The most destructive tsunamis of our time. Devastating earthquake and tsunami in Southeast Asia (2004)

Text: Alexander Ivanov
Photo: Vladimir Smolyakov

The ocean is never completely calm. Waves in an endless succession roll to the shore, reluctantly lick the beach and dissolve into the endless expanse of water. The uniform rustle of waves and the incomparable smell of the sea - these are the factors that have been affecting a person philosophically and pacifying from time immemorial ... And when the FIRST WAVE appeared (it was only two times higher than the others), almost no one noticed it. Another two hours later, the SECOND WAVE came, flooding fifty meters of beaches and washing away some things of vacationers (which caused a joke commotion). And then the sea began to recede, exposing the bottom. Over the next two and a half hours, the coastline moved seven hundred meters deep into the ocean. An inquisitive, but apparently not too educated people, in joyful excitement, wandered through the shoals, collecting shells and small fish. All this continued until the THIRD WAVE came ...

The observable history of mankind (we naively believe that we know practically everything about this period) has several millennia. By human standards, this is a lot, but by cosmic or geological standards, it is not even an instant. Take the dinosaurs. According to rough estimates of scientists, these monsters died 65 million years ago! So, the human brain is simply not able to comprehend such an abyss of time. Human memory is generally surprisingly short, and our children perceive the monstrous cataclysms of the 20th century as something prehistoric. But the second world War ended only 60 years ago, and witnesses are still alive ...

Retrospective

The European man in the street has spoiled himself. All catastrophes and wars have moved away in time or, at worst, in space. Well, tell me, who of the living today remembers the word "Krakatoa"? Almost no one. In general, we are all overwhelmingly sure that for our age, planetary comfort and tranquility will be enough ...

After the terrible disaster that befell South Asia, we begin to clearly understand: humanity in general and its specific representatives in particular are not insured against anything. Are the Indian and other oceans far away? Did you know that the Caspian Lake also has faults (in 1895, a wave caused by an earthquake in the Caspian completely flooded the coastal village of Uzun-Ada)? And, if it shakes harder under its serene surface, it will flood not only Iran with Azerbaijan, but, for example, Astrakhan. Closer, isn't it?

By the way, our brother journalist hastened to dub the tsunami that swept across the south of Asia "the greatest disaster in the history of mankind." But this, to put it mildly, does not correspond to reality. Do you know what the aforementioned Krakatoa is? And this is just a small volcanic island in the same Indonesia. So, he smoked for centuries, smoked, sometimes erupted. And in 1883, Krakatoa exploded. The result is terrible - an ocean wave 20 meters high and 36,000 victims! Who remembers? But not even a century and a half has passed. That's it ...

Or an example of a different kind. In 1931, the Yangtze River flooded. Floods, hunger and epidemics killed at least 3,000,000 people (no, no, you were not mistaken in counting zeros, namely three million)! Nobody even moved: firstly, these are the Chinese, and secondly, they are far away. But you can find mournful examples and closer ... 1201, Mediterranean Sea. The earthquake claimed more than a million human souls in Syria and Egypt. But 800 years is not a long time for the planet, and geological processes under the Mediterranean continue.

The wave that hit the shores of Portugal, Spain and North Africa in 1775 killed more than 70,000 people. But these are, so to speak, our "internal" tsunamis, that is, tsunamis caused by the activities of our planet. And there are also "cosmic" tsunamis caused by collisions with meteorites. So, a cobblestone about 10 kilometers across at one time landed in the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), forming a crater 30 kilometers deep. North America has burnt to the ground, and the height of the waves can only be guessed at. A little (on a geological scale) later, the space block hit the Pacific Ocean closer to Antarctica. Here you can guess more specifically about the wave height. For example, the remains of living organisms ejected by the tsunami to a height of several hundred meters (Andes). Can you imagine such a thing? Me not. I don’t want to. But, whatever one may say, it is still exotic. And Earth rarely meets space stones. But "home" tsunamis happen dozens of times a year. So what is this phenomenon?

