indian ocean tsunami essay

The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 and Its Consequences Essay

Among various natural disasters, tsunamis deserve particular attention for the combination of their destructive character and opportunities to prevent human losses. An event that entirely transformed standard scientific approaches to this phenomenon was the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2014), it all started with a 9.1 magnitude earthquake near Sumatra, Indonesia. Although not resulting in significant destruction, it ruptured “a 900-mile stretch along with the Indian and Australian plates,” forcing massive ocean floor segments over thirty meters upward (Roos, 2020, para. 9). Combined with the ten-minute duration, such a quake caused a tremendous tsunami rushing across the Indian Ocean. It affected the entire region, with the heaviest losses in nearby Indonesia and several deaths occurring even in South Africa, five thousand miles from the epicenter (Roos, 2020). Therefore, this tsunami became a global disaster affecting millions of people and requiring a thorough review and identification of future preventive and mitigation measures.

The statistical data published by international researchers demonstrate the tremendous effects of this natural disaster. With 227,898 people dead or missing, it caused the highest number of tsunami victims throughout recorded history (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2014). The worst effects of the great wave were observed in Indonesia, where the death toll exceeded 160,000 people, and the overall damages almost reached $4.5 billion (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2014). The remaining fatalities were found all along the Indian Ocean coast, with the largest numbers in Sri Lanka and India. The total material losses were estimated to reach $10 billion (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2014). Entire communities were wiped off the map, thousands of houses and large infrastructural objects were destroyed. Moreover, ruined coastal facilities resulted in a significant impact on tourism, which constituted the primary income source for many states. Thus, this tsunami became the deadliest and most destructive natural disaster in the region for years.

The latest strategies aimed at mitigating tsunamis are vast; however, their implementation is complex and does not always guarantee the complete prevention of the disaster’s impact. The first strategy is concerned with the vertical evacuation of the population to the excising natural high ground or tsunami-resistant structures or special-purpose structures. The second strategy is the construction of structures that are higher than the expected height of tsunami inundation (Goltz & Yamori, 2020). The third strategy is concerned with excellent preparedness of the cities in communities, such as the adoption of building codes to address tsunamis, the moving of essential community assets and vulnerable individuals out of tsunami hazard zones, as well as planning for post-tsunami recovery. It is suggested to implement a global educational program, allowing people to identify the early signs of an incoming disaster, which be viewed as a measure to prevent human losses.

Nevertheless, despite all technological advancements, the generation and distribution of warnings still take time, and nearby areas can be affected in minutes. Therefore, straightforward advice to anyone in the coastal zone, feeling the ground shaking or seeing the water inexplicably receding, would be to rush to an elevated place and stay there until the wave passes. Because not all current prevention and mitigation efforts are fully effective, further research and development efforts are needed to address the challenge of the adverse impact of tsunamis on the global population.

Goltz, J., & Yamori, K. (2020). Tsunami preparedness and mitigation strategies. Natural Hazard Science. Web.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2014). December 26, 2004, Sumatra, Indonesia earthquake and tsunami – Tenth anniversary update. Web.

Roos, D. (2020). The 2004 tsunami wiped away towns with ‘mind-boggling’ destruction. History . Web.

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IvyPanda . 2022. "The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 and Its Consequences." February 28, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-indian-ocean-tsunami-of-2004-and-its-consequences/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 and Its Consequences." February 28, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-indian-ocean-tsunami-of-2004-and-its-consequences/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 and Its Consequences." February 28, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-indian-ocean-tsunami-of-2004-and-its-consequences/.

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2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami

Description and explanation, prior events and warning signs, response and consequences, works cited.

In 2004, South Asia experienced one of the deadliest tsunamis and earthquakes in history. It was notable for two reasons – its almost unprecedented scale and unexpected nature. Both the scientific community and the governments were taken aback by the natural disaster since the region had not been known as tsunami-prone. The ensuing crisis called for immediate substantial humanitarian assistance, geological studies, and the implementation of warning systems and emergency responses.

Tsunamis and earthquakes are intrinsically related, often occurring in sequence. A rupture between the Indian and Burma tectonic plates caused an earthquake with a record high magnitude. “The earthquake induced a massive tsunami responsible for casualties and damages along most of the coasts surrounding the Indian Ocean” (Bletery et al. 5116). The natural disasters affected area over 1200 kilometres and 15 countries in Asia and Africa. The tsunami lasted over seven hours and had waves that reached 30 metres in height. The death toll of the transpired events amounts to at least 227,898 people (Suppasri et al. 3313). Both earthquake and tsunami are listed among the largest and deadliest natural disasters in the world.

The region was not prepared to handle the disaster, because such disturbances were not an observed phenomenon there. Sieh et al. argue that “records of predecessors existed neither in the cultural memory or written records of communities along the coasts of the Indian Ocean nor in the scientific literature” (308). However, this does not mean that tsunamis had never taken place in the region, as the studies have found evidence of prehistoric tsunamis which are depicted in Appendix A (Sieh et al. 309). The black dots indicate sites of natural disasters that occurred between 1460 and 1300 C.E. As a result, no large-scale water fluctuations were expected around the time of the 2004 tsunami.

In 2004, there were no tsunami warning systems implemented; thus, it resulted in complete regional unpreparedness. Therefore, the most evident sign of the incoming tsunami was the earthquake. Minutes before the strike, the sea receded, which is a typical tsunami warning sign, combined with the shaking of the ground (Hall et al. 482). Due to the absence of evacuation measures, people on the coast were hit by the first wave. Altogether, neither the government nor the population knew what specific signs to look out for because of the lack of adequate tsunami forecasts.

The 2004 tsunami and earthquake sent reverberations across the oceans that reached as far as East Africa, yet Asian countries were hit the most. “Indonesia was by far the worst affected country with an estimated total damage of USD 4.5 billion, 167,052 people killed, and 590,684 individuals further affected” (Ismail et al. 439). Hundreds of hospitals, schools, governmental facilities could no longer function. The transport infrastructure was heavily damaged, including thousands of kilometres of road, numerous airports and seaports. Furthermore, devastation left countries without telecommunications sufficient for timely broadcasting of assistance requests. Householding and agriculture suffered from the tsunami, leaving the workforce homeless and unemployed. The impact on human living was so grave the governments established agencies specifically for dealing with restoration efforts, like Agency for the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Aceh and Nias in Indonesia.

The realization that the region is now susceptible to tsunamis provoked the change in perception of its safety. Appendix B (Frankenberg et al. 4) shows the exodus of the inhabitants of the affected area over the years. The graph suggests the positive correlation between the degree of devastation and the number of people leaving the region. It is also apparent that the more damage the infrastructure suffered, the more population left, with high damage areas getting abandoned by up to 30%. This is also supported by a map in Appendix C (Suppasri et al. 3317). It depicts the low population in density in the areas that were affected by the tsunami. Red dots pinpoint the location of tsunamis that were caused by the 2004 catastrophe, thus encouraging people to migrate.

The government launched a reconstruction program for the affected areas. The magnitude of the disaster provoked diverse humanitarian aid from countries, non-governmental organizations, and corporations. For instance, Srivastava writes that “Charitable organizations constructed many more houses than the government organizations and therefore rehabilitation was achieved at a quicker pace” (200). The international aid included financial assistance, medical supplies, food, clothes, and volunteers. Combined with governmental activities, they rebuilt the area, although a large proportion of the inhabitants chose to immigrate from the shoreline.

Overall, the 2004 natural disaster was a shocking event with numerous scientific, economic, and social implications. The unexpected appearance of tsunami provoked geological research that linked the regional contemporary tsunami vulnerability to the ancient catastrophes. The governments were forced to react and institute proper evacuation and preparation measures. The substantial damage to the area and massive civilian casualties attracted attention and help from the international community in restoration efforts. Meanwhile, the catastrophe served as the catalyst for later tsunamis that were less disastrous in scale but caused the population exodus from high-damage areas.

Bletery, Quentin, et al. “A Bayesian Source Model for the 2004 Great Sumatra‐Andaman Earthquake.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth , vol. 121, no. 7, 2016, pp. 5116-5135.

Frankenberg, Elizabeth, et al. “Should I Stay or Should I Go? Long-Term Migration after the Indian Ocean Tsunami.” Population Association of American Annual Meeting . 2017. pp. 1-10.

Hall, Sarah, et al. “Awareness of Tsunami Natural Warning Signs and Intended Evacuation Behaviors in Java, Indonesia.” Natural Hazards , vol. 89, no.1, 2017, pp. 473-496.

Ismail, Nafesa, et al. “Livelihood Changes in Banda Aceh, Indonesia after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction , vol. 28, 2018, pp. 439-449.

Sieh, Kerry, et al. “Penultimate Predecessors of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami in Aceh, Sumatra: Stratigraphic, Archeological, and Historical Evidence.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth , vol. 120, no. 1, 2015, pp. 308-325.

Srivastava, Mitashree. “Life and Livelihood in Coastal Community post Tsunami 2004: An Anthropological Case Study of Arattupuzha Village of Kerala.” Development, Resources and Livelihoods , no. 15, 2015, pp. 192-202.

Suppasri, Anawat, et al. “A Decade after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami: The Progress in Disaster Preparedness and Future Challenges in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Maldives.” Pure and Applied Geophysics , vol. 172, no. 12, 2012, pp. 3313-3341.

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2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

The Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 struck without warning and killed thousands. See photos of the devastating destruction left in its wake.

