Catastrophic 9.0 earthquake strikes Asia; 135,000+ dead from Tsunamis

[Brent88]

Originally posted by Full House
I can't believe it. That was the first largest earthquake in 40 years. I thought it looks like the end of the world is coming. That's sad. Asia was the most powerful disaster ever to hit by an earthquake.

Asia was a disaster?

[swedeace]

My mom told me about this. Oh, this is very terrible.

Sri Lanka, where officials put the death toll at 2,200, appealed for emergency international assistance, President Chandrika Kumaratunga's office said. One million people, or 5 percent of the population, were affected, officials said.

Oh, man! Sri Lanka? Ohh... One of my Sri Lankan co-worker's relatives live in Sri Lanka. It's a tiny country. I hope they're all right.

[Brent88]

Originally posted by swedeace
My mom told me about this. Oh, this is very terrible.


Oh, man! Sri Lanka? Ohh... One of my Sri Lankan co-worker's relatives live in Sri Lanka. It's a tiny country. I hope they're all right.

It's very bad... the island was devastated along with coastal and tourist areas of Thailand, Southern India, Sumatra, Indonesia, and even Somalia had 9 drownings!

[Brent88]

India

In Chennai, India, the force of the waves threw cars off the road.Over 3,200 killed (1724 in Tamil Nadu, over 1000 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 280 in Pondichery, 121 in Kerala and 61 in Andhra Pradesh). Hundreds feared missing (800 in Andhra Pradesh alone). Most of the people killed were fisherfolk who lived along the coast. Many fishermen, both at home and at sea were missing.

Initial reports hinted at very few casualties from the Andaman and Nicobar islands, but after many subsequent earthquakes near Nicobar, thousands were feared to have been killed. Communication with the Nicobars was also reported to be lost.

The worst damage, however was in Tamil Nadu, where the official toll was 1724, mostly women and children. Over 690 were killed in the Nagapattinam district alone, over 300 in the Cuddalore district, over 280 in the Kanyakumari district and over 200 in Chennai city. It was reported that there was no space for even helicopters to land in Cuddalore district.

Those killed in Kanyakumari include pilgrims taking a holy dip in the sea. 650 of about 700 people trapped at the Vivekananda Memorial in an island off Kanyakumari were rescued while the search is on for others. In Chennai along the Marina beach, people taking part in various sports activities (including children), and those who were having a morning walk along the beach, were washed away. It being a Sunday there were more people than usual on the beach.

The Indian Army, Navy and Coast Guard were pressed into service for undertaking rescue operations and to air-drop food to the tsunami victims. The chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh announced ex gratia relief for those affected by the tsunamis.

Indonesia
Some 4,422 killed on the island of Sumatra. Dozens of buildings destroyed in the initial earthquake, especially in the city of Banda Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra. Up to three-fourths of Indonesian deaths occurred in Banda Aceh. Most deaths were the result of the tsunami that struck the western coastal regions of Aceh and North Sumatra provinces. An accurate picture of the damage is difficult due to the ongoing insurgency of the Free Aceh Movement, which means that there are few journalists, government offices, or aid workers in the region. Indonesian government officials are concerned at the lack of communication with towns along the southwestern coast of Sumatra, including several small surfing and scuba diving resorts.

Malaysia
People were swept away from beaches as the tsunami hit, resulting in the deaths of 53 people - 38 in Penang, 12 in Kedah, 2 in Perak and one in Selangor. 34 people are missing. The deaths at Penang were reported to include many children who were playing on the beach. No deaths are reported among foreign tourists.

Maldives

Malé, the capital island of Maldives was severely hit by the tsunamis. 15 killed and the death toll is expected to rise. Two-thirds of the capital city Malé was flooded during the early hours of the day. Outlying low-level atolls were badly affected and some low lying islands were completely submerged during the high tide. The government has declared a state of emergency and a special task force has been setup to provide aide and supplies to the needy in the islands. Communications services has been badly affected and there was no prior rescue or relief plan whatsoever for a disaster like this.

Sri Lanka
At least 4,500 killed, mostly children and elderly. Approximately one million people have been displaced from their ruined homes. At Trincomalee, the tsunami reached more than 2 km inland. The government states that it has little information on the situation in the northern regions controlled by the rebel Tamil Tigers. 20,000 soldiers were deployed in government-controlled areas to assist in relief operations and maintain law and order after sporadic looting. Local media reported that landmines left after the two decade civil war had been washed up and spread by the surge of water.

The government reports at least 3000 dead in the south, while an official Tamil Tiger website reports 1500 dead in rebel areas.