Modern science says that tsunamis are a special kind of non-storm wave, most often caused by an underwater earthquake. The distance between the crest of a wave and a depression in the open sea can be hundreds of kilometers, and the height is no more than a meter. They are practically safe for shipping (a ship may simply not notice such a wave). But tsunamis on the high seas consume their energy rather slowly and can spread over very long distances. When the wave reaches shallow water, and even more so falls into a narrowness (bay, bay, harbor), it turns into that very monster - a wall of water up to several tens of meters high. Actually, "tsunami" is a Japanese word and means nothing more than "a wave in the harbor." The Japanese know what they say: the water is all around them, and seismically active zones are "close by" ... On June 15, 1896, in the Sanriku region, towards evening, the inhabitants felt tremors. People lived by the sea and understood how this could turn out, so they rushed to the mountains. But since nothing happened, they returned after a while, and when they returned, they saw that the sea had moved away from the coast ... It was already too late to run, and seven 35-meter waves razed three provinces (800 kilometers of coast) to the ground. 27,000 victims. But note: the fishermen who were at that time in the sea just did not notice anything ...

Third wave

And then came December 26, 2004 ... The earthquake (the strongest in forty years in this area) occurred under the waters of the Pacific Ocean along the fault line off the coast of Sumatra and caused vertical (both up and down) displacements of the ocean floor. The area of \u200b\u200bits zone was 1200 kilometers long and about 100 kilometers wide.

The energy released in this case was monstrous, but only one percent went to the formation of the waves themselves. But that was enough. Yes, in the open sea, the wave height did not exceed 60 centimeters, but the water shaft had a speed of 800 kilometers per hour! And since the fault went approximately from north to south, the tsunami waves ran in a perpendicular direction - to the west and to the east. In the east were the island of Sumatra (Indonesia) and Thailand, in the west - India and Sri Lanka. It was these countries that suffered the most.

What do experts advise to do in the event of a tsunami? An earthquake is a natural signal of the possibility of a tsunami. Before the arrival of a wave, water, as a rule, recedes far from the coast, exposing the seabed for hundreds of meters (and sometimes several kilometers), and this low tide can last both minutes and hours. The very movement of waves can be accompanied by thunderous sounds that are heard long before the tsunami approaches (for example, it was in Japan in 1895). And yet, we are openly distrustful of the "anti-wave" measures recommended by some experts, including such advice as climbing on roofs and hiding under ... dining tables (this is not an invention, the author has read this with his own eyes!) ...

A warning system is needed to alert people to danger. IN Indian Ocean there is simply no such thing yet. But in Tikhiy, on the contrary, the international warning system has existed for a long time, and it, in particular, includes the east coast of Thailand ...

Today, the "wave" warning system is capable of warning about danger in 3-14 hours. But since wave sensors were not installed in the region (seismologists simply registered a strong earthquake), it was not possible to determine the direction of the tsunami. A single “wave” station south of epicenter recorded a tsunami less than two feet high heading towards Australia.

The waves hit the beaches of the resorts on the west coast of Thailand. Yes, Thailand is part of the international tsunami warning system, but there are no wave sensors on its west coast (they are installed on buoys in the ocean). The northern tip of the earthquake was localized near the Andaman Islands, and the waves went east, towards the Thai resort of Phuket. It happened on Sunday morning, when people were just waking up. In a magnitude nine earthquake, two-story house-high walls of water pushed west across the Bay of Bengal and struck coastal residents. A few hours after the earthquake, a series of strong tremors occurred in Sumatra. According to scientists, the earthquake began on a fault line in the depths of the ocean off the coast of Sumatra, and then spread north and south, reaching the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the north between India and Myanmar. The seabed appears to have deformed along the entire length of this fault.

And when the water was gone ...

Even if we remember that exactly one year before the current disaster (December 26, 2003), the earthquake in the province of Kerman (Iran) claimed more than 40,000 lives, all the same, what happened in the Indian Ocean basin is truly monstrous. 230,000 dead almost simultaneously - humanity has not encountered such a thing for a long time. And never from a tsunami. In this sense, it is truly the greatest disaster in history.

It was into this nightmare that the fighters of the airmobile rescue unit of the Russian Emergencies Ministry had to fly. I must say that people who have traveled all the continents work in Tsentrospas. They were in Turkey and Taiwan, Colombia and India. But neither had they seen this. 12 hours after receiving news of the disaster, the detachment was transferred by an Il-76 transport to Sri Lanka to an airfield near the capital of the island of Colombo. The soldiers of the detachment were ready to start rescue work immediately, but then the notorious "human factor" intervened. It is not a secret for anyone that on our planet, in addition to natural factors, unfortunately, there are also political factors. And South Asia is not a paradise at all (separatism blooms there in double color). Thus, in the Indonesian province of Aceh, rescue operations were hampered by the actions of the rebels, demanding ... of course, independence. Moreover, they are complicated to such an extent that the authorities at first generally refused to let anyone in there. It's the same in Sri Lanka.

Since the country does not subside civil War, the Sri Lankan government could not guarantee the safety of our people. For this reason, our leadership, in turn, did not give permission to move into the emergency zone, as a result of which only a few days later our rescuers were able to move to the north of the island in the direction of the cities of Lavinia and Moratur. In the north and north-east of the country, there are units of the so-called Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). And the authorities did not dare to let our rescuers enter these territories for a long time. Well, when permission was finally received, the detachment moved further north in the direction of the city of Galle. On the way, we had to dismantle destroyed roads, work on rubble, and cut concrete blocks. But since there was practically no one to save by this time, the main burden fell on the doctors. There were four of them, and each provided assistance to about fifty victims a day. The danger of epidemics exists to this day - the heat is tropical, the humidity is almost 100%. Now the doctors of the detachment were replaced by the mobile hospital of the Ministry of Emergencies.

What about search dogs? “Our dogs are looking for the living,” one of the visitors told us. “The bodies are a shock to them.” And for us? Those who lost their homes were received by Buddhist monasteries and Catholic churches, and it was there that our doctors went in a specially equipped Land Rover Defender. At this time, two other "def" with rescue crews were working in the area of \u200b\u200bdestruction. They saw everything: swept away houses, ships thrown ashore, and an overturned train in which a thousand people died, and the ruins of a Sunday school, where 390 children remained ... But due to bureaucratic delays, the detachment practically did not accept participation. When the cars reached the zone of passage of the wave, all the bodies had already been removed - it was not difficult to disassemble the village house. As a result, doctors were most in demand. Affected people also need food, water, medicine and blankets. All this needs to be bought, brought and distributed. This means people, cars, ships and planes are needed. Deputy Secretary General Jan Egeland of Norway is responsible for UN humanitarian operations. But as it turned out, his organization is so bureaucratic, works so slow and ineffective, that it cannot cope with a task of this magnitude by definition. Apparently, this is another reason why our guys spent several of the hottest days outside the disaster zone.

Forecast for the day after tomorrow

What can await us in the future? American scientists, who are constantly monitoring seismic activity in the Pacific Ocean, warn that geological activity is increasing. And if an event occurs similar to the current one, but with a different vector, a significant territory of California and other western states of the United States may be in the flood zone. The Atlantic Ocean is also awake ... Recently, it was hypothesized that an explosion of a volcano located in the Canary Islands could create a wave as high as one kilometer! The end of old Europe? So are we completely defenseless? Not really. A tsunami warning system exists in the Pacific Ocean. Now a decision has been made to create a similar service on the Indian Ocean.

Forewarned is forearmed.

And one moment. Countries such as Japan or Holland have accumulated tremendous experience in fighting the water element. The system of dams, embankments and other engineering structures protects them reliably enough. So a lot can be done from a technological point of view. The main thing is to do it. And steps in this direction are already underway - an international conference is being prepared. Well, we are not able to jointly fight poverty, let's try to fight natural disasters. Perhaps, it is the understanding that it will not be possible to sit out that will make the governments and the inhabitants headed by them think a little about others. In the meantime, we just have to honor the memory of the 230,000 victims.

P. S. We, probably, have become a little smarter, if today "boards" with rescuers are flying across the borders of states, ready to provide free assistance to everyone who needs it. And structures like the State Central Airmobile Rescue Unit of the EMERCOM of Russia are ready to leave at any moment to help people from another country and another continent.

In the Maldives, the aftermath of the tsunami was more like the traces of a sewer break.
Vitya Lyagushkin, journalist.

While in the Maldives, I toured five islands hit by the tsunami. The trip was organized by the Maldiviana travel agency with the assistance of the Maldivian government, which is deeply concerned that their archipelago has been treated unfairly. The fact is that in order to restore the normal functioning of the region's economy, a constant influx of tourists is required. As a result, everything turned into a kind of propaganda war. They showed footage from Phuket, and spoke at the same time about the Maldives, although the "post-wave" situation there is radically different. There were reports from Sri Lanka, showing the coast of India, and in the comments added "... and the Maldives."

A group of Russian journalists was assembled in order to demonstrate the real state of affairs. Indeed, there was no particular destruction in the Maldives. This is due primarily to the peculiarity of the atoll structure. The height of the atoll's trunk is about two thousand meters. The trunk rises with sheer walls to a depth of two hundred meters, and above there are islands, which are circular formations protruding a maximum of a meter above the water surface. As a result, the height of the tsunami wave in the Maldives was extremely insignificant. She just had nowhere to climb!