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Indian Ocean Tsunami Remembered — Scientists reflect on the 2004 Indian Ocean that killed thousands

In the early hours of Dec. 26, 2004, one of the world’s most powerful earthquakes triggered one of the largest tsunamis in 40 years.

Sometimes known as the Christmas or Boxing Day tsunami, the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami is far from a distant memory, a decade after resulting in more than 200,000 casualities.

“The tsunami struck after the  magnitude 9.1 Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake  occurred off the northwest coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, causing catastrophic levels of destruction to countries around the Indian Ocean basin.”

Cause and Areas Impacted

The magnitude 9.1 Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake occurred on the  interface between the India and Burma tectonic plates .

According to USGS scientists, the sea floor near the earthquake was uplifted several meters. The displacement of water above the sea floor triggered the tsunami, which caused catastrophic levels of destruction in countries around the Indian Ocean basin, reaching as far as the east coast of Africa.

The tsunami arrived in northern Sumatra approximately 30 minutes after the earthquake, in Thailand approximately an hour and a half to two hours after the earthquake, and in Sri Lanka approximately two to three hours after the earthquake.

The tsunami was only recently rivaled by the 2011 tsunami in Japan.

“The foremost impact, of course, is the loss of life in both cases,” said Eric Geist, USGS research geophysicist.  “For the 2004 tsunami, the loss of life far outweighed damage to infrastructure, whereas for the 2011 tsunami, there was significant damage to infrastructure in Japan.”

Countries hardest hit by the 2004 tsunami included Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Somalia,  Maldives , Malaysia, Myanmar, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Kenya

Tsunami Research

The 2004 tsunami was the deadliest and one of the most destructive in recorded history.

Tsunami runup heights  of more than 30 meters were observed along the west coast of Sumatra.

In Aceh and Sumatera Utara Provinces, Indonesia, at least 108,100 people were killed, 127,700 are missing and presumed dead and 426,800 were displaced by the earthquake and tsunami.

Bruce Richmond, a coastal geologist with the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, Calif,, along with USGS scientists Bruce Jaffe and Guy Gelfenbaum joined international survey teams to documenttsunami impacts, collect water level information, and map erosion and deposition of sediments to characterize the sedimentary record. The tsunami effects were studied in an effort to develop techniques to improve the identification of paleotsunami deposits in the geologic record.

“Our studies were conducted in a variety of coastal environments impacted by the tsunami and went a long way in helping us to understand the variability of deposits from a single event in multiple coastal settings,” Richmond said.

Future Implications and Preparation

Before the Indian Ocean Tsunami occurred, USGS geologists had been assessing tsunami hazards in California, seeking evidence of past tsunami deposits along California’s shores. “Not long after we started our California work in 2004, the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami struck which changed the focus of our efforts for several years,” said Richmond.  “At the time, that tsunami was the largest natural disaster in our lifetimes, both in terms of lives lost and widespread impact. Our observations on many different shorelines around the Indian Ocean went a long way in helping us to understand the variability of deposits from a single event in multiple coastal settings.”

Geist, too, said he and his USGS counterparts’ research since then has focused on taking the lessons learned from the 2004 and 2011 tsunamis and applying them to hazard issues that affect the U.S.  Could it happen here?

“Initially, my research focus was evaluating the performance of hazard assessment models if they had been used prior to the tsunami,” Geist said. “Since then, our research has focused more on taking the lessons learned from both tsunamis and applying them to hazard issues that affect the U.S.”

Bruce Jaffe, research oceanographer, said that earthquakes and tsunamis like those in 2004 have brought awareness and the need to study and prepare for these often underestimated hazards

“The take-home message is that we still have a lot to learn about what the real hazard of tsunamis are,” he said. “We’re getting there but it’s taking time.”

Indian Ocean Earthquake Triggers Deadly Tsunami

USGS Public Lecture:

Ten Years After the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami: How geology is reducing tsunami risk

by Bruce Jaffe USGS Research Oceanographer

FAQs about the Magnitude 9.1 Sumatra-Andaman Islands Earthquake that caused the tsunami

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Impact of 2004 Tsunami in the Islands of Indian Ocean: Lessons Learned

Georges ramalanjaona.

1 Department of Emergency Medicine, St. John's Episcopal Hospital, 327 Beach 19th Street, Far Rockaway, New York, NY 11691, USA

2 Department of Emergency Medicine, St. John's Episcopal Hospital, 3264 Wolfson Dive, Baldwin, New York, NY 11510, USA

Tsunami of 2004, caused by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, is the most devastating tsunami in modern times, affecting 18 countries in Southeast Asia and Southern Africa, killing more than 250,000 people in a single day, and leaving more than 1.7 million homeless. However, less reported, albeit real, is its impact in the islands of the Indian Ocean more than 1,000 miles away from its epicenter. This is the first peer-reviewed paper on the 2004 tsunami events specifically in the eleven nations bordering the Indian Ocean, as they constitute a region at risk, due to the presence of tectonic interactive plate, absence of a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean, and lack established communication network providing timely information to that region. Our paper has a dual objective: the first objective is to report the 2004 tsunami event in relation to the 11 nations bordering the Indian Ocean. The second one is to elaborate on lessons learned from it from national, regional, and international disaster management programs to prevent such devastating consequences of tsunami from occurring again in the future.

1. Introduction

Tsunami is a series of ocean waves typically caused by large undersea earthquakes or volcano eruptions at tectonic plate boundaries. These surges of water may reach 100 feet and cause widespread destruction when they crash ashore. They race across the sea at a speed up to 500 miles per hour and cross the entire Pacific Ocean in less than one day. Their long wavelength means that they lose very little energy along the way.

Tsunami of December 2004, caused by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, is the most infamous tsunami of modern times with disastrous consequences in many areas [ 1 ]

• humanitarian toll: it affected more than 18 countries from Southeast Asia to Southern Africa, killing more than 250,000 people in a single day and leaving more than one million homeless,
• economic toll: it left several million of dollars of economic loss affecting fishing and tourist industries,
• environmental and medical threats including water pollution and flooding and endemic diseases.

The rationale for writing this paper is to report the tsunami events in the eleven nations bordering the Indian Ocean, as they received less publicity than their Southeast Asian countries counterpart although the 2004 tsunami had real humanitarian, economic, and environmental impact in these regions more than 1,000 miles away from the epicenter [ 2 ].

Furthermore, these regions are at risk from the devastating effects of future tsunami due to the presence of a tectonic interactive plate [ 3 ], absence of a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean, and lack of established communication network providing timely information to that region.

2. Methodology

This paper is a review of documents collected by WHO and other organizations/authors involved in disaster management during the 2004 tsunami.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. impact of tsunami in the islands of the indian ocean.

These eleven countries bordering the Indian Ocean are Mauritius, Madagascar, Reunion Island, and Seychelles, Comoros islands and by geographical extension include countries in southern borders of Africa such as Somalia, Tanzania, Mozambique, and South Africa.

These individual countries suffered humanitarian loss with more than 3,000 people killed and left more than 10,000 homeless about 1,000 miles away from epicenter. In terms of economic toll, several million dollars were reported accompanied by environmental threat due to flooding.

Specifically included is a country by country report [ 4 ] with other south-Asian countries.

(i) Mauritius —

Large waves completely submerged one village in north of the island. Although there was no death published, a significant economic loss in millions of dollars was reported.

(ii) Madagascar —

Waves up to 10 meters were seen in southeastern region of the island. There was one death and more than 1,000 people homeless. Furthermore, there were considerable economic damages inflicted in touristic and fishing industries and infrastructure disruptions due to flooding and beach erosion ( http://savannah.gatech.edu/cee/groups/tsunami/madagascar.html ).

(iii) Reunion Island —

It suffered mostly economic damages over one million dollars involving fishing industries with more than 200 boats sunk. No deaths were reported.

(iv) Seychelles —

Ten people were reported killed, and flooding destroyed a major bridge between the capital Port Victoria and main airport. Also, the island reported devastating economic loss in millions of dollars due to hotels, housing, public utilities, and fishing damages.

(v) Somalia —

More than 300 deaths were reported and 5,000 displaced.

(vi) Tanzania —

Tsunami killed ten people with unknown number missing along with significant economic damages.

(vii) Kenya —

Two deaths and two injured people were reported.

(viii) South Africa —

8 people were killed about 8,000 km away from the epicenter.

(ix) Indonesia —

122,232 deaths and 113,937 missing.

(x) Shri Lanka —

30,974 killed and 4,698 missing.

(xi) Thailand —

5,395 killed and 2,993 missing.

(xii) Maldives —

82 deaths and 26 missing.

(xiii) Malaysia —

68 deaths reported.

(xiv) Myanmar —

(xv) bangladesh —, (xvi) burma —, 3.2. lessons learned from 2004 tsunami.

To prevent the devastating effects of future tsunami, these islands of Indian Ocean have set their priorities in achieving 3 goals [ 5 ]:

• development of disaster tsunami program which include implementation of tsunami program at national level, regional, and international levels and coordination of all these programs,
• development of an Indian Ocean early warning system,
• development of tsunami research program.

3.2.1. National Level

The most studied plans are the Madagascar plan, the tsunami early warning and response system in Mauritius, and the creation of the Department of Risk and Disaster Management in Seychelles.

(i) Madagascar Plan —

It was developed in 2006 and is the most exhaustive of all the other national plans and should serve as a model for other islands. It includes 5 objectives:

• development of national evacuation plan on tsunami,
• establishment of early warning system in conjunction with regional system,
• increase public and community awareness through publication and training of media and local authorities,
• conduct mock exercises on tsunami,
• strengthen the operational capacity of national meteorological service to include national warning system.