Thailand
Thai media report that over 1,000 are feared killed, with 392 confirmed and 1,100 injured. 100 tourists, mainly scuba divers, are reported missing. The popular tourist resort of Phuket was badly hit. The bodies of 44 foreign tourists are reported to have been recovered at Phuket. Hundreds of holiday bungalows on the Phi Phi Islands were washed out to sea. Among those reported missing are Bhumi Jensen, a grandson of King Rama IX, and a former government minister.

[swedeace]

Originally posted by Brent88
It's very bad... the island was devastated along with coastal and tourist areas of Thailand, Southern India, Sumatra, Indonesia, and even Somalia had 9 drownings!

Aw, man... That means my co-worker is probably going back soon. This is all just terrible for these countries!!

[ABlairican Pie]

Seattle is due for an big earthquake sometime, one that scientists are predicting will cause a tsunami in the Puget Sound.

That and Mt. Rainier is set to erupt in the near future.

[Fleet]

Originally posted by Captain ABlairica
Seattle is due for an big earthquake sometime, one that scientists are predicting will cause a tsunami in the Puget Sound.

That and Mt. Rainier is set to erupt in the near future.

True, many people don't know it, but there was a huge (though offshore) earthquake in Washington state around 1690. These are estimated to occur as little as every 300 years to as much as every 900 years. It is estimated to have been about a 9 magnitude. These quake originate on the Cascadia Subduction Zone which begins in northern California and goes northwest off the coast of Oregon, Washington and southern Canada- a total of about 750 miles. If this subduction zone breaks in separate segments, it would probably mean magnitude 8 earthquakes. If the whole zone breaks all of once, it could be a 9 magnitude.

As for Mt. Rainier, yes that volcano and others possibly could erupt. Or it stay dormant. We'll just have to wait and see!

[Brent88]

Originally posted by Captain ABlairica
Seattle is due for an big earthquake sometime, one that scientists are predicting will cause a tsunami in the Puget Sound.

That and Mt. Rainier is set to erupt in the near future.

Guess what's at the other end of the ring of fire(connected to the fault that caused today's quake)?

Alaska, Washington and California.

All three of those are way overdue(especially WA and CA). Alaska's had some big ones in recent years.

[James"Thunder"Early]

that earthquake is a preview of whats to come. California is do for a big earthquake and we don't know when it will strike and how hard. in Northern California we have Mt. Shasta that's dormant, but it could erupt if we have strong seismic activity and there could be a tsunami as well and I don't think were prepared for that. that would also change the climate making more areas low lying and out here you can see how the land is slowly sinking down. if it could be picked up as far as the US then we close to something big.

[James"Thunder"Early]

There was a big earthquake off Tasmania two day ago. it seemed too have been a lead up to the big one

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english...ent_403149.htm

[ABlairican Pie]

Originally posted by Brent88
Guess what's at the other end of the ring of fire(connected to the fault that caused today's quake)?

Alaska, Washington and California.

All three of those are way overdue(especially WA and CA). Alaska's had some big ones in recent years.

Ring of Fire

Johnny Cash

Love is a burning thing
and it makes a firery ring
bound by wild desire
I fell in to a ring of fire...

I fell in to a burning ring of fire
I went down,down,down
and the flames went higher.
And it burns,burns,burns
the ring of fire
the ring of fire.

The taste of love is sweet
when hearts like our's meet
I fell for you like a child
oh, but the fire went wild..

I fell in to a burning ring of fire.....[etc]

Yes, I know about the Ring of Fire circling the globe, and yep, we here in the Pacific Northwest are definitely on it! I thought I'd throw in some of the Man in Black while I was at it.

[Fleet]

Originally posted by Captain ABlairica
Ring of Fire

Johnny Cash

From 1963.

[Brent88]

Asian Tsunamis Kill at Least 13,340 People

6 minutes ago World - AP Asia
By DILIP GANGULY, Associated Press Writer

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Legions of rescuers spread across Asia Monday after an earthquake of epic power struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean, unleashing 20-foot tidal waves that ravaged coasts across thousands of miles and killed more than 13,340 people and left millions homeless in the fourth-largest temblor in a century.

The death toll along the southern coast of Asia — and as far west as Somalia, on the African coast, where nine people were reported lost — steadily increased as authorities sorted out a far-flung disaster caused by Sunday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake, strongest in 40 years.

Signs of the carnage were everywhere: Dozens of bodies still clad in swimming trunks lined beaches in Thailand. Villagers in Indonesia picked through the debris of destroyed houses amid the smell of rotting corpses. Hundreds of prisoners escaped a coastal jail in Sri Lanka.

More than one million people were driven from their homes in Indonesia alone, and rescuers there on Monday combed seaside villages for survivors. The Indian air force used helicopters to rush food and medicine to stricken seashore areas.

Another million were driven from their homes in Sri Lanka where some 25,000 soldiers and 10 air force helicopters were deployed in relief and rescue efforts, authorities said.

At Thailand's beach resorts, packed with Europeans fleeing the winