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Stacie Kappen
Vanesa Pelaez
GSC 350
What is an Earthquake?
Earthquake- a sudden
What is a tsunami?
Tsunami- A long-high sea wave caused by an earthquake or
other disturbances
Tsunami are triggered by earthquake by the release of plate
pressure causing land movement, displacing the water.
What classifies a wave as a Tsunami?- Increase of wave
height, massive amount of water movement at high speeds.
Tsunamis are generated by large and rapid displacesments
of water, caused by suddenly large changes in the sea floor
The wave height increases as it gets closer to land because
the water slows and the following water catches up and
amplifies
government: 6 sensors
Pacific ocean countries has disaster awareness plans
Less disaster awareness
Geography of Indonesia
Island has two major
geological environments:
Barisan Mountains,
swampy plains.
Island of Sumatra (
hardest hit area) was on
the major edge of three
tectonic plates : IndoAustralian, Eurasian and
the Burma Sub-plate
40 million year old
plates.
Plate Boundary of
Indian Ocean
Warning Signs
Minor earthquakes before
Areas history of large earthquakes
No warning signs to the direct area
of Northern Sumatra
coral shows three distant giant
earthquakes occurring in 1797, 1833,
and 1861 (magnitude 8.5 or greater),
as well as a large emergence due to a
local large earthquake occurring in
1935 (magnitude 7.7).
Sumatra
Earthquake focal point: 30
Kilometer deep
Fault length is 900 miles
The rupture did not break
all at once, instead it
progressed northward
along the fault at 1.2 miles
per second. Lasting 10
minutes
Tsunami Height
approximately 10 meters
high at 500 MPH
Displaced 100,000 tons
of water
Immediate damage to
coastal regions, bay
areas suffer the most
damage
Sri Lanka
India
Thailand
Maldives
Somalia
Myanmar
Malaysia
Seychelles
Bangladesh
When
10 minutes after the initial Earthquake the tsunami
When cont
2-2.5 hours later the tsunami tackles Sri Lanka and
Damages to property
Along the coastline, most buildings were made of
Property cont
The tsunami destroyed every town, village, road and
Damages to people
The largest life loss was
Economic Losses
$10 billion in losses due to the earthquake and tsunami
damages
This cost includes damages to residential and
commercial buildings including water supply systems,
electricity, schools, hospitals, and other healthcare
facilities
Humanitarian Relief
Government and Humanitarian Aid reliefs first move
Aftermath
Aftershocks
Aftershocks are defined as smaller earthquakes that
Bibliography
http://www.tectonics.caltech.edu/outreach/highlights
/sumatra/
www.rms.com/publications/indianoceantsunamirepor
t.pdf
http://www.tsunami2004.net/
http://www.usaid.gov/locations/asia/tsunami/