3.2.2. Regional Level

Disaster management is a regional priority in the Indian Ocean due to permanent threat of cyclones, floods, and tsunamis. The stated two goals set by a series of regional meetings in 2005 and 2006 are [ 6 ] the following:

• implementation of Indian Ocean tsunami warning and mitigation system (IOTWS), which focused on defining disaster management and reduction (prevention, mitigation, response and relief) of disaster by all the participating countries,
• development of integrated regional information network (IRIN) with the goals of creation of an early warning system for the islands in the Indian Ocean and ensuring adequate equipment to manage natural disasters including tsunamis.

The important issues are the cost of establishing such warning system in the Indian Ocean, the transfer of existing technology versus improving, old one, global warming and extreme weather events in that region.

3.2.3. International Level

A series of international meetings have been convened to discuss the role international organizations [ 7 ]:

• development of tsunami warning and mitigation system,
• coordination of national tsunami warning center with regional centers,
• funding of projects and rehabilitation of roads and bridges
• increase public awareness and training of key staff in tsunami preparedness and warning at all levels.

3.3. Future and Challenges

The main challenge for all the islands of the Indian Ocean is to coordinate all the national efforts with existing regional and international endeavors to meet their stated priorities before the next tsunami events.

The role of one special group of physicians should be mentioned at all these levels.

Emergency physicians are knowledgeable on the risks of tsunami and are trained in the field of disaster management, thus they are true expert. They should get involve as leaders in local, national, and international organizations as resources in disaster management as well as humanitarian institutions such as Red Cross.

4. Conclusion

This paper is the first peer-reviewed paper on the impact of the 2004 tsunami on the islands bordering the Indian Ocean and the lessons learned from this event from national, regional, and international organizations to prevent such events from occurring again in the future.

Tsunami is an ever-present and real threat for the these islands of the Indian Ocean due to the presence of a tectonic interactive plate.

Their disaster management priority is the development of an early tsunami warning system in order to effectively and timely communicate with all the people in that region.

Disaster management should involve national, regional, and international organizations at all levels in order to develop tsunami program, fund tsunami projects, and continue research program.

Ten years after the 2004 tsunami, the Indian Ocean is better prepared to avert disaster

The Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System, established following the 2004 earthquake, has improved the ability of Indian Ocean countries to handle a new tsunami. Nevertheless, some challenges still need to be overcome, notably the issue of long-term funding for the system.

Pictures of the havoc wreaked by the tsunami that struck countries around the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004 travelled the world, showing destroyed homes, villages covered in mud and beaches strewn with all manner of debris. They gave us an idea of the magnitude of devastation that in just a few hours spread along the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, southern India and western Thailand, and of the suffering that ensued.

That tsunami, unleashed by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, was one of the deadliest in history. It claimed nearly 230,000 lives, led to the displacement of 1.6 million people, and caused material damages estimated at close to $14 billion.

This heavy toll is largely due to the fact that people were caught unawares and had no time to run for safety before the wave broke. The countries of the Indian Ocean did not dispose of a warning system as they had had little experience of tsunami occurrences, 70% of which take place in the Pacific Ocean and its adjacent seas.

Following this tragedy, Indian Ocean countries turned to UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Committee (IOC) to establish and coordinate an  Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWS), similar to the one that has been operational in the Pacific Ocean since 1965. Two other warning systems were established at the same time—in the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean, as well as in the Caribbean—ensuring that all marine areas in the world are covered.

Officially launched in 2005, the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System became fully operational in 2011. Twenty-eight countries* constitute the Intergovernmental Coordination Group, the governing body of ICG/IOTWS. The three simulation exercises held  in 2009, 2011 and 2014 proved that the system was functional. They assessed the effectiveness of information flows between stakeholders and local emergency procedures.

Recent research has helped increase the effectiveness of the system. Post-tsunami investigations yielded a mass of data that improve our understanding of this natural phenomenon. Scientists are now able to model tsunami occurrences and see how they travel from the high seas to the shores.

In the Indian Ocean, a network of seismometers, tide gauges and buoys with satellite links provides data concerning underwater seismic tremors to three regional warning centres in Australia, India and Indonesia. These centres are then able to alert the relevant national authorities in the event of a tsunami.

Ten years after the tragedy, countries around the Indian Ocean are much better able to handle a tsunami than they were in 2004. Nevertheless, participants at an international conference organized by the IOC, and the Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics in Jakarta (Indonesia) from 24 to 25 November 2004 pointed to several challenges that must still to be overcome.

“Covering the last mile” is a major issue, because although the warning system is functional at the regional and national levels, it is necessary to make sure that populations living in remote areas will be reached in time to escape the wave.

Funding represents another hurdle. Considerable resources were granted by some countries, particularly Australia, India and Indonesia, when the present system was established. But direct funding by States plummeted from $9 million in 2005-2006 to less than $1 million in 2013-2014. Keeping the warning system operational is estimated to cost between $50 and $100 million dollars annually. This is the price that must be paid to keep the number of future tsunami victims down.

Contact: Agnès Bardon, UNESCO Press Service, +33 1 45 68 17 64, a.bardon(at)unesco.org

*Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, Djibouti, France (La Réunion), India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Tanzania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Yemen.

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Introduction to “Tsunami Science: Ten Years After the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Volume I”

• Published: 07 March 2015
• Volume 172 , pages 615–619, ( 2015 )

Cite this article

• Alexander B. Rabinovich 1 , 2 ,
• Eric L. Geist 3 ,
• Hermann M. Fritz 4 &
• Jose C. Borrero 5 , 6  

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Twenty-two papers on the study of tsunamis are included in Volume I of the PAGEOPH topical issue “Tsunami Science: Ten Years after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.” Eight papers examine various aspects of past events with an emphasis on case and regional studies. Five papers are on tsunami warning and forecast, including the improvement of existing tsunami warning systems and the development of new warning systems in the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean region. Three more papers present the results of analytical studies and discuss benchmark problems. Four papers report the impacts of tsunamis, including the detailed calculation of inundation onshore and into rivers and probabilistic analysis for engineering purposes. The final two papers relate to important investigations of the source and tsunami generation. Overall, the volume not only addresses the pivotal 2004 Indian Ocean (Sumatra) and 2011 Japan (Tohoku)  tsunamis, but also examines the tsunami hazard posed to other critical coasts in the world.

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1 Introduction

The Indian Ocean (Sumatra) tsunami of 26 December 2004 was one of the world’s most destructive natural disasters. Spawned by a magnitude ( M w ) 9.1 earthquake (third strongest ever instrumentally recorded), the "Boxing Day" tsunami killed approximately 230,000 people in 14 countries around the Indian Ocean. Among the victims were citizens of more than 60 countries, many of them on holiday. The tsunami propagated as far as the North Pacific and North Atlantic (R abinovich et al . 2006 ) and was probably the most catastrophic and deadliest tsunami in recorded history.

The devastating 2004 tsunami represents a scientific dividing line. Prior to the monumental event, the term “tsunami” was familiar only to specialists. Within hours of the event, the entire world came to understand the power of tsunami waves. Thousands of new researchers from different fields entered tsunami science, bringing their diverse experience along with new ideas. Various countries from around the globe contributed major funding to tsunami research, enabling the installation of hundreds of new high-precision instruments, the development of new technology, and the establishment of more modern communication systems. As a result, incredible progress has been achieved in tsunami research and operation during the ten years after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Tsunami warning and hazard mitigation systems have dramatically improved. The tsunami observational network of coastal tide gauges has been significantly reconstructed, upgraded, and expanded. Tsunami waves began to be monitored in both the deep ocean and from space. A large number of Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) stations have been emplaced in optimized alignment with the subduction zones encircling the entire Pacific Ocean; DARTs are now also deployed in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. These new, precise instruments have yielded thousands of coastal and hundreds of deep-water, high-quality tsunami records, enabling researchers to refute some previous misconceptions and to improve knowledge significantly about tsunami physics. Modern numerical models, combined with open-ocean DART records, make it possible to forecast tsunami waves for coastal sites with reliable accuracy soon after a major earthquake.

However, despite the recent advances, tsunamis remain a major threat to coastal infrastructure and human life. Destructive tsunami events continue to kill people and create enormous damage. Several catastrophic events occurred in 10 years after the 2004 Indian Ocean (Sumatra) tsunami, including the 2006 Java, 2009 Samoa, 2010 Chile, and 2010 Mentawai tsunamis with hundreds of fatalities per event. The Tohoku (Great East Japan) tsunami of 11 March 2011, which killed almost 20,000 people and destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, was a tragic example of a chain of devastating events (S atake et al. 2013a ). We can state with some certainty that the number of victims would have been many times higher without existing tsunami mitigation programs and effective tsunami warning services in Japan and other countries.

The present volume was prepared by the Tsunami Commission that was established within the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) following the 1960 Chile tsunami. The 1960 tsunami, generated by the largest ( M w 9.5) instrumentally recorded earthquake, propagated throughout the entire Pacific Ocean, affecting countries located far from the source with 142 fatalities in Japan almost a day later, 61 in Hawaii, and 32 in the Philippines (I garashi et al. 2011 ). It became obvious that tsunami investigation and effective tsunami warning is impossible without intensive international cooperation. Since 1960, the Tsunami Commission has held biannual International Tsunami Symposia and published special volumes of selected papers. Several such volumes have been published during the 10 years following the 2004 Sumatra tsunami, including S atake et al. ( 2007 , 2011a , b , 2013a , b ) and C ummins et al. ( 2008 , 2009 ). From this point of view, these volumes can be considered the frontiers of tsunami science and research, as well as a record of continuous progress in tsunami warning and hazard mitigation. Two recent catastrophic tsunamis, the 2010 Chile and 2011 Tohoku, as well as other events that occurred in 2011 and 2012, attracted much attention and revealed significant new information and data, which were published in an extra, inter-session volume (R abinovich et al. 2014 ).

