26 December 2004
A massive earthquake of magnitude 8.9, hit Indonesia (off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra). This is the biggest in 40 years and the fifth in Indonesia and it triggered the tsunami waves in southeast Asia and coastal India.
Another Earthquake of Magnitude 7.3 occurred 81 kms W of Pulo Kunji (Great Nicobar).
A series of aftershock were reported in this region.
These two earthquakes caused a tsunami.
De verkiezingen: wat doen de partijen voor jongeren?
How the Asian Tsunami Disaster happened. How the disaster did unfold.
Thousands of people have died after a violent earthquake under the sea near northern Indonesia sent huge waves crashing into coastal areas across south and East Asia.
Earthquakes happen when the plates that make up the Earth’s surface suddenly move against each other.
On 26 December 2004 the biggest earthquake for 40 years occurred between the Australian and Eurasian plates in the Indian Ocean. The quake triggered a tsunami – a series of large waves – that spread thousands of kilometres over several hours.
The earthquake caused the sea floor to rupture along the fault line north of the epicentre, causing a giant wave which carvers a path of destruction across the 4,500 km-wide Indian Ocean over 7 hours.
The tsunami formed when energy from the earthquake vertically jolted the seabed by several metres, displacing hundreds of cubic kilometres of water.
Large waves began moving through the ocean, away from the earthquake’s epicentre. The tsunami’s journey had begun.
In deep water the tsunami moved at up to 800km/h (500mph). When it reached shallow watter near coastal areas, the tsunami slowed but increased in height.
Coastal areas like the Sri Lankan tourist resort of Kalutara had almost no warning of the approaching tsunami.
The only sign came just before the tsunami struck when the waterline suddenly retreated, exposing hundreds of metres of beach and seabed.
The several waves of the tsunami came at intervals of between five and 40 minutes. In Kalutara the water reached at least 1 km (0.6 miles) inland, causing widespread destruction.
What does the word tsunami mean?
A tsunami is a Japanese word which translates as "harbour wave", now used internationally to refer to a series of waves travelling across the ocean with extremely long wavelengths ( up to hundreds of miles between wave crests in the deep ocean). When these waves approach shore, the speed of the wave decreases as they begin to "feel" the bottom. It is at this time that the height of the wave drastically increases. As the waves strike shore they may inundate low-lying coastal areas resulting in mass destruction and in many instances loss of life. Often a tsunami is incorrectly referred to as a tidal wave. Tidal waves are simply the periodic movement of water associated with the rise and fall of the tides produced by the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon. Tsunamis have no connection with the weather nor with tides.
What causes a tsunami?
Oceanographers often refer to tsunamis as seismic sea waves as they are usually the result of a sudden rise or fall of a section of the earth's crust under or near the ocean. A seismic disturbance can displace the water column, creating a rise or fall in the level of the ocean above. This rise or fall in sea level is the initial formation of a tsunami wave.
Tsunami waves can also be created by volcanic activity and landslides occurring above or below the sea surface. These types of activity produce tsunamis with much less energy than those produced by submarine faulting. The size and energy of these tsunamis dissipates rapidly with increasing distance from the source, thus resulting in more local devastation.
Countries hit by the tsunami and its casualties
INDONESIA
Impact: The west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the closest inhabited area to the epicentre of the earthquake, was devastated by the tsunami. More than 70% of the inhabitants of some coastal villages are reported to have died. Toll: The death toll stands at more than 105,000 but officials expect it to rise. Heavy rains after the tsunami in Aceh, on the western tip of Sumatra, have increased the risk of cholera and other waterborne diseases. Aid: All infrastructures has been wiped out in the worst-affected areas, leaving people without water, food or shelter. Many local government officials are dead or missing. Aid organisations were barred from the area because of separatist conflict, until the tsunami struck. Indonesia's army has now said relief workers must register to travel to remoter parts of Aceh province.
SRI LANKA
Impact: More people have died in Sri Lanka as a result of the tsunami than anywhere else, apart from Indonesia. Southern and eastern coastlines have been ravaged. Homes, crops and fishing boats have all been destroyed. Toll: Some 30,882 have died, and thousands more are missing. The number of homeless people is put at between 800,000 and one million. Aid: A relief operation is in full swing but a row is intensifying over whether the government has given enough assistance to the north-eastern part of the country controlled by Tamil rebels. BBC correspondents say the disaster now looks likely to exacerbate rather than resolve ethnic grievances.
INDIA'S SOUTH-EAST COAST
Impact: India's south-east coast, especially the state of Tamil Nadu, was the worst affected area on the mainland. (See below for more details on the Andaman and Nicobar islands.) Toll: More than 8,800 people are confirmed dead in mainland India, 7,968 of them in Tamil Nadu and almost 600 in Pondicherry (see below for data on the Andaman and Nicobar islands). At least 140,000 Indians, mostly from fishing families, are in relief centres. Aid: Medical teams have begun a vaccination campaign to try to reduce the spread of disease.
