern Nicobar Islands. It is estimated that 7,000 have died on the islands, and a similar number missing. One fifth of the island population is said to be dead, injured or missing ([12]). One particular island in the Nicobars has lost 2/3 of its population of 1,500. Communications have been lost with the Nan Kauri group of islands, some of which have been completely submerged, with the total number of the population out of contact exceeding 18,000. The Indian Air Force base in Car Nicobar, near the hypocenter, is reported to have been severely damaged ([13]).
On mainland India, the entire eastern coast was affected, killing more than 5,000 and rendering thousands injured and/or homeless [14]. The death toll in Tamil Nadu, which was most affected, was above 3,200. Along the eastern coast, 487 were killed in Pondichery and 89 in Andhra Pradesh. Kerala, located on the southern part of the western coast of India, was also affected with 174 deaths and thousands rendered homeless. Hundreds were feared missing (1,200 in Andhra Pradesh alone). Most of the people killed were fisherfolk who lived along the coast. Many fishermen both at home and at sea were missing.
In Tamil Nadu where the official toll was 3,200, mostly women and children, over 1,700 were killed in the Nagapattinam district alone, over 400 in the Cuddalore district, over 525 in the Kanyakumari district and over 200 in Chennai (formerly Madras) city. It was reported that survey and rescue helicopters could not even land in Nagapattinam and Cuddalore districts due to floods and rains.
Those killed in Kanyakumari include pilgrims taking a holy dip in the sea. Of about 700 people trapped at the Vivekananda Memorial on an island off Kanyakumari, 650 were rescued while the search is on for others. In Chennai along the Marina Beach, people taking part in various sports activities (including children), and those who were having a morning walk along the beach, were washed away. It being a Sunday, there were more people than usual on the beach. Some unconfirmed reports claim that at least 5,000 fishermen and their families may be missing just from the Marina Beach area.
A large number of pilgrims celebrating Christmas at the Velankanni church were affected. Eyewitness reports suggest that at least 1,000 people were on the beach on that morning.
Water also rushed into the nuclear reactor complex at Kalpakkam, which was then shut off. No damage or radiation leak was reported. [15]
The Indian Army, Navy and Coast Guard were pressed into service for undertaking rescue operations and to air-drop food to the tsunami victims. The chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh announced ex gratia relief for those affected by the tsunamis.
Indonesia
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Tsunami_size_scale_26Dec2004.png/220px-Tsunami_size_scale_26Dec2004.png)
Indonesia's Ministry of Health confirmed over 32,000 dead. Nine thousand are reported dead in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh and nearby towns, where dozens of buildings were destroyed in the initial earthquake. This preliminary figure does not include much of badly damaged western coast of Sumatra. One government official estimated another 10,000 dead in the single town of Meulaboh, 160 km (100 mi) in the northern province of Aceh. Northern Sumatra was unusual in the regional disaster in that it took damage from the earthquake itself as well as the tsunami. Hundreds of thousands of people have been rendered homeless.
Government officials are very concerned over the lack of reports from the many small islands dotting the western coast of Sumatra. These islands are among the poorest areas in Indonesia, among them the islands Simeulue and Nias. On Nias island alone official acounts gave the number 122 (source: Media Indonesia Online via the Ministry of Health), while various unconfirmed sources (mostly from phone calls by relatives living in Jakarta) report death tolls of over 600, while others say the number more likely to go well over 1000. Confirmation and communications to the islands are further hampered by damage to telecommunication infrastructures, where phone lines are broken and radio networks have been said to be down due to bad weather. (source: KCM, updates from The Jakarta Post)
Most damage was the result of the tsunamis that struck the coastal regions of Aceh and North Sumatra provinces. Ten metre tall tsunamis passed the tip of the island to race south down the Straits of Malacca and strike along the northeast coast near the town of Bireun. The west coast of Sumatra was about 100 km (60 mi) from the epicenter and is believed to have taken heavy damage. At least five villages were completely destroyed. Overflights of the region show that thousands of homes remain underwater. Reports indicate that survivors survived for days eating nothing but coconuts and looting has been reported in stricken Acehnese towns.
An accurate picture of the damage is made difficult due to the insurgency of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (also known as GAM or Gerakan Aceh Merdeka), which means that there were relatively few journalists, government offices, or aid workers in northern Sumatra. On Monday the government stated that on Wednesday it would lift the 18-month-old ban prohibiting foreign journalists and aid workers from traveling to Aceh. Also on Monday, a spokesperson for the Free Aceh Movement declared a ceasefire so humanitarian aid could reach survivors, and so as not to complicate the already devastating situation. The GAM also stated that 50,000 people were displaced in Aceh.
Fifteen thousand troops, who were in the region to fight the insurgency, have been dispatched to render assistance and to search for survivors. 3 days of national mourning have been declared.
Malaysia
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Mud1.jpg)
Malaysia escaped the kind of damages that struck beaches thousands of miles further away. This is attributed to the the position of the epicentre which was on the west side of the island of Sumatra, which shielded Malaysia. The limited number of casualties were from people being swept away from beaches as the tsunami hit Malaysia which resulted in the deaths of 63 people as of noon local time: 49 (2 unindentified victims) in Penang, 10 in Kedah, 3 in Perak and one in Selangor. The deaths at Penang were reported to include many picnickers and children who were playing on the beach. No deaths are reported among foreign tourists. At noon on 28th Dec the death toll is reported to have risen to 63 with 29 people missing, 275 injured and 4000 homeless. Houses in villages along coastal areas were badly damaged in Penang, Kuala Muda in Kedah and numerous fishing boats were destroyed on Langkawi island. The waves sent parked motorcycles crashing and cars washed with mud at stretches along Gurney Drive. The biggest lost from a single family was when 5 of 7 children of Zulkifli Mohamad Noor was killed when the tsunami struck at Pasir Panjang beach. The biggest risk is post disaster risk like food and water-borne diseases e.g. cholera and typhoid and dengue from stagnating water. The tremor of the quake was felt by office workers in PETRONAS Twin Towers.
Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi cut short his holiday in Spain and returned to Malaysia. The Malaysian government announced that MYR 1,000 (USD 263.16) would be paid to the families of victims while MYR 200 (USD 52.63) would be paid to those who had sustained injuries from the tsunami. Residents who moved out of their homes immediately would also be paid MYR 200 as compensation.
Maldives
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Wave.jpg/320px-Wave.jpg)
Sixty-eight were killed and 76 reported missing in the Maldives, with both figures expected to rise as communication links are restored. Two-thirds of the capital city Malé were flooded during the early hours of the day. Outlying low-level atolls were badly affected and some low lying islands were completely submerged - including some of the major resorts - during the high tide.
The government has declared a state of national disaster [16] and a special task force has been set up to provide aid and supplies. Rescue efforts have been hampered by loss of communication capability, as well as the lack of a prior rescue or relief plan for a disaster of this nature.
Somalia
Villages and coastal communities in Somalia, as far as 4,500 km (2,800 mi) from the epicentre of the earthquake, were swept away and destroyed by the huge waves. Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi of the government-in-exile has stated that over 100 people are dead. Rising waters engulfed the town mosque of Brava and the villages of Beyla, Garacad, Muduy and Nugaal, all in Puntland, were reported destroyed.
According to Ali Abdi Awari, Minister of Rural Development, the final toll is believed to be much higher, as the number of fishermen caught on the sea has not been established by the local authorities. Much of the 621-mile coast is controlled by various clan-based militias, making obtaining accurate information difficult. The United Nations is assisting 2,000 people in Hafun, a town 715 miles northeast of Mogadishu, who were made homeless by the tsunamis.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan authorities report nearly 22,000 confirmed deaths, mostly children and the elderly. The south and east coasts were worst hit. The army states that over 10,000 bodies have been recovered in government-held areas.
The rebel Tamil Tigers who control much of the north and east have stated that the number of dead in rebel-held areas could rise to 6,000. War-damaged infrastucture means it is likely to mean that it will take longer before accurate figures are available for these areas.
1200 dead were counted at Batticaloa in the east and at Trincomalee in the northeast, where the tsunami reached more than 2 km (1.25 mi) inland, 800 were reported dead. The naval base at Trincomalee is reported to be submerged. About 1000 more dead were counted in Mullaitivu and Vadamaradchi East. [17]. A train, the "Sea Queen," moving between Colombo and Galle, with 1000 passengers was struck by a tsunami, killing all on board.
More than one million people have been displaced from their homes. Apart from homes, many hotels were also reported to have been damaged. Hotels along the south coast were full of both foreign tourists and Sri Lankans making use of the long Christmas weekend. Twenty thousand soldiers were deployed in government-controlled areas to assist in relief operations and maintain law and order after sporadic looting. Curfews had been imposed in some areas to curb looting. Chinese light antipersonnel mines of type T-72A, left after the two-decade civil war, are feared to have been washed up and spread by the surge of water. The Norwegian People's Aid organization is currently assembling a team of mine sweepers to assess the situation.