This volume is mainly based on papers presented at the 26th International Tsunami Symposium that was held from 25 to 28 September 2013 in Göcek, Turkey and Rhodes, Greece. Altogether, the symposium comprised about 150 presentations. For the first time in history, two countries hosted the tsunami symposium. Also for the first time, two tsunami sessions, one mainly focusing on the tsunami physics and the other focusing on paleotsunami studies, were convened in parallel. At the business meeting of the Tsunami Commission, it was decided to publish selected papers presented at this symposium, as well as other papers on related topics. Volume I comprises the first half contributing 22 papers, which became ready for publication by December 2014. Approximately the same number of papers will be published forthcoming in Volume II.

2 Case Studies

Case studies are an important part of tsunami research that highlight the hazard for specific areas—often areas that have been overlooked for tsunamis. For example, H eidarzadeh and S atake ( 2015 ) re-evaluate the source for the 1945 Makran tsunami that struck Oman, Iran, Pakistan, and India. They find that earthquake rupture needs to extend into deep water to explain the tsunami observations. Also from the Indian Ocean, N entwig et al. ( 2015 ) study sedimentary deposits left by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in the Seychelles Islands and find that tsunami sediments caused a change of habitat in mangrove forests on the Islands. In the South Pacific Ocean, the great 2007 Solomon Islands earthquake ruptured across a triple junction leaving behind significant bio- and geo-markers of crust rupture and generated tsunami waves. W ei et al. ( 2015 ) developed tsunami inundation models for the Solomon Islands, highlighting the accuracy and efficiency of the tsunameter-derived tsunami source for near-field tsunami impact assessments along a complex archipelago. M urotani et al. ( 2015 ) examined forerunner tsunami waves generated immediately after the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake in the Sea of Japan; they found that these waves, recorded both on the west coast of Japan and on Primorye coast of Russia, were caused by the horizontal displacement of the seafloor slope.

The 2012 Haida Gwaii earthquake was the second strongest instrumentally recorded earthquake in Canadian history and generated a sizable tsunami. F ine et al. ( 2015 ) use observations of this event, including those from Canada’s deep-ocean cabled observatory, to formulate a detailed source model for this event. The initial model results were used to specify sites of particular interest for post-tsunami field surveys on the coast of Moresby Island (Haida Gwaii), while the field survey observations (L eonard and B ednarski 2014 ) were used, in turn, to verify the numerical simulations. Deep-ocean measurements are also critical to the study by H eidarzadeh et al. ( 2015 ) who examine delays in the observed 2014 Chile tsunami compared to what was predicted. B orrero et al . ( 2015 ) systematically examine the tsunami hazard at New Zealand ports from Pacific Rim earthquakes and find that earthquakes off Central America present the largest hazard. Also, B orrero and G oring ( 2015 ) specifically examine the tsunamis originating from South American subduction zones, focusing on one harbor (Lyttelton, South Island) in New Zealand.

3 Forecast/Warning Studies

Numerical models that provide real-time forecasting of tsunami amplitudes have been developed, starting even before the 2004 Indian Ocean event. G ica et al. ( 2015 ) examine the sensitivity that different types of data collected in real time have on the accuracy of tsunami forecasts and find, intuitively, that direct observations of tsunami waveforms have the biggest impact. In the first of two companion papers, C lement and R eymond ( 2015 ) describe new tools to determine the seismic moment and focal mechanism of tsunamigenic earthquakes and to identify anomalous “tsunami earthquakes” for warning systems. In the second paper, J amelot and R eymond ( 2015 ) present two numerical tsunami modelling tools to forecast runup, inundation and flow velocities in French Polynesia. S chindele et al. ( 2015 ) describe the tools used by the French Tsunami Warning Center as part of the Northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean tsunami warning system. From both a scientific and an emergency management perspective, C assidy ( 2015 ) presents an informative comparison of the earthquake that generated the 2004 Indian Ocean event and potential earthquakes and tsunamis along the Cascadia subduction zone.

4 Benchmark and Analytical Studies

Given the critical use of numerical tsunami models to determine hazard and evacuation zones, much emphasis has been placed in recent years on benchmarking models against analytical solutions, laboratory experiments and case studies. Whereas most benchmarks relate to amplitude, runup, and inundation, the study by A rcos and L e V eque ( 2015 ) benchmarks the GeoClaw model with respect to current velocities, which have only recently become available in the field. More traditional benchmark exercises are presented by H orrillo et al. ( 2015 ) who describe validation of maximum surface amplitude and runup for a number of different tsunami models used to predict inundation for evacuation plans, under the auspices of the U.S. National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program. It is important to determine accurately the tsunami response in bays of different configurations. Toward this end, H arris et al. ( 2015 ) analytically derive the 1D, nonlinear tsunami response in trapezoidal bays and compare the results with those calculated from a 2D numerical model.

5 Inundation and Structural Studies

New developments have been made in the last 10 years in preparing tsunami inundation maps. For example, D ilmen et al. ( 2015 ) use very high-resolution, near-shore bathymetry and topography from multispectral satellite imagery to prepare tsunami inundation maps for the region near Fethiye, Turkey. O zer et al. ( 2015 ) describe and calculate the “hydrodynamic demand” parameter in inundation zones that estimates damage to coastal structures from drag forces during tsunami runup. Within the last 10 years, probabilistic methods have been developed to assess tsunami hazards for engineering purposes. O mira et al. ( 2015 ) present a regional probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment for coastlines along the northeast Atlantic Ocean, using in part Bayesian methods to incorporate catalog data. The unique hydrodynamic response of tsunamis as they propagate up into rivers is examined by T olkova et al . ( 2015 ). They find that different rivers for different tsunami events modulate the tsunami in very similar ways.

6 Source and Generation Studies

Volume I of “Tsunami Science: Ten Years after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami” wraps up with two papers that provide new examinations on the sources of tsunamis. H ossen et al . ( 2015 ) find that Time Reverse Imaging (TRI) used to reconstruct the initial sea-surface displacement for tsunamis obviates many of the assumptions used for traditional, forward modelling of tsunami sources. S tefanakis et al. ( 2015 ) examine the effect of uplifting a cylindrical sill during tsunami generation, analogous to the uplift of a seamount. They find that whereas the sill effect reduces wave heights in the far field, there is amplification of wave heights above the sill, owing to partial wave trapping.

A rcos , M.E.M., L e V eque , R.J. (2015), Validating velocities in the GeoClaw tsunami model using observations near Hawaii from the 2011 Tohoku tsunami . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-0980-y

B orrero , J.C., G oring , D.G. (2015), South American tsunamis in Lyttelton Harbor, New Zealand . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-10

B orrero , J.C., G oring , D.G., G reer , S.D., P ower , W.L. (2015), Far - field tsunami hazard in New Zealand ports . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-0987-4

C assidy , J.F. (2015), The 2004 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami: lessons learned in subduction zone science and emergency management for the Cascadia Subduction Zone . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-10

C lément , J., R eymond , D. (2015), New tsunami forecast tools for the French Polynesia Tsunami Warning System. Part I: moment tensor, slowness and seismic source inversion . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-0888-6

C ummins , P.R., K ong , L.S.L., S atake , K. (2008), Tsunami Science Four Years after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Part I: Modelling and Hazard Assessment , Pure Appl. Geophys. 165 (11–12), Topical Issue.

C ummins , P.R., K ong , L.S.L., S atake , K. (2009), Tsunami Science Four Years after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Part II: Observation and data Analysis , Pure Appl. Geophys. 166 (1–2), Topical Issue.

D ilmen , D.I., K emec , S., Y alçiner , A.C., D üzgün , S., Z aytsev , A. (2015), Development of a tsunami inundation map in detecting tsunami risk in Gulf of Fethiye, Turkey . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-0936-2

F ine , I. V., C herniawsky , J.Y., T homson , R.E., R abinovich , A.B., K rassovski M.V. (2015), Observations and numerical modeling of the 2012 Haida Gwaii tsunami off the coast of British Columbia. Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-1012-7

G ica , E., T itov , V.V., M oore , C., W ei , Y. (2015), Tsunami simulation using sources inferred from various measurement data: Implications for the model forecast . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-0979-4

J amelot , A., R eymond , D. (2015), New tsunami forecast tools for the French Polynesia Tsunami Warning System. Part II: Numerical modelling and tsunami height estimation . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-0997-2

H arris , M.W., N icolsky , D.J., P elinovsky , E.N., R ybkin , A.V. (2015), Runup of nonlinear long waves in trapezoidal bays: 1 - D analytical theory and 2 - D numerical computations . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-10

H eidarzadeh , M., S atake , K. (2015), New insights into the source of the Makran tsunami of 27 November 1945 from tsunami waveforms and coastal deformation data. Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-0948-y

H eidarzadeh , M., S atake , K. M urotani , S., G usman , A.R., W atada , S. (2015), Deep - water characteristics of the trans - Pacific tsunami from the 1 April 2014 Mw 8.2, Iquique, Chile earthquake . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-0983-8

H orrillo , J., G rilli , S.T., N icolsky , D., V olker , R., Z hang , J. (2015), Performance benchmarking tsunami models for NTHMP’s inundation mapping activities . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-0891-y

H ossen , M. J., C ummins , P.R., R oberts , S.G., A llgeyer , S. (2015), Time reverse imaging of the tsunami source. Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-10 .

I garashi , Y., K ong , L., Y amamoto , M., M c C reery , C.S. (2011), Anatomy of historical tsunamis: lessons learned for tsunami warning , Pure Appl. Geophys., 168 , 2043–2063; doi: 10.1007/s00024-011-0287-1 .

L eonard , L.J., B ednarski , J.M. (2014), Field survey following the 27 October 2012 Haida Gwaii tsunami , Pure Appl. Geophys., 171 , 3467-3482; doi:10.1007/s00024-014-0792-0

M urotani , S., I wai , M., S atake , K., S hevchenko , G., L oskutov , A. (2015), Tsunami forerunner of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake observed in the Sea of Japan . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014

N entwig , V., B ahlburg , H., M onthy , D. (2015), Sedimentology of coastal deposits in the Seychelles Islands –– evidence of the Indian Ocean tsunami 2004 . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-0990-9

O mira , R., B aptista , M.A., M atias , L. (2015), Probabilistic tsunami hazard in the Northeast Atlantic from near - and far - field tectonic sources . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-0949-x

O zer C.S., Y alçiner , A.C., Z aytsev , A. (2015), Investigation of tsunami hydrodynamic parameters in inundation zone with different structural layout . Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-0947-z

R abinovich , A.B., T homson , R.E., S tephenson , F.E. (2006), The Sumatra Tsunami of 26 December 2004 as observed in the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans , Surveys Geophys . 27 , 647–677.

R abinovich , A.B., B orrero , J.C., Fritz, H.M. (2014), Tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean: 2010 - 2011 . Pure Appl. Geophys., 171 (12), Topical Issue.

S atake , K., O kal , E.A., B orrero , J.C. (2007), Tsunami and its Hazards in the Indian and Pacific Oceans , Pure Appl. Geophys., 164  (2–3), Topical Issue.

S atake K., R abinovich , A.B., K ânoğlu , U., T inti , S. (2011a), Tsunamis in the World Ocean: Past, Present, and Future. Volume I , Pure Appl. Geophys., 168 (6–7), Topical Issue.

S atake K., R abinovich , A.B., K ânoğlu , U., T inti , S. (2011b), Tsunamis in the World Ocean: Past, Present, and Future. Volume II , Pure Appl. Geophys., 168 (11), Topical Issue.

S atake K., R abinovich , A.B., D ominey -H owes , D., B orrero , J.C. (2013a), Historical and Recent Catastrophic Tsunamis in the World: Past, Present, and Future. Volume I : The 2011 Tohoku Tsunami . Pure Appl. Geophys., 170 (6–8), Topical Issue.

S atake K., R abinovich , A.B., D ominey -H owes , D., B orrero , J.C. (2013b), Historical and Recent Catastrophic Tsunamis in the World: Past, Present, and Future. Volume II : Tsunamis from 1755 to 2010 . Pure Appl. Geophys., 170 (9–10), Topical Issue.

S chindelé , F., G ailler , A., H ébert , H., L oevenbruck , A., G utierrez , E., M onnier , A., R oudil , P., R eymond , D., R ivera , L. (2015), Implementation and challenges of the Tsunami Warning System in the Western Mediterranean. Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-0950-4 .

S tefanakis , T.S., D ias , F., S ynolakis , C. (2015), Tsunami generation above a sill. Pure Appl. Geophys., 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-10

T olkova , E., T anaka , H., R oh , M. (2015), Tsunami observations in rivers from a perspective of tsunami interaction with tide and riverine flow. Pure Appl. Geophys. 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-09-10

W ei , Y., F ritz , H.M., T itov , V.V., U slu , B., C hamberlin , C., K alligeris , N. (2015), Source models and near - field impact of the 1 April 2007 Solomon Islands tsunami . Pure Appl. Geophys. 172 (3–4) (this issue), doi: 10.1007/s00024-014-09-10

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Renata Dmowska, the Editor-in-Chief for Topical Issues of PAGEOPH, for arranging and encouraging us to organize these topical volumes. We also thank Ms. Priyanka Ganesh at Journals Editorial Office of Springer for her timely editorial assistance. Finally, we would like to thank all the authors and reviewers who contributed to these topical volumes.

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Alexander B. Rabinovich

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Eric L. Geist

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

Hermann M. Fritz

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Rabinovich, A.B., Geist, E.L., Fritz, H.M. et al. Introduction to “Tsunami Science: Ten Years After the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Volume I”. Pure Appl. Geophys. 172 , 615–619 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-015-1038-5

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Received : 12 January 2015

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Issue Date : March 2015

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-015-1038-5

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ASIA'S DEADLY WAVES: DISASTER

Thousands Die as Quake-Spawned Waves Crash Onto Coastlines Across Southern Asia

By Amy Waldman

• Dec. 27, 2004

Correction Appended

MADRAS, India, Monday, Dec. 27 - The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years erupted underwater off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Sunday and sent walls of water barreling thousands of miles, killing more than 13,000 people in half a dozen countries across South and Southeast Asia, with thousands more missing or unreachable.

The earthquake, which measured 9.0 in magnitude, set off tsunamis that built up speeds of as much as 500 miles per hour, then crashed into coastal areas of Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives and Malaysia as 40-foot-high walls of water, devouring everything and everyone in their paths.

Its force was felt more than 3,000 miles away in Somalia on the eastern coast of Africa, where nine people were reported killed.

Aid agencies were rushing staff and equipment to the region, warning that rotting bodies were threatening health and water supplies.

It took several hours in some cases on Sunday for the waves to build and reach their targets after the earthquake struck. But none of the most affected countries had warning systems in place to detect the coming onslaught and alert their citizens to move away from the coastline.

"I just couldn't believe what was happening before my eyes," Boree Carlsson, 45, of Sweden, told Reuters from a hotel in the Thai resort of Phuket. "As I was standing there, a car actually floated into the lobby and overturned because the current was so strong."

A tsunami -- the term is Japanese -- is a series of waves generated by underwater seismic disturbances, in this case the interface of the India and Burma tectonic plates. Seismologists with the United States Geological Survey said the ocean west of Sumatra and the island chains to its north was a hot zone for earthquakes because of a nonstop collision occurring there between the India plate, beneath the Indian Ocean seabed, and the Burma plate under the islands and that part of the continent.

The India plate is moving at about two inches a year to the northeast, creating pressure that releases, sporadically, in seismic activity. But this was an especially devastating earthquake, the fourth most powerful in 100 years.

Television images showed bodies floating in muddied waters. Cars went out to sea; boats came onto land. Snorkelers were dragged onto the beach, and sunbathers out to sea, Simon Clark, a photographer who was vacationing on Ngai Island in Thailand, told The Associated Press.

Indonesia reported nearly 4,500 dead, most in the Banda Aceh area of Sumatra, a region that has been the site of a continuing civil war. In Sri Lanka, at least 6,000 were dead. In India, an estimated 2,300 died, with at least 1,700 confirmed dead in Tamil Nadu, the southern state that is home to this coastal city of Madras, officially known as Chennai.

At least three Americans were reported killed, two in Sri Lanka and one in Thailand, according to Noel Clay, a State Department spokesman.

The death toll is expected to climb, and world leaders, from President Bush to Pope John Paul II, expressed grief and called for aid for the victims.

Many areas from the atolls of the Maldives to the Nicobar Islands of India were simply out of reach, with communication lines snapped. Thousands more people in those places are feared marooned or dead. India's home minister, Shivraj Patil, said there was no communication with 45,000 residents of the Nicobar Islands.

On Marina Beach here in Madras, women selling fish and children playing cricket, morning walkers and tourists savoring the salt-scented air all died as the sea suddenly turned enemy. The water came with no warning, said S. Muttukumar, a fisherman.

"We see the sea come forward," he said, describing how he ran and then swam from the 40-foot wave, grabbing onto catamarans for life support. "Everybody was running, but God saves little."

In the lanes of his village across from Marina Beach, four middle-aged women, all fish sellers who had been unable to outrun the waves, lay embalmed in refrigerated glass cases, prepared for cremation on Tuesday.

Here, Mr. Muttukumar said, the water had come up off the beach an extra 500 yards to the main road, lingered for about 10 minutes, then receded as if it had never been there at all, leaving the fishermen to fish for bodies. Early Monday morning, the beach was still littered with fishing boats and upended hand carts.

At the decrepit Madras General Hospital, a board listed 38 dead. Twelve were unknown; the rest ranged in age from 4 to 87.

The waves struck tourist resorts from Phuket in Thailand to Bentota in Sri Lanka at the peak of the tourist and holiday season, meaning that livelihoods will be devastated long after the count of lost lives is done.

Whole fishing villages were washed away along coastlines, and thousands of fisherman who unknowingly put out to sea in the morning are missing. An Indian Air Force base on Car Nicobar Island was virtually washed away, according to television reports, and late reports suggested that at least 1,000 could be dead on the Nicobar Islands.

The airport in Male, the capital of the Maldives, was closed, stranding foreign tourists overnight at the airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital, after much of Male was submerged.

The casualties spread across southern India: at least 200 dead in Andhra Pradesh state, 80 in Kerala, and 280 in Pondicherry.

Sri Lanka, the island nation to India's south, was battered on both its east and west coasts. The Sri Lankan government declared a national disaster, and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the rebel group that controls swaths of northern and eastern Sri Lanka, said it would declare its own national emergency.

The Tamilnet Web site cited reports from the Tamil Relief Organization that 1,000 bodies had been brought to hospitals in the north and east, with the toll expected to rise.

Reuters reported looting in Sri Lanka, and officials said that at least 200 prisoners had escaped from a prison in Matara, about 100 miles south of Colombo, after it was damaged by the tsunami.

In southern Thailand, more than 400 people were dead, according to news agencies. Among them were foreign tourists who had come to vacation at the area's popular beach resorts. Emergency workers rescued about 70 Thai and foreign divers from the famed Emeral Cave, and dozens were evacuated from around other islands, Reuters reported. Two Thais were killed at Emeral cave.

India, reeling from its own casualties, found itself trying to assist its smaller neighbors. It sent five naval warships to Sri Lanka loaded with relief supplies and fielded an offer for similar help from the Maldives.

The Indian government also issued a warning that residents should stay at least one kilometer, or six-tenths of a mile, away from the sea for the next two days for fear of aftershocks and more tsunamis.

But even without further calamity, the devastation will take weeks to unfold and years to repair. Officials in some areas expressed concern that saline water could contaminate drinking water and ruin arable land. Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless, crowded into unsanitary temporary shelters, and bodies are likely to wash up for days.

ASIA'S DEADLY WAVES: DISASTER Correction: December 29, 2004, Wednesday A map on Monday with an article about the devastation in southern Asia mislabeled the capital of Bangladesh. It is Dhaka. (Dakar is the capital of Senegal, in Africa.)

Resilience and recovery ten years after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami: A summary of results from the STAR project

Jed friedman.

Authored by Elizabeth Frankenberg , Duncan Thomas , and Jed Friedman Ten years after the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Aceh provides an example of remarkable resilience and recovery that reflects the combination of individual ingenuity, family and community engagement and the impact of domestic and international aid. The tsunami devastated thousands of communities in countries bordering the Indian Ocean. Destruction was greatest in the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, where an estimated 170,000 people perished and the built and natural environment was damaged along hundreds of kilometers of coastline. In response, the Indonesian government, donors, NGOs and individuals contributed roughly $7 billion in aid and the government established a high-level bureau based in Aceh to organize recovery work.  To shed light on how individuals, communities, and families were affected by and responded to the disaster in the short and medium term, we established the Study of the Tsunami Aftermath and Recovery (STAR). Beginning in 2005, STAR has followed over 30,000 people who were first enumerated in 2004 (pre-tsunami) in 487 communities (community location depicted in the figure below), as part of a population-representative household survey conducted by Statistics Indonesia. Interviews were conducted annually for 5 years after the tsunami; the ten-year follow-up is currently in the field. We ascertained survival status for 98% of the original pre-tsunami respondents and have interviewed 96% of survivors. The study is designed to provide information on the short-term costs and longer-term recovery for people in very badly damaged communities and in comparison communities where the disaster had little direct impact.

Lead Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank

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Essay on the tsunami of 26th december 2004.

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Essay on the Tsunami of 26th December 2004!

On 26th December 2004, the Indian Ocean was hit by tsunamis which are considered to be the most catastrophic in the living memory of the inhabitants of the coastal areas of this ocean. It was caused by a severe earthquake which measured 8.9 on the Richter scale.

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Seismologists at Northwestern University in Illinois later upgraded the earthquake to magnitude 9.3 on Richter scale. This is perhaps the highest magnitude for any earthquake ever recorded anywhere in the world. This earthquake had its epicentre off the coast of Sumatra (Indonesia) at 3.5° north latitude and 95° east longitude. This place happens to be at the tri-junction of the Indian, Australian and Burmese (Myanmarese) plates.

The following description gives a brief account of sequence of events about tsunamis which affected most countries to bordering the Indian Ocean.

The earthquake was triggered by the collision of the Indian plate with Burmese plate. It occurred at the point where the Indian plate subducts below the Burmese plate due to the northward movement of the Indian plate (Fig. 8.8). Seismologists have noted a 15 metre slip in the vertical direction along the crack that is about 1000 km long extending upto Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the northern direction.

Damages by Tsunami :

This tsunami had been the most damaging in the world history. It had wrecked havoc to as many as 11 countries of south and Southeast Asia and East Africa extending from Indonesia to Somalia. Hence it is rightly called the tragedy of international dimensions. Various types of damages done by the tsunami of 26th December 2004 are briefly described as under.

1. Death Toll :

The tsunamis that hit the Indian Ocean on 26th Dec. 2004 claimed over 1.5 lakh lives in different countries of Asia and Africa. The soaring waves killed people of at least 40 nationalities including tourists from various countries of the world.

Table 8.5 shows that Indonesia has been the worst sufferer with death toll of over one lakh persons. Sri Lanka, India and Thailand also suffered heavy tolls. The other countries which suffered loss of life include Myanmar, Bangladesh, Maldives and the distant African countries of Somalia, Kenya, Seychelles and Tanzania.

Surprisingly Malaysia suffered only a fraction of destruction despite its being located so near to the epicentre of the earthquake. This is because of the location of Sumatra which acted as buffer for Malaysia.

Besides over one million people were affected and several others were rendered homeless.

In India, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were the closest to the epicentre of the earthquake and hence the origin of tsunamis, and was the worst sufferer. Areas like Car Nicobar, Katchal, Nancowry, Campbell Bay, Champion Island, Chowra and Teresa Island have been badly affected. In Car Nicobar, half of the total population of about 20 thousand was reportedly missing.

TABLE 8.5 Number of Persons killed by Tsunamis:

On the main land of India, the main attack of tsunamis was on the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala and the union territory of Pondicherry. Of these three states, Tamil Nadu suffered the most.

The largest number of deaths was reported from Nagapattinam, Kanniyakumari, Cuddalore and Chennai districts. Out of a total population of about 15 lakhs in Nagapattinam district about five thousand persons were killed, 2 lakh injured and 1.5 lakh were rendered homeless.

As many as 80 villages were completely swept away by waves. Fishing boats were wrested ashore to a distance of one kilometre with many landing on rail tracks near Nagapattinam railway station. The story was almost the same in Kanniyakumari, Cuddalore and Chennai districts.

After Nagapattinam, Kanniyakumari district reported the heaviest toll. Kanniyakumari itself looked like a ghost town. The toll has been heightened because across the Tamil Nadu coast, villages of fishermen are situated between the low tide and high tide areas. In the pilgrim town of Tiruchander, sea water entered inland as far as 2 km. Like Kanniyakumari, Cuddalore looked like a ghost city.

In Andhra Pradesh, all the nine districts on the coast were badly affected by tsunamis though four south coastal districts were the worst affected. Most victims met their watery grave as they were taken unawared. The fishing community which lived in makeshift houses near the head was totally washed away. A large number of deaths had been reported from Krishna, Prakasam, Nellore, West Godawari and East Godawari districts.

In Kerala, the highest toll was reported from Kollam district followed by Alappuzha and Ernakulam districts. In north Kerala, damage by waves was reported from Kozhikode and Kannur districts.

Severe damage was reported from Karaikal in Pondicherry.

The countries which reported death toll higher than India were Indonesia and Sri Lanka. In Indonesia, Sumatra and Java including Aceh Province were the worst sufferers. In Sri Lanka, Matara, Galle, Weligma, Hambantota, Batticaloa and Colombo reported heavy casualties. The Jaffna peninsula also suffered heavy casualties. High death toll was also reported from Phuket island of Thailand.

Besides a large number of tourists from Europe, North America, South America and Australia who had come to the tsunami affected countries to celebrate Christmas and New year also lost their lives.

2. Loss of Property :

Property worth crores of rupees has been damaged as a result of attack by tsunamis. Infrastructural elements like houses, public buildings, transport and communication system etc. had been damaged almost beyond repair.

Sea water even entered the nuclear power plant at Kalpakkam which was closed for a number of days. In Sri Lanka, rail tracks were twisted near Colombo and a train was derailed in which about 1,000 persons were killed.

According to preliminary findings of the government of India, the coastal areas of India, which include large coastal tracts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry and Kerala, have suffered financial losses of billions of rupees. The financial loss in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands was pegged at Rs. 2,500 crore (see Table 8.6).

3. Physiographical Changes :

Tsunamis of 26th December 2004 were so strong that they could bring about drastic physiographic changes in different parts of the world. Satellite pictures of the tsunami affected areas show conspicuous changes in Chennai (particularly Adyar river course) as well as Trinket Katchall and Camorta Islands of the Andaman and Nicobar.

Water level in many islands had risen, number of beaches in many islands like Campbell Bay had vanished and Trinket Island was split into two. Car Nicobar, which was worst affected sank to some extent. Indira Point, the southern-most tip of the Indian Union, was almost completely washed out, shrinking the coastline inland. These islands are hardly 125 to 200 km from the origin of tsunamis and had to face the worst fury of the killing waves.

In Maldives, 130 of the 200 islands were substantially damaged and 19 inhabited islands were swept away.

TABLE 8.6 Estimates of Financial Losses in India caused by Tsunamis:

Many of the smaller islands near the coast of Sumatra have either disappeared or they have been deformed by the force of the earthquake.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey many of the small islands of the southwest coast of Sumatra might have moved to the southwest by as much as 20 metres. According to the U.S. Geological Survey expert Ken Herdnut, the northwestern tip of Sumatra may also have shifted to the southwest by about 36 metres.

However, Stuart Sipkin of the USGS National Earthquake Information Centre in Golden Colorado said it was more likely that the islands of Sumatra had risen higher out of sea than they had moved laterally. Collision of the Indian and the Burmese plate created a fault 1,200 km long and 150-200 km wide in the Indian Ocean. (Fig. 8.10)

The latest data available through the Global Positioning System (GPS) has shown that under impact of the earthquake, almost whole of south-east Asia moved eastward by a few centimetres. On an average Thiruvananthapuram moved by 26 mm, Bangalore by 15 mm, Singapore (westward) by 14 mm, Diego Garcia by 12 mm, Kunming in China (south-westward) by 9 mm, Lhasa in Tibet (south­eastward) by 4 mm and Dehradun by 2 mm. The data also reveals that the quake caused deformations on the earth’s surface cross a radius of 4,500 km from the epicentre.

4. Motion of the Earth :

The US Geological Survey also expressed the opinion (as expressed by Ken Herdnut) that tremendous energy released by the earthquake made the earth wobble on its axis. According to Richard Gross, a NASA geophysicist, the earthquake might have permanently accelerated the earth’s rotation due to shift of mass towards the earth’s centre.

This had caused the planet to spin 3 microseconds or one millionth of a second faster and to tilt about 2.5 cm on its axis. In other words, day is shortened by about 3 microseconds and the North Pole has shifted towards east Siberia by 2.5 cm. Besides earth’s oblatiness (flattering at the poles and bulging at the equator) decreased by one part in 10 billion.

5. Decline in Soil Fertility and Agricultural Production :

Vast low lying coastal areas were submerged under sea water which increased the salinity of the soil and reduced agricultural production. Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts in Tamil Nadu were the worst affected. Tests conducted on soil samples from these districts showed that sea water had seeped to a depth of about 90 cm of soil, thereby totally affecting the root zone (15-30 cm below ground).

Soil profile tests showed high salinity varying from 6.8 to 9.10 pH value (neutral value for pH is 7). This is highly saline condition in which no paddy crop could be cultivated. In Nagapattinam district alone, more than 9,500 hectares of land had been rendered unfit for cultivation by increased salinity.

Horticulture also suffered heavy losses. The total loss in Nagapattinam district was estimated at Rs. 5.2 crore. This land could be reclaimed by flushing the soil with fresh water from the Cauvery River and by administering about two metric tonnes of gypsum per hectare. This process normally takes about 3 to 4 years to show the desired results. Farmers had been advised to sow plants like cashewnut which are saline-resistant.

6. Effect on Marine Life :

The killer tsunamis had badly affected the marine life of the Indian Ocean. A large section of the coral reefs of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands archipelago had been destroyed, while others suffered extensive damages.

According to marine biologists, satellite pictures showed that 45 per cent of the fragile coral reefs had been destroyed. The surviving reefs were damaged by the debris washed into the sea from the islands. Experts say it would take at least 700 to 800 years for reefs to re-form.

The coral reefs around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are of fringing type i.e., they lie just off the coastline. Hence they have suffers extensive damage. According to Greg Miller, Executive Scientist of Global Reef Watch, “The fragile coral reefs off the archipelago’s islands are relatively new (about a thousand years old) and could not withstand the high speed tsunami waves”. There were an estimated 316 species of corals around the islands of the archipelago. Some of the species that were unique to the archipelago could have become extinct.

Fishing also suffered heavy losses at the hands of the powerful tsunamis. Sea beaches along the coasts of the Indian Ocean became graveyards of the dead fishes after the tsunami swept across the ocean. Mangrove areas that acted as nursery habitats to fish and shrimp were also damaged. The breeding, feeding and other activities of large sea mammals such as whales, dolphins etc. were also adversely affected.

Marine exports from India to the tune of US $ 1.3 billion were severely hit owing to wreckage caused by tsunamis. Since hatcheries and aquaculture ponds of coastal areas from Kerala to Orissa have been adversely affected, the marine production and hence the marine exports were badly hit. Fish, prawns and shrimps form a major chunk of India’s marine exports.

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2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami: China’s Response to the Disaster

China has always been prone to natural disasters – one of the perennially worst affected regions of the world. Of the top ten worst natural calamities, six took place in China. Of these the top ranking first three were in China. “ The earthquake at Shaanxi in 1556 affected 0.83 million ” (Tinti, pp. 124-137). The flood of 1887 in the Yellow River swallowed up “ 0.9 million or perhaps 2 million ” (Tinti, pp. 124-137). In 1931, floods took the lives of nearly 2 million or 4 million. Natural calamities have become a standard feature of China affecting approximately 200 million. These catastrophes are restricting socio-economic development.

The role of the government in combating these natural tragedies gains significance. According to the NORAD report, “ The actions of governments and civil society, with support from the international community, have produced compelling evidence to show how appropriate interventions in disaster reduction can lead to a measurable reduction in disaster occurrence and loss ” (NORAD, p. 3).

On 26 th December 2004, a seismic activity shook the bed of the Indian Ocean that has come to be known as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. A series of killer tsunamis hit the shores of most of the landmasses skirting the Indian Ocean killing more than 230,000 people as many as fourteen countries. No other natural disaster of such deadly proportions has been ever recorded.

Natural disasters have always been natural to China. Recorded history has noted China being battered by droughts, floods, forest and grassland fires as well as meteorological, seismic as well as geological and maritime curses.

This being a part of Chinese life the rulers have always been alert to it from ancient times. It is woven into the psyche of the rulers and the ruled. It has threatened time and again the national security of China as well as her social stability. It has thrown a challenge to the country’s economic development.

Over the past half a century natural calamities have decreased the harvest of China by about 1% per year. The ambitious Three Gorges Dam, being the world’s biggest hydro-electric project, is expected to alleviate these problems to a large extent. The plan was to divert excess water to arid northern regions but the dam has come under a cloud of controversy and criticism.

“ Earthquakes too have been plaguing China and for this in 1971 the National Earthquake Administration was set up by the People’s Republic of China” (Tinti 124-137). Its work was to monitor and conduct researches on earthquakes as well as to chalk out a strategy for immediate response to earthquake crisis. In 1998 it was renamed China Earthquake Administration. Each provincial and autonomous municipal government has its own set up for tackling earthquakes under CEA’s directions.

Of the world’s top killer famines, 6 happened in China; of these the deadliest top two were in China. “ The Great Chinese Famine (1958-61) killed up to 43 million people – it ranking first. The second worst was in 1907 that took 24 million lives ” (Tinti, pp. 124-137).

Since then a specialized agency has been set up by the Chinese Government – The National Disaster Reduction Center or NDRC. It deals with data collection, referrals, disaster management, decision taking, analysis and relief using state of the art technology like satellite-remote-sensing.

Until the latter part of the 1980s China did not impact much on the world economy. But reforms started in 1978 began to produce results leading to investment, development and improvement in living standards. Together with private firms China is now playing a dominant role in International economy. In 1981 the rate of poverty dropped by 53%. In 2005 it was 2.5%. There was marked improvement in infant and maternal mortality rats. There was a 94 times increase in people being able to have access to telephones.

“ The foreign trade of China has developed faster than the country’s GDP since the last 25 years ” (Karwoski and MacDonald 66). The state has made massive investments in infrastructure together with the heavy industries. The private sector has expanded in light industries like exports. The decision taken by the People’s Republic of Chine to allow multinational firms to avail of it as a platform for export has made it a significant competitor with other South Asian countries. Personal income and consumption has been increasing. There has been ten fold jumps in GDP from 1978.

However there are key impediments – with natural disasters being one of them. The energy that is available is insufficient to operate the industrial capacity that has been installed. The transport also is inadequate to move enough quantities such important items like coal. The communication systems too are failing to keep up with demands of a country of such staggering size and complexities.

The most important segments in the economy are “ agriculture and industry; agriculture accounts for 70% of the employment and contributes 60% of the GDP ” (Tinti, pp. 124-137). But the industrial sector has outpaced agriculture. The latter has been given more attention by the government while the latter has been focused upon by the weather and natural conditions. This has led to a socio-economic and cultural gap between urban and rural regions.

“ China is the biggest producer of rice as also many industrial and other items like cotton, tungsten etc. Coal and crude oil is among its important products” (Karwoski and MacDonald, p. 65). Perhaps it has the world’s greatest stock of minerals but extraction methods have not been fully developed. “ China has constructed state of the art engineering plants capable of producing sophisticated weapons and satellites ” (Karwoski and MacDonald, p. 66). But the levels in the ill equipped factories are as yet low. From 2000 there was a change in the market following a spurt in foreign investment.

China has been increasingly integrating with the world economy. China entered the WTO (World Trade Organization) in 2001 that led to more liberalization and deregulation of the economy. The ongoing changes in China are impacting the outside world. Individual initiative has come forth along with entrepreneurship although the state continues to dominate the economy.

In a nutshell when the tsunami broke China was growing at the fastest pace ever but there were challenges – all pervasive corruption in the government, immature banking system, over reliance on exports, intense pollution and widening of income gap. It has led to massive over capacity in the industrial sector.

The paralyzing tsunami in December 2004 led to the biggest international program of reconstruction ever recorded in history. Across the world governments and NGOs joined hands to provide assistance to the battered regions. For the time being politics was set aside while the spirit of altruism dominated. The weapons of war became transformed into tools for peace to save the survivors and deliver help. But despite this, politics was always hovering near the surface.