How is the Maldives arranged? These are 26 large atolls, on the tops of which there are fifty to sixty islands. On the inner atolls from the epicenter, there was nothing at all. And on the "outer" islands the following happened: from the hotel rooms (they were flooded), tourists were simply relocated to the inner islands. The fact is that there were a lot of vacationers in the Maldives at that time. And because of the flooded rooms, for some time tourists were accommodated by two families in a room. On Paradise (the outer island of the outer atoll), there was a wave that went through the entire island, partially destroying bungalows and damaging household appliances. The wave caused panic - people put on life jackets, fins and masks (the Russians drank all the minibars on the sly). There were no casualties. Also, during the day after the wave, mobile phones and the airport did not work (the runway turned out to be corny dirty). The mud was washed away and the flights resumed. Then the mobile connection was restored. Divers who were under water during the wave did not feel anything at all. The only thing they paid attention to was the squeak of computers, which reacted to a sharp difference in depth.

Tsunami.

A tsunami is not a single wave, but a series of moving ocean waves resulting from geological disturbances near or below the ocean floor. These waves are unstoppable, and they sweep across the ocean like a whiplash, remaining strong for thousands of miles. Most tsunamis are caused by strong earthquakes, but landslides, volcanic eruptions and meteorite falls can also be the cause. Waves are caused by geological forces moving water in an ocean basin. The stronger the earthquake, the more the earth's crust shifts and the more water starts moving.

Most often, tsunamis are formed in the Pacific Ocean. This is due to the fact that its basin is bordered by the "Ring of Fire" - a long chain of seismically active points on the Earth.

During a tsunami, waves usually travel in directions opposite to seismic shocks. In the case of the Sumatra earthquake, seismic waves moved along the ocean floor to the south and north, and the tsunami to the west and east.

Tsunami differs from the usual surf by its enormous length and speed. One such wave can reach 185 km in length and at the same time move across the ocean at a speed of about 1000 km / h. When it approaches the coast, its speed decreases sharply, and its height increases many times. Some tsunamis resemble a high tide in which water continues to rise and swallows the coast.

A few hours after the earthquake, the tsunami loses strength due to friction with the ocean floor and simply because the waves "dissolve" in the vast ocean surface.

International Tsunami Warning System.

The International Tsunami Warning System was established in 1965 after the 1964 tsunami associated with a magnitude 9.2 earthquake struck Alaska. The system includes all major states of the Pacific coast in the Americas and Asia, as well as the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, it includes France (under whose sovereignty some islands are located) and Russia. The warning system analyzes earthquake information from several seismological centers (including the US Geological Survey). The information, in turn, is transmitted to computer programs that simulate the formation of a tsunami. The system transmits tsunami warnings, including a forecast of wave speed and the expected time when they will appear in specific geographic areas. As tsunami waves move through tidal stations, the information is updated and a tsunami warning is issued. Other programs create “flood maps” that include areas of destruction. But keep in mind that not all earthquakes cause tsunamis. The center usually does not issue warnings for earthquakes with a magnitude of less than seven.

Five years ago, on December 26, 2004, a 9.3 magnitude undersea earthquake shook the Indian Ocean, causing huge waves that swept the coasts of 13 countries, leaving behind 230,000 deaths. This natural disaster ranked fifth in terms of the number of deaths. About 45,000 dead were never found. Five years have passed - restoration work is still ongoing - 140,000 houses, 1,700 schools, 3,800 temples and 3,700 km of roads were built. Collected in this issue are photographs of survivors, restoration work, and several before and after photographs.

(32 photos total)

1. A resident of Aceh province cries during a prayer in memory of the victims of the tsunami on the fifth anniversary of the 2004 earthquake and tsunami on December 26, 2009 in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Aceh suffered the most, as the province's main city was closest to the epicenter. The tsunami reached it first and caused about 130,000 deaths. In 11 countries, 230,000 people died, making this one of the worst disasters in history. (Ulet Ifansasti / Getty Images)

2. Foreign tourists who choose a beach holiday during the first wave of six tsunami waves at Hat Rai Lei Beach near Krabi in southern Thailand on December 26, 2004. (AFP / AFP / Getty Images)

4. (a) Five years later, a resident of the city collects grass for his goats in the same place on December 4, 2009. (REUTERS / Beawiharta)

Prayer and release offerings into the ocean during a ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami at Ulhi Lheu Beach in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia, December 20, 2009. (AP Photo / Heri Juanda)

12. This photo, taken on December 6, 2009, shows children performing a traditional dance at a shelter in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province. Of the 230,000 death tolls in the tsunami, more than half died in Aceh, Sumatra, leaving at least 5,200 orphans with whom child psychologists have worked for a long time. (AP Photo / Achmad Ibrahim)

15. Thai authorities make a final check of the tsunami buoy at Cape Panwa in Phuket, southern Thailand, December 1, 2009. Five years after the tsunami that devastated the Asian coast, experts fear that a new generation of coastal residents will be ill-prepared for other huge waves as memories of the tragedy fade away. (PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL / AFP / Getty Images)

17. Dutch tourist Hans Kuiper photographs images of foreign tourists who wanted to celebrate the New Year in a resort hotel and were killed in the 2004 tsunami. Photo taken at Bang Muang Cemetery in Phang Nga province north of Phuket in Thailand on December 26, 2009. (REUTERS / Chaiwat Subprasom)

20. Tsunami survivor Abhilash Jeyaraj, also known as "Child 81", sits in a chair at home while waiting to leave for school in Kurukkalmadam, Batticaloa District, Nov.23, 2009. The 2004 tsunami brought this "child 81" international fame, but the parents of the boy, who was only two months old at the time of the tragedy, say that the fame brought them only misery and unwanted attention. The surviving child was found in the rubble on the coast of Sri Lanka. Soon after, nine pairs of parents came for him, each claiming to be their child. (REUTERS / Andrew Caballero-Reynolds)

23. Red Cross volunteers sit with open umbrellas depicting the faces of smiling orphans left without parents in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on the fifth anniversary of the disaster at the Tsunami Museum in Banda Aceh December 26, 2009. (REUTERS / Beawiharta)

A powerful tsunami occurred on December 26, 2004 in Thailand, at the very peak of the season. Its cause is an underwater earthquake in the Indian Ocean. It is still considered one of the most serious natural disasters in modern history and the third most powerful in the entire history of observation. Its power was 9.1 points on the Richter scale.

The force of the elements can be judged if only because it backfired even in South Africa, where waves of 1.5 m were recorded.Around the world, this event claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, according to various estimates, the number of victims of the tsunami in 2004 was from 200,000 up to 300,000 people.

Watch the video

The epicenter of the earthquake was located near the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The countries located directly next to it have suffered the most: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Maldives, Myanmar, Malaysia and others. Waves 15 m high reached the coasts of states at different times - very quickly to Sumatra, to India - after 1.5 hours, and to Somalia - after 7 hours. The tsunami reached mainland Thailand 2 hours after the earthquake.

The large number of casualties is attributed to the poor warning system and tsunami recognition. The fact is that huge waves appear only near the coast, and in the ocean they are not very high. A good indicator was the animals that left all coastal areas overnight and rushed into the mountains. But in the process of evolution, man lost his intuition and connection with nature, therefore he rested as if nothing had happened.

Tsunami in Thailand in 2004

A tsunami in 2004 hit the western part of Thailand, which goes into the Andaman Sea, Phuket, Phi Phi, Khao Lak, Lanta, Krabi, and the Similian Islands were badly affected. It is estimated that about 9,000 people died, with most of them tourists and not the local population.

Externally, the tsunami in Thailand in 2004 looked like this: suddenly the water began to leave the coast into the sea for a very long distance and after a few minutes everyone saw giant waves approaching the coast. There were 1-2 minutes left for the rescue. Since the wave height reached 10-15 meters, many "undersized" hotels were flooded. However, we will omit the details so as not to once again remember the tragedy. Probably everyone saw the news footage that flew around the world: twisted trees, cars, trains ...

Tsunami in Phuket in 2004

The tsunami affected almost the entire western coast of Phuket, where the most are located - Patong, Karon, Kamala and Kata. The infrastructure was partially destroyed - hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs. It is estimated that several hundred people died.

Although the tsunami in Phuket was devastating, the infrastructure was rebuilt very quickly. In fact, by 2006, nothing reminded of this tragic event.

Tsunami in 2012

The 2012 tsunami is a failed tsunami and, in a sense, even a curious incident. Many do not even know what it was. But first things first.

Should you be afraid of a tsunami in Thailand in Phuket, Phi Phi and others

Having described all the horrors of the tsunami above, many will decide not to get involved with Thailand and forever deprive themselves of the joy of rest in the resorts of the Andaman coast. We hasten to calm you down. Our answer is clear - not worth it. The fact is that after the tragedy of 2004, the Thai government, together with American experts, installed a deep-water system (the largest in the world) for early detection of tsunami. A loudspeaker system was also installed on the coast, which notifies the population of the approaching disaster in several languages. And all this happens a couple of hours before the alleged disaster. An evacuation system has already been worked out, which will quickly take people to safe areas, away from the sea.

