The Command Post - Global Recon - Earthquake Updates: Aftermath (2)

December 27, 2004

Earthquake Updates: Aftermath (2)

As rescue efforts begin, the carnage becomes more evident.

Hundreds of rescue ships, helicopters and planes were mobilised to evacuate tourists from wrecked resorts and airlift stricken victims to hospitals already overflowing with the wounded and corpses.

More than 91 overseas tourists died in Thailand and Sri Lanka, while 530 Japanese travelers are missing after tsunamis unleashed by the biggest earthquake in 40 years struck tourist resorts across Asia. The U.K. embassy in Sri Lanka said more than 70 tourists died on the Indian Ocean island, while the Thai government said 21 tourists were killed on the resort island of Phuket and other coastal provinces. At least 11 Italians, 3 Americans, a New Zealander and a South Korean were among those known killed.

Indian Fishing Village Wiped Out:

The adults wept with swollen eyes in the corner of a wedding hall in this southeastern Indian fishing village, while children played hide-and-seek obliviously nearby. Hours after after the largest earthquake in 40 years struck southern Asia Sunday unleashing massive tidal waves, the parents knew something their children did not: that families, homes, boats � often everything they had � had been swept away in a few minutes by the raging waters

Soldiers searched for bodies in treetops, families wept over the dead lined up on beaches and rescuers scoured coral isles for missing tourists as Asia counted the cost on Monday of a tsunami that killed up to 14 566.

[...]

"Death came from the sea," Satya Kumari, a construction worker living on the outskirts of Pondicherry, India, said. "The waves just kept chasing us. It swept away all our huts. What did we do to deserve this?"

Rescuers piled up bodies along southern Asian coastlines devastated by tidal waves that smashed into nine countries, obliterating seaside towns and killing more than 20,900 people. Hundreds of children were buried in mass graves in India, and morgues and hospitals struggled to cope with the catastrophe.

Asia gets U.N. epidemic warning:

The United Nations has warned of epidemics within days unless health systems in south and southeast Asia can cope after some 12,000 people were killed and tens of thousands left homeless by giant tsunami waves.
[...]
"The longer term effects may be as devastating as the tidal wave or the tsunami itself ... Many more people are now affected by polluted drinking water. We could have epidemics within a few days unless we get health systems up and running.

Posted by Michele at December 27, 2004 08:02 AM | TrackBack

Comments

I don't know where to put this, but I think this will be fine.

Understanding Tsunamis: For good reason I do not teach Oceanography, but I checked my Instructors' Edition of "Essentials of Oceanography" by Tom Garrison.

The strength of an earthquake is only tangetially related to the size of a tsunami. A medium focus earthquake of 10 under the ocean would certainly shake things up, but it would not make a tsunami.

To get a Tsunami you need some vertical movement along the fault scarp. A pure dip-slip earthquake (all motion up the fault) would be more inclined to produce a big tsunami than an oblique slip earthquake and I believe a pure strike-slip earthquake wouldn't produce a tsunami, no matter how strong. In 1998 near Papua, New Guinea a 7.1 magnitude (moment magnitude) earthquake produced a tsunami that had a higher crest than yesterday's quake. (Wave in New Guinea reported as close to 50 feet high (15 m), whereas the largest crest I have seen reported yesterday is 35 feet (11m), with most saying 20 feet (6m). A quake in the Sea of Japan in 1993 had a wave 31m (95 ft) tall. But only 239 people died (good early warning).

I another blog there was the suggestion that Indian OceanTsunamis (according to a USGS seismologist)are rare enough that we don't prepare well for them. In the last 10 years there has been 6 tsunamis in this area of the world (though only one was technically in the Indian Ocean and was fortunately focused toward Antartica). Over 4000 people have died from these (Garrison, page 176, figure 9.25). It is going to happen again and frankly soon. They need to get their acts together, if you plan to travel to Indonesian or elsewhere nearby you need to know what to do in case of a potential tsunami. Just as you should know where the fire exists are in a hotel, in this region you should know the nearest place you can get 150 feet (about 50m) above sea level. (Interestingly, over the same 10 year period the rest of the world had two tsunamis, this area is VERY active)

By the way, for all of you people in Florida, I would worry about an undersea earthquake near the Virgin Islands more than anything the Atlantic can dig up.

Posted by: David at December 27, 2004 09:40 AM

"It is going to happen again and frankly soon." What evidence do you have for this? The law of averages?

It's a good thing you don't teach oceanography or geology. As you just said, this stuff happens every so often, and they usually are barely noticed. Until it happens again, predicting the direction and size of the tsunami can only be a best guess.

Posted by: gus3 at December 27, 2004 12:52 PM

Let me see if I can put it more plain then. Over the last ten years there have been 7 Tsunami creating quakes in on the northern contact of the Indian-Australian Plate. Excluding yesterday these events have killed more that 4000 people. Over the entire Pacific Basin at the same time there were three such events with the Tsunamis killing 56 people.

This is a VERY active boundary. Theetwo most deadly earthquakes of 2002 were on this boundary (Kush), the deadliest quake of 2001 was on this boundary (India), the deadliest quake of 2000 was in Indonesia, and the two most dealy quakes of 1998 (Afganistan) were on this boundary.

This same boundary gave us the super-Plinian volcanoes Krakatua and Tambora. There are 57 active volcanoes in Indonesia and a few of them are currently erupting. I'll make another BOLD claim. An Indonesian Volcano with erupt this year. In the next three years a Volcano in Indonesia will erupt forcing evacuations.

Is it rocket science to guess that somewhere on this particular boundary there is going to be a deadly earthquake? With 7 tsunamis in 10 years do ya think that over the next 10 year there might just be another tsunami on this boundary? It's not the "law of averages", it is more like clockwork. The USGS spokesman not-withstanding, 3 of these tsunamis were Indian ocean events, which is equal to the three for all of the Pacific. Two of these events (East Java 1994 and Sumatra 2000) produce more deaths than the all the Pacific events. Don't ya think it is time to set up an Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning center?

Research for this email started at:

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/2004/

By the way, I do not teach oceanography as I feel it is crucial to discuss the ecosystem and I do not like biology much (blame a 9th grade teacher making it boring). I do teach college geology and my current research is on the Jemez Lineament.

Posted by: David at December 27, 2004 03:36 PM