INDIA'S ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS
Impact: Salt water, which washed over the islands, contaminated many sources of fresh water and destroyed large areas of arable land. Most of the islands' jetties have also been destroyed. Toll: At least 1,316 of the islands' 400,000 people are confirmed dead and 5,542 are missing - 4,500 from Katchall island alone. Aid: India has refused assistance from international aid agencies, because of the presence of a military base on one island and stone-age tribes on some others. About 12,000 people have been moved to relief camps on larger islands. Some remote tribes people are known to have survived because they shot arrows at coast guard helicopters.
THAILAND
Impact: The west coast of Thailand was severely hit, including outlying islands and tourist resorts such as Phuket. Some bodies may still lie in the rubble of ruined hotels. Toll: More than 5,300 are confirmed dead, but the Thai prime minister says this figure is certain to rise. Half of the bodies identified so far are foreigners, from a total of 36 countries. Aid: Thailand has asked for technical help to identify the dead, and a huge operation to take DNA samples from the bodies is under way.
MALDIVES
Impact: Twenty of the Maldives' 199 inhabited islands have been described as "totally destroyed". The shallowness of the water limited the tsunami's destructive power, but flooding was extensive. A sea wall protecting the Maldives capital, Male, prevented half the city being destroyed, the UN said. Many luxury resorts will be closed for months. Toll: At least 82 people have died and 26 are missing. About 12,500 have been displaced.
MALAYSIA
Impact: Although Malaysia lies close to the epicentre, much of its coastline was spared widespread devastation because it was shielded by Sumatra. However, scores of people were swept from beaches near the northern island of Penang. Toll: At least 68 people are confirmed dead.
BURMA
Impact: The worst affected area was the Irrawaddy Delta, inhabited by poor subsistence farmers and fishing families. Toll: Burma's military junta has put the death toll at 64, but the World Food Programme (WFP) says this may be an underestimate. One WFP employee found 200 households where at least one person, who had been out fishing when the tsunami struck, was missing.
BANGLADESH
Toll: Two people have been reported dead in Bangladesh.
SOMALIA
Impact: Somalia is the worst-hit African state, with damage concentrated in the region of Puntland, on the tip of the Horn of Africa. The water destroyed 1,180 homes, smashed 2,400 boats and rendered freshwater wells and reservoirs unusable, the UN said in a report on 4 January. Toll: Nearly 300 Somalis are known to have died, with thousands more homeless and many fishermen still unaccounted for. About 50,000 people have been displaced. Aid: The UN has called for $13m to help tsunami victims. Aid agencies with small ground operations in Puntland have delivered food and relief supplies, as has a German Navy helicopter. Somalia is anarchic and has few roads, presenting aid agencies with a major challenge.
KENYA
Toll: One person drowned in Kenya.
TANZANIA
Toll: Ten people were killed in Tanzania.
SEYCHELLES
Toll: One person was killed in the Seychelles.
Situation
Aid to Indian islands 'hijacked'
The Indian military has played a key role in getting aid to the islands
Red Cross officials have accused the authorities in India's tsunami-struck Andaman and Nicobar Islands of "hijacking" aid supplies. A spokesman for the agency said relief materials seized on the islands had been found with government workers.
Island officials have not commented on the charge but stress their policy that foreign aid to the islands only be distributed through the government.
Aid has yet to reach remote parts of many islands, a BBC correspondent says.
More than 1,800 people are now known to have died on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after sea surges triggered by a massive underwater earthquake struck there on 26 December.
At least a further 5,600 people are still missing after the disaster, the Andaman and Nicobar administrative chief, Ram Kapse, said.
The official death toll in India, including the islands and mainland parts of Tamil Nadu state, now stands at 10,672.
Relief material 'robbed'
An official from the Indian Red Cross Society, Basudev Dass, told the BBC that they had been informed by the Andamans authorities that all non-governmental agencies - Indian as well as international - would be barred from working on the islands.
Until now only the United Nations children's agency, Unicef, had been given permission to operate outside of the capital, Port Blair.
Mr Dass said the local administration told him it was capable of conducting the relief operation without any need of external help.
The BBC's Subir Bhaumik says there have been continued complaints of shortage of relief material from remote areas as well as reports of hungry people looting supply trucks in at least four areas.
'Robbed it'
Mr Dass said Red Cross supplies shipped to the islands' capital, Port Blair, were seized at the docks on Thursday, apparently for distribution by the government.
"They hijacked our relief material. They robbed it," Mr Dass told the Associated Press news agency.
"They want to take all the relief material and distribute it. We are very clear that we will go and distribute it to the real beneficiaries," he said.
The Indian branch of Rotary International says its offer to build 1,500 homes for displaced islanders had been rebuffed.
Mr Kapse said the government would welcome the offer of building materials from aid agencies but would undertake the construction work itself.
The Indian government and military has been managing the aid operation for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Visitors are banned from visiting much of the Andamans.
Correspondents say the islands are of high military importance to the government. In addition, the government has sought to restrict outside access to a number of primitive tribes on the islands.
REACTIES
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