Indian Ocean tsunami 2004: The Powerful and The

Deadly
Billion people are expected to be living in urban areas, increasing the risk
that a devastating natural event could wipe out huge populations. Many
growing cities are near the coast and are threatened constantly by extreme
storms, floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters. One of the most
powerful earthquakes in recent history hit Southern Asia Sunday morning
local time on 26th December 2004 and sent a huge wave known as a tsunami
across a wide swath of the region. Death struck randomly. People who were
together when the tsunami struck were separated in the torrent. Some
survived; others succumbed or disappeared. Indonesia was the hardest hit,
followed by Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

A file photo taken on January 2005 of the devastated district of Banda Aceh in
Aceh province located on Indonesia's Sumatra island in the aftermath of the
massive December 26, 2004 tsunami (Courtesy of CNN)

Giant forces that had been building up deep in the Earth for hundreds of
years were released suddenly on December 26 2004, shaking the ground
violently and unleashing a series of killer waves that sped across the Indian
Ocean at the speed of a jet airliner. By the end of the day, more than

250,000 people were dead or missing and millions more were homeless in 14
countries, making it perhaps the most destructive tsunami in history.

The quake struck in the Indian Ocean off the northern tip of Indonesian island
of Sumatera, and measured 9.0 in magnitude. It was the biggest recorded
since a 9.2 magnitude earthquake hit Alaska in 1964 and tied in magnitude
for fourth place among earthquakes since 1900, according to the U.S.
Geological Survey.
The epicenter of the 9.0 magnitude quake was under the Indian Ocean near
the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, according to the USGS,
which monitors earthquakes worldwide. The violent movement of sections of
the Earth's crust, known as tectonic plates, displaced an enormous amount
of water, sending powerful shock waves in every direction.

The earthquake was the result of the sliding of the portion of the Earth's
crust known as the India plate under the section called the Burma plate. The
process has been going on for millennia, one plate pushing against the other
until something has to give. The result on December 26 was a rupture the
USGS estimates was more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) long, displacing
the seafloor above the rupture by perhaps 10 yards (about 10 meters)
horizontally and several yards vertically. That doesn't sound like much, but
the trillions of tons of rock that were moved along hundreds of miles caused
the planet to shudder with the largest magnitude earthquake in 40 years.
Above the disturbed seafloor the great volume of the ocean was displaced
along the line of the rupture, creating one of nature's most deadly
phenomena: a tsunami. Typically, for an average ocean depth of 4 km, like in
the Indian Ocean/Bay of Bengal region, the speed of the tsunami waves can
go up to 720 km/h or about the speed of a jet airliner. As the tsunami waves
approach the shore, the water depth becomes shallower, waves slow down,
wavelength becomes shorter and the waves gain larger amplitude or heights
and become destructive. Within hours killer waves radiating from the
earthquake zone slammed into the coastline of 11 Indian Ocean countries,
snatching people out to sea, drowning others in their homes or on beaches,
and demolishing property from Africa to Thailand.
A tsunami is a series of waves, and the first wave may not be the most
dangerous. A tsunami "wave train" may come as surges five minutes to an
hour apart. The cycle may be marked by repeated retreat and advance of the
ocean. Some people did not know this on December 26. Once the first wave
had gone, they thought it was safe to go down to the beach. It is hard to see
that a tsunami is approaching. The most obvious sign is the coastal water
retreats just before the waves reach the shore. This is actually the trough of
the wave following behind.

Tsunamis have been relatively rare in the Indian Ocean, at least in human
memory. They are most prevalent in the Pacific. But every ocean has
generated the scourges. Many countries are at risk. A decade later after the
tsunami in the Indian Ocean, thanks to a remarkable international effort, an
extensive warning system now protects many of the worlds vulnerable
coastlines.
In the Indian Ocean region, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and other
nations have joined forces to create a network of 100 monitoring
stations that share real-time data about seismic activity and sea-level

changes. But even with advances in forecasting, the United Nations recently
warned that critical gaps remain in the last-mile system that actually would
provide local populations with last-minute warnings about an impending
tsunami. [Marwah Herliani and Thelazia Calcarina]

Seawater splashes in the air as the the first tsunami waves hit Ao Nang,
Krabi Province, Thailand, on December 26, 2004 (Courtesy of The Atlantic)

A file photo taken on January 2005 of the impassable main coastal road
covered with debris in Aceh Besar district, in Aceh province on Indonesia's
Sumatra island where surrounding houses and buildings were heavily
damaged and coastal villages wiped out in the aftermath of the massive
December 26, 2004 tsunami (Courtesy of National Geographic)

The Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh,Indonesia was one of the

only structures that still stood (left) following the Tsunami. Today, the
mosque remains a notable tourist attraction (right). (Courtesy of New York
Daily Times)

A week after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami hit, Indonesia military unload
a truck full of corpses (above) in the city of Banda Aceh on January 9,
2005. Ten years later (below) an Indonesian man walks along the same
area, it is flourishing with trees, grass and new homes. (Courtesy of New
York Daily News)