The main highway to the south runs along the coast and was closed in the aftermath of the tsunami, delaying relief supplies. A huge effort to deliver supplies has been made by large numbers of private individuals filling their own vans and pickup trucks with food, clothing and bottled water and driving to affected areas.
Author Sir Arthur C. Clarke, who lives in Sri Lanka, has issued a statement saying that Sri Lanka "lacks the resources and capacity to cope with the aftermath." Clarke reported that not all of his staff have been accounted for. Clarke's diving school has been destroyed. As was the small spacecraft he was building to flee the impending interstellar armageddon, as foretold by his close friend and Church of Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard.
Thailand
The Thai government reports that over 2,000 are feared killed, with 1,574 confirmed deaths and 8,953 injuries [18]. The popular tourist resort of Phuket was badly hit. The smaller but increasingly popular resort area of Khao Lak some 80 km north of Phuket was hit far worse and there are said to be around 700 corpses on the beach in Khao Lak, while the total amount of dead in Khao Lak may exceed 2,000. The severity of the situation in Khao Lak is probably explained by the fact, that unlike the high-rising city of Phuket, the village of Khao Lak only had low built bungalows instead of high-rise concrete hotels. Khao Lak also has an extensive area of flatland only a few metres above the sea level, on which most bungalows were situated.
Thailand deputy interior minister Sutham Sangprathum reports over 700 tourists among Thailand's casualties. The bodies of 44 foreign tourists are reported to have been recovered at Phuket. Hundreds of holiday bungalows on the Phi Phi Islands were washed out to sea. Lorry drivers were quick to offer assistance, driving victims to higher ground and away from the surging waters. Local reports say many scuba divers were found dead, with their bodies torn apart by the tsunami. Among the dead was Bhumi Jensen, a grandson of King Rama IX, whose body was found at Phang Nga on Monday afternoon.
Other countries
Main article: Other countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
A number of other countries were also affected either directly or indirectly by the earthquake. Countries such as Myanmar and Somalia suffered dozens and perhaps hundreds of deaths as well as significant property damage, while nations like Oman and Australia reported only non-deadly ocean swells. Citizens from countries from around the world have been killed, or remain missing, in the aftermath of the natural disaster. Many foreigners were visiting the famed beaches of Thailand and Sri Lanka during the winter vacation.
Damage in historical and global context
Although the earthquake was the fourth most powerful recorded since 1899, the likely death toll is lower than would have been the case if it had struck at a densely populated area. The deadliest earthquakes recorded in recent times were the Tangshan, China, earthquake of 1976, in which 240,000 were killed, and the Tokyo earthquake of 1923 (140,000). The deadliest earthquake in history occurred in 1556 in Shaanxi, China, with a reported death toll of 830,000 (although figures from this time period may not be reliable). [19]
The nations of the Indian Ocean do not participate in an international tsunami early warning system like that in the Pacific Ocean, mostly as a result of the historical rarity of tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. In the Pacific, a system of sensors is linked to monitoring stations so that local media can warn the populace to seek higher ground well before a tsunami arrives. Thailand is a member of the Pacific tsunami warning system, but all of its ocean buoys, upon which wave sensors are mounted, are on the east coast of the country. A single wave station south of the epicenter measured a two foot tall tsunami moving towards Australia. The US Geological Survey has stated that if a monitoring and warning system had been in place, the loss of life could have been reduced, especially in areas that were struck by tsunamis more than three hours after the initial tremor, such as Sri Lanka and India. Furthermore, in Pacific regions where tsunamis are better known, the receding of the sea from the coast would have warned many people of an impending freak wave. In the Indian Ocean region, this rare sight has been reported to have induced people to visit the coast to investigate. Also, the intensity of the tremors in India and Sri Lanka was too low to raise an alarm.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, the Indian government has decided to install equipment to warn about impending tsunamis, and to join a group of countries that would share information on tsunamis. The Malaysian government has also proposed to create a tsunami warning system, in cooperation with other countries in the region. [20]
Post-tsunami humanitarian situation
Main article: Humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
Large amounts of humanitarian aid are needed due to widespread damage to infrastructure, food and water shortages and economic damage to the fishing and tourism industries. Epidemics are of special concern, as they are highly likely due to the high population density and tropical climate of the affected areas. The United Nations has stated that the largest relief operation in history is underway. The overwhelming concern of humanitarian and government agencies is to quickly identify and bury the dead before they become a health issue, and also contain the spread of diseases such as cholera, diphtheria, dysentery and typhoid.