By responding to the tsunami disaster China got a chance to feed its aspirations by playing a more important role in the adjoining region to be accepted as a leader with peaceful aims for development. Although China had consolidated its position it wanted no suspicions to surround its “peaceful rise”. This was evident as it kept the army – the PLA out of the relief operations. China’s efforts towards the tsunami were made with a view to long term gains in advancing its regional interests (Tinti, pp. 124-137).

In responding to the tsunami China set off its biggest foreign relief program. Flying to Jakarta to participate in the international conference of leaders Premier Wen Jiabao promised more than $60 million in aid to the worst affected regions. China thus changed its status from a receiver of aid (the biggest single recipient of loans given by World Bank) as a developing country to become an important donor.

Within hours of the tsunami crash China organized medical units from People’s Armed Police and elsewhere to head to battered areas bringing along food, generators, tents and medicines. This was followed by sending of cash and other forms of donations. Fundraising at grass root levels started off in full scale.

The Chinese media did not hesitate to show the country’s benevolent and responsible attitude towards the area – this being in tune with its decision to prevent devaluation of RMB in the 1997 financial crisis of Asia.

The efforts made by China to help in the aftermath of the tsunami was in keeping with its intentions to be the leader of the developing world but simultaneously improving its relations with the ASEAN countries. So the aid response was carefully calculated. China nursed hopes that a developing nation that stresses on mutual respect and independence will now not be resented as much as before by the G-7 countries that had made more promises and reached the place faster. The first help to the Somali-government-in-exile came from China. China was the largest donor to Myanmar. Although the amount is miniscule it expects grateful thanks from nations that have been sidelined. But that has not stopped many feeling uncomfortable as the giant emerges.

Perhaps to allay such fears although nearly all the other nations deployed their military might to help the tsunami victims, China did not put the PLA in the forefront of relief activities. The gigantic military response from America left little doubt about its dominating position in this area. “ It sent 12,000 soldiers and 21 ships, including an aircraft carrier. In contrast, the ambassador of China in Nigeria handed a cheque worth $100,000 to the President of Somali” (Tinti, pp. 124-137).

The military action from China was largely confined to procurement from the domestic front and flying supplies to the civilian airports of China for delivering the same to civilian aircrafts in Jakarta, Bangkok, Maldives, Male and Colombo. Only one medical team from the People’s Armed Police General Hospital went to Indonesia. Another modest engineering group from a military area of Beijing was also sent to Indonesia to hunt through the devastation. The military units of China collected donations from their officers and the soldiers for contribution to the tsunami fund.

There is another view as to why the People’s Liberation Army was not allowed to play a significant role in the relief effort. Perhaps Beijing faced a quandary over their deployment. Some within the government as well as military must have wanted China to “show the flag” but certain considerations on the practical and political field prevented the dispatching of the troops by the government. Any decision for deploying the troops is actually sensitive so far as the Chinese leadership is concerned. For quite some time China has kept away from being involved in the affairs of other countries. It joined the special committee of the United Nations on peacekeeping only in 1988. They were apprehensive that dispatching of ships and troops would revive worries about the great “China threat” in this region as well as in USA. It would have undone the endeavors of China to sell its “peaceful rise” image. China has security related interests in the Indian Ocean and a military presence, even if for aid purposes might not be the best recourse to follow up such interests (Tinti, pp. 124-137).

Then there were fears that the PLA standing side by side with the armies of developed nations could present a poor contrast. The final quandary for China was that failing to act by it could have been interpreted by other countries for its inability in acting. Thus with these severe constraints, without specific invitation from the affected nations there was no question of the military responding. In general the PLA does not undertake operations outside its own borders. Moreover the process of taking decisions is rather slow – that becomes more pronounced at times of crises. Even in domestic calamities where the army was concerned it took time for decisions to be taken even during the time of the 1998 floods.

China has focused on long term assistance to the nations stricken by tsunami. It will strengthen traditional ties. Material and technical support coming from China would build up a strong infrastructure and bond. The tsunami help is just one segment of the bigger soft battle between USA and China in this region.

Meanwhile the media and academia in China are defending its noticeably small assistance given to the countries battered by the tsunami. They accused the big donors as playing political games while doling out mega sums of money and emergency relief packets. It was noted in The China Economic Times that it was but natural for the jumbo developed nations to donate generously. The West was blamed for vandalizing the environment and indulging in “excessive tourism” that has wrecked the ecological systems of Thailand. The tsunami has further damaged it (Tinti, pp. 124-137). The backlash from China after the western media criticized it for not responding adequately to the crisis. Critics say that China has failed to live up to the image it has created of itself of taking over the mantle of the benign leader of the region.

Others have justified the small role China played during the tsunami relief operations to be in keeping with its status as a developing nation. The generous promises made by the big Western nations could be something that would never be realized.

When the tsunami hit, America sent 130,000 soldiers together with a flotilla composed of warships as well as helicopters to the area. $350 million as promised as aid. Japan dispatched two destroyers together with a ship carrying supplies – something rare for an overseas mission for Japan. “ Japan also pledged $500 million. Australia and Norway promised $810 million and $183 million respectively ” (Tinti, pp. 124-137).

In contrast China sent about six medical teams – experts dealing with DNA for dealing with corpses in Thailand. Mobile phones were distributed and communication equipments were given by China to Aceh in Sumatra north.

Liu Weidong of American Studies Institute (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) observed, “ The area of tsunami devastation in Asia has become a stage where a round of big political chess is being played out. The outpouring of relief aid cannot disguise the naked geopolitical ambitions of big world powers ” (Bezlova, p. 1).

Officially China has commented on its response to the tsunami as the biggest overseas humanitarian operation undertaken overseas. Many have said that the response of Beijing has not been in keeping with its ambitions of China to represent itself as the prime regional power. Many have warned that this small involvement could lead to China losing its position with other powers in the region.

Liu Feng together with Liou Qun undertaking research with Fudan University’s China Economic Study Institute said in their writings, “ As a developing country, China can’t compare with world powers in donating big sums of money. But it cannot idly sit and watch as the U.S. is launching a new ‘Marshal Plan’ in Asia that can hurt China’s geopolitical interests ” (Bezlova, p. 1).

In conclusion it may be said that China has traditionally been against foreign involvement but even then, considering the magnitude of the crisis it put in sizable effort at the diplomatic and public level to take part in helping humanity facing an unprecedented natural disaster. Initially China had promised 2.6 million dollars but at the relief summit held in Indonesia. The Prime Minister of China, “ Wen Jiabao pledged 83 million dollars ” (Tinti, pp. 124-137). The summit was also attended by the “ United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and Colin Powell the Secretary of State of USA ” (Tinti, pp. 124-137).

Works Cited

• Bezlova, Antoaneta. ‘TSUNAMI IMPACT: China Defends ‘Nominal’ Role in Global Relief Effort’. IPS-Inter Press Service . 2010.
• Karwoski, Langer and John MacDonald. Tsunami: the true story of an April Fools’ Day disaster. Boston: Darby Creek Pub., 2006.
• NORAD. Strengthening National Capacities for Disaster Reduction and Recovery – the Role of UNDP. UNDP.org . 2010.
• Tinti, Stefano. Impact of Tsunami in Three Countries. International Journal of Tourism Research 24.3, (2009): 124-137.

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Essay on Tsunami for Students and Children

500+ words essay on tsunami.

Tsunami is a phenomenon where a series of strong waves that are responsible for the surge in water sometimes reach the heights in many meters. This is a natural disaster that is caused due to the volcano eruption in the ocean beds. Also, a phenomenon like landslides and earthquakes contributes to reasons for a tsunami. Like other natural disasters, the impact of the tsunami is also huge. It has been seen throughout history how disastrous the tsunami is. The essay on tsunami talks about various factors that contribute to the tsunami and the damage it causes to mankind. 

Essay on Tsunami

The disaster that is caused due to waves generated in the ocean because of the earthquake and whose main point is under the water is known as ‘Tsunami’. Also, the term tsunami is associated with tidal waves. Thus, a tsunami is also called as the series of ocean waves that have a very long wavelength. Because of the tsunami, there are strong waves of water is formed and this moves landwards. So, this causes inland movement of water which is very high and lasts for a long time. Thus, the impact of these waves is also very high. 

Greeks were the first people on Earth to claim the effects of the tsunami. They claim that tsunami is just like land earthquakes. Also, the only difference between tsunami and earthquake is that tsunami is caused in oceans. Thus, the scale and ferocity of the tsunami are almost impossible to control. 

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The History of Tsunami

The highest ever recorded tsunami was on 9th July 1958 in the record books. It took place in a bay which was located in the ligula bay along the coasts of Alaska. After the quake, a massive mass of rock fell into the bay waters from the cliff nearby. Thus, this created an impact and produced a wave that reached a height of 524 meters. Also, this is regarded as one of the highest recorded tsunami waves ever. 

The destructive waves responsible for the occurrence of tsunami is also produced in waters of bays or lakes. As this water approached the coast, it grows larger. However, the size of this wave is very low in deep-sea areas. Tsunami waves that are generated in the lakes or bays do not travel for a long distance. Thus, they are not as destructive as the ones produced in the ocean waters. There are various directions in which tsunami can travel from the main point. 

One similar devastating tsunami was experienced in India in 2004. However, the origin of this tsunami was located near Indonesia. Because of the tsunami, it was expected that a total of 2 lakh people lost their lives. The waves traveled extensively thousands of kilometers in countries like Thailand, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the Maldives. 

Tsunamis occur mainly in the Pacific Ocean. There are very chances that they take place in the area where there are larger bodies. Coastlines and open bays next to very deep waters may help tsunami further into a step-like wave. 

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