You may ask, what about such small ones as the Phi Phi Islands, where you don't really get away from the coast. Again, our answer is, don't worry. There are huge mountains, compared to which the height of the 15 meters wave is just dwarf.

The early warning system was tested on April 11, 2012, when there was a tsunami in Thailand and when the entire west coast of Phuket was evacuated, which I witnessed. So it's okay, welcome to the Andaman Coast resorts!

If you are still plagued by vague doubts, then relax in the resorts of the Gulf of Thailand. They are successfully protected by the Malacca Peninsula from the tsunami in the Indian Ocean and Cambodia and Vietnam from the tsunami in the Pacific Ocean. The safest are located in the very depths of the Gulf of Thailand - Pattaya, Rayong, Hua Hin, Cha Am, Samet Island and Ko Lan. If you come to Thailand for a long time and the sea is not very important for you, then go to the north of the country, where the worst thing that can happen is to overflow the banks of the Chao Phraya or Mekong rivers. Of course, this is an unpleasant event, but not fatal.

Many remember the tsunami that swept across Southeast Asia in 2004, killing 400,000 people. It happened before the New Year and became a real disaster for local residents and vacationers. Here we recall the tragic events that took place during tsunami in Thailand 2004 of the year.

Tsunami in Thailand in 2004: how it happened

The super-powerful tsunami in Thailand was caused by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean. As a result, 18 countries were affected by the wave. The aftershock occurred on December 26 at 7.58 local time and went almost unnoticed. This led to huge casualties. tsunami in Thailand 2004 of the year. After 2 hours, the first wave approached the Thai coast. The magnitude of the earthquake was 9.1 - 9.3 points (it was recognized as the 3rd most powerful in history), and the epicenter was only 160 km from Sumatra. As a result, some small islands shifted by as much as 20 meters, and the Earth's rotation around its axis even accelerated slightly.

The wave height was 15 meters and washed away almost everything in its path: trees were torn out, buildings were destroyed, cars were washed away from parking lots, boats and larger ships were thrown ashore. The water that swept the beaches of Thailand, among which was the popular Patong, went deeper on land for several hundred meters, and in some places it went 2 kilometers inland. Tsunami in Thailand 2004, which came the first time, washed away almost all the infrastructure, but after that the wave returned twice more and completed the destruction.

Tsunami in Thailand 2004: destruction

Many fled to the mountains, and those who did not have time climbed onto the roofs of hotels. The most affected islands are Phuket, Phi Phi (the island is completely submerged), Krabi and Phangan provinces. In Thailand, about 8,500 people died, who were citizens of 40 countries.

The same wave reached India in 90 minutes, to the African coast in Somalia in 7 hours. Destruction has been reported even in South Africa in Port Elizabeth. Even the state of Kerala in India, also known for the bloody rains there, has suffered, although it is located on the west coast, not the east. The total number of victims varies from 250 to 300 thousand.

it tsunami in Thailand became the largest in 80 years and is in the TOP 10 most destructive in history.

, Thailand and other countries. The wave height exceeded 15 meters. The tsunami caused tremendous destruction and a huge number of deaths, including in Port Elizabeth in South Africa, 6,900 kilometers from the epicenter.

Killed, according to various estimates, from 225,000 to 234,000 people, but the calculation of the victims has not yet been completed. The true death toll is unlikely to ever become known, because many bodies were carried away by water into the sea.

Earthquake characteristics

Tsunami spread across the Indian Ocean

The original earthquake north of Shimolue Island was rated 6.8 on the Richter scale. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) estimated it at 8.5 magnitudes immediately after the incident. On an instantaneous scale, which is more accurate for earthquakes of this magnitude, the earthquake strength was 8.1 magnitudes. Upon further analysis, this estimate was increased to 8.5, to 8.9, and as a result was 9.0.