See also
- 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake in India
- Donations for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
- Other countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
- Humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
- List of earthquakes
- List of islands in the Indian Ocean
- Megatsunami
- Cumbre Vieja, a possible future megatsunami threat in the Atlantic Ocean
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Wikinews-logo.svg/40px-Wikinews-logo.svg.png)
Ongoing news coverage
- ABC News – Tsunami Disaster
- BBC News In-Depth Report – Asia Quake Disaster
- Channel News Asia Special Coverage – Killer Waves
- CNN Special – Tsunami Disaster
- Financial Times News In Depth – Asian Earthquake Disaster
- Guardian Unlimited Special Report – Indian Ocean Tsunami Disaster
- MSNBC News – Asia's Deadly Tsunami
- New York Times Complete Coverage
- NPR – Tsunami Devastates Asian Nations
- Rediff – Tsunami: Waves of Destruction
- Reuters AlertNet – S. Asia Quake and Tsunamis
- Scotsman – Indian Ocean Earthquake
- Washington Post – Tsunami in South Asia
- Yahoo! News – Asia Tsunami Disaster
Geological reports
- Global Earthquake Report – chart updated with each new earthquake or aftershock
- National Institute of Oceanography, India - 26 December 2004 Tsunami
- NOAA – Pacific Tsunami report December 27
- USGS - Magnitude 9.0 – OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA USGS, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:50 UTC.
- USGS – Earthquake Hazards Program: Tectonic Summary USGS, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:50 UTC.
- USGS – Largest earthquakes in the world since 1900
- USGS – Surviving a Tsunami – Lessons from Chile, Hawaii, and Japan
Videos and photos
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Kalutara, Sri Lanka Quickbird satellite image, DigitalGlobe Inc., December 26
- BBC video about the tsunami (requires RealVideo codec)
- Agency photos from the affected areas
- More photos from Malé
- Tsunami in Penang Malaysia, video taken on 26 December.
- Photo sequence of tsunami flooding in Phuket (Thailand) resort.
Headline links
- 2Bangkok newsfeed - Indonesian quake and tsunamis in Thailand
- ReliefWeb - South Asia Earthquake and Tsunami news stories
- Malé – Headlines from the Maldives
- Sumatra – Headlines from Indonesia
- Phuket – Headlines from Phuket
- Penang – Headlines from Penang
- Sri Lanka – Headlines from Sri Lanka
- India – Headlines from India
- EinNews Sri Lanka news links
- Armageddon – Earthquakes & Tsunamis
Blogs
- The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog
- This Way Please's Extra Extra out of Jaffna, Sri Lanka
- Tsunami Help India spun off from Sumankumar's yak pad out of Chennai, India
- Indonesia HELP Aid and donations information for earthquake and tsunami victims in Aceh & North Sumatra (Indonesia)
Individual news articles (latest on top)
- Death toll in tsunami rises to 22,000 in Sri Lanka Xinhua News Agency
- Asia Struggles with Disaster Aftermath ABC News
- Tsunami Caught on Video Camera NBC
- Latest Updates from Minivan (Maldivian News Source)
- For latest Update of News Regarding Tsunami
- British tourist among 15 dead as tsunamis lash Maldives Channel News Asia, December 27 at 00:50 (GMT +8)
- Ten Killed in Burma
- Asia quake death toll nears 10,000 CNN, December 26 at 13:42 EST
- Over 1800 killed in South India Times of India
- Tsunami hits south, southeast Asia; 9,000 feared dead New Delhi Television
- Sea surges kill thousands in Asia BBC News World Edition, December 26
- Huge earthquake wreaks havoc The Weekend Australian, December 26
Background information
- LookSmart - Tsunamis and Tidal Waves directory category
- Open Directory Project - Tsunami directory category
- Yahoo! - Tsunamis directory category
- 1998 geoscientific investigations of the active convergence zone between the east Eurasian and Indo-Australian Plates (GINCO I), carried out along the Sunda Arc
- PBS NewsHour - Predicting Earthquakes
- British Foreign Office advice for the Maldives.