The earthquake was unusually large in a geographic sense. There was a shift of about 1200 km (according to some estimates - 1600 km) of the rock at a distance of 15 m along the subduction zone, as a result of which the Indian plate "climbed" under the Burma plate. The shift was not one-time, but was split into two phases over a period of several minutes. Seismographic data indicate that the first phase formed a fault of about 400 km by 100 km, located about 30 km from sea level. The fault was formed at a speed of about 2 km / s, starting from the Ase coast towards the northwest for about 100 seconds. Then there was a pause of about 100 seconds, after which the fault continued to form northward towards the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Indian Plate is part of the larger Indo-Australian Plate that lines the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, moving northeast at an average speed of 6 cm / year. The Indian Plate adjoins the Burma Plate, which is considered part of the larger Eurasian Plate), forming the Sunda Trench. At this point, the Indian Plate moves under the Burma Plate, on which the Nicobar Islands, Andaman Islands and the northern part of Sumatra are located. The Indian plate gradually slides deeper and deeper under the Burma plate, until the rising temperature and increasing pressure turn the raised edge of the Indian plate into magma, which is eventually ejected upward through volcanoes (see Volcanic arc). This process is interrupted by plate adhesion for several centuries until the build-up pressure results in a major earthquake and tsunami. Volcanic activity resulting from the Indo-Australian Plate pushing under the Eurasian Plate has created the Sunda Trench.

As the tectonic plates move, the seabed also rises several meters, thereby generating destructive tsunami waves. Tsunamis do not have a point center as such, which is mistakenly assumed from the illustrations of their propagation. Tsunamis propagate radially from the entire fault, approximately 1200 km long. It is for this reason that the tsunami waves were so strong that they even reached Mexico and Chile.

Subsequent tremors and other earthquakes

Several subsequent aftershocks were recorded near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as well as in the epicenter area during several hours and days following the first earthquake. The highest recorded score was 7.1 (near the Nicobar Islands,). The rest of the tremors with a magnitude of up to 6.6 continued to occur in the epicenter area almost every day.

The quake struck three days after the 8.1 magnitude quake in an uninhabited area west of the New Zealand islands of Auckland and north of the Australian island of Macquarie. This is quite unusual, since earthquakes of magnitude 8 or more occur on average no more than once a year. Some seismologists speak of a connection between these two earthquakes, saying that the later one was triggered by the first, since both earthquakes occurred on opposite sides Indo-Australian tectonic plate% 255E28477.00.html. However, the USGS sees no connection between the two.

Coincidentally, this earthquake occurred exactly one year (to the nearest hour) after the 6.6 magnitude earthquake that struck the city of Bam in Iran.

As with the subsequent tremors, the energy released by the first earthquake continued to operate, a week after the earthquake, vibrations were still recorded, providing important scientific data about the interior of the Earth.

Earthquake power

The total energy released by the Indian Ocean earthquake is estimated to be about 2 exjoules (2.0 10 18 joules). This energy is enough to boil 150 liters of water for each inhabitant of the Earth. It is assumed that the Earth's surface oscillated within 20-30 cm, which is equivalent to the tidal forces acting from the Sun and the Moon. The shock wave of the earthquake passed through the entire planet, in the USA, in the state of Oklahoma, vertical oscillations of 3 mm were recorded.

The mass shift and huge burst of energy did not change the Earth's rotation much. The exact figure has not yet been determined, but theoretical models suggest that the earthquake reduced the length of the day by about 2.68 microseconds (2.68 μs), that is, by about one billionth due to the decrease in the flattening of the Earth. The earthquake also caused the so-called. minute "wobble" of the Earth around its own axis by 2.5 cm in the direction of 145 ° east longitude, or, perhaps, even by 5 or 6 cm. However, under the influence of the tidal forces of the Moon, the length of the day increases by an average of 15 microseconds each year, so that any increase in the rotation rate will quickly disappear. In addition, the natural wobble of the Earth along its axis can be up to 15 m.

More impressively, some small islands southwest of Sumatra have been shifted southwest by up to 20 meters. The northern end of Sumatra, which is located on the Burma Plate (southern regions of the Sunda Plate), may also be shifted 36 meters to the southwest. The shear was both vertical and lateral; some coastal areas are now below sea level. Measurements taken with.

Tsunami characteristics

Sharp vertical tremors of the seabed several meters during the earthquake caused the movement of huge masses of water, which resulted in a tsunami that reached the shores of the Indian Ocean. Tsunamis that cause damage very far from where they originate are commonly referred to as "teletsunami" and are more likely to result from vertical displacement of the seabed than from horizontal displacement ( Earthquakes and tsunamis, Lorca et al.).

Full animation of the passage of waves (large file, more than 3 MB): why some countries have suffered more than others?

This tsunami, like the others, behaves very differently in the deep-water parts of the ocean than in shallow water. In the deep-water part, tsunami waves look like a small bump, just noticeable, but seemingly harmless, while they move at a very high speed (500-1000 km / h); in shallow water near the coasts, the tsunami slows down to tens of kilometers per hour, but at the same time forming huge destructive waves.

According to Ted Murty, vice president of the Tsunami Society, the total energy of the tsunami waves was comparable to five megatons of TNT (20 petajoules). This is more than twice the energy of all the warheads detonated during World War II (including the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki), but orders of magnitude less than the energy released by the earthquake itself. In many places, the waves traveled up to 2 km of land, and in some (in particular, in the coastal town of Banda Aceh) - 4 km.

Since the 1200 km fault was located approximately in the north-south direction, the tsunami waves reached the greatest strength in the east-west direction. Bangladesh, located at the northern end of the Bay of Bengal, received the most minor damage, despite being located quite low above sea level.

The coasts, which have a natural terrestrial barrier to tsunami waves, for the most part remained unoccupied; however, tsunami waves can sometimes diffract around such terrestrial obstacles. Thus, the Indian state of Kerala suffered from the tsunami, although it is located on the western coast of India; Sri Lanka's west coast was also hit hard by the tsunami. In addition, a large distance from the place where waves originate does not guarantee safety either; Somalia has suffered much more than Bangladesh, although it is much further away.

Depending on the distance, the time it took for the tsunami to reach the coasts ranged from 50 minutes to 7 hours (in the case of Somalia) (see travel time maps:,). The northern regions of the Indonesian island of Sumatra met with the tsunami very quickly, and Sri Lanka and the east coast of India only after 90 minutes to 2 hours later. Thailand was also hit by the wave two hours later, although it was closer to the epicenter - due to the fact that the tsunami was moving more slowly in the shallow Andaman Sea.

Some of the tsunami energy went into the Pacific Ocean, resulting in small but noticeable (to measure) tsunamis along the western coasts of North and South America (on average, 20-40 cm high). In Manzanillo, Mexico, a wave height of 2.6 meters was noted. Some experts note that this relatively large tsunami at such a distance was caused by a combination of the effects of the Pacific Ocean and local geography.

Signs and warnings

Despite the delay of up to several hours between the earthquake and the tsunami strike, this strike was a big surprise for almost all victims; the Indian Ocean tsunami detection system itself did not exist and, most importantly, there was no general warning system for coastal populations. By itself, tsunami detection is not so easy, since at the moment when the wave is far from the coast, it does not have a great height, such that a network of sensors and sensors can detect. But building sufficient communications infrastructure for timely tsunami warning is also a challenge.

Damage and casualties

Reported casualties from the earthquake, tsunami and subsequent flooding fluctuate wildly due to confusion and conflicting local reports. The total number of deaths is estimated at about 235 thousand people, tens of thousands are missing, more than a million people were left without a roof over their heads. Initially reported losses, measured in hundreds of human lives, but over the next week the number of known casualties increased dramatically.

Charitable organizations report that about a third of those killed are children. This is a result of the high proportion of children in settlements in many of the affected regions and the fact that children were least able to resist the incoming waters.

In addition to the huge number of local residents, over 9000 foreign tourists (mainly Europeans) who spent their holidays in the regions affected by the tsunami are dead or missing, especially those from Scandinavia. Probably the hardest hit of any European country has been Sweden, with 60 reported dead and 1,300 missing. ...

A critical situation has been declared in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Maldives. The UN has announced that the current rescue operation will be the most expensive ever. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the reconstruction will take five to ten years. Governments and nongovernmental organizations fear that the death toll could double in the end as a result of disease, prompting a massive humanitarian response.

Measured in lives lost, this is one of the 10 worst earthquakes in history (). It is also one of the worst tsunamis in history, the previous record was for the tsunami of the year in Awa (Japan), which killed more than 100,000 people ().

In order to create a chronicle of local events, it is necessary to take into account the offset of the time zones: UTC + 3: (Kenya, Madagascar, Somalia, Tanzania); UTC + 4: (Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles); UTC + 5: (Maldives); UTC + 5: 30: (India); UTC + 6: (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka); UTC + 6: 30: (Cocos Islands, Myanmar); UTC + 7: (Indonesia (west), Thailand); UTC + 8: (Malaysia, Singapore). The earthquake occurred at 00:58:53 UTC, add the indicated offsets to find out the local time of the earthquake. A list of times can be found on the USGS website.

Disaster-affected countries

Hardest hit countries by tsunami and earthquake

The earthquake and the resulting tsunami caused damage to a large number of countries in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia (especially the province of Aceh and the city of Banda Aceh), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Maldives, Somalia, Myanmar, Malaysia, and so on. Many citizens from other countries, especially Australia and European countries, took vacations in the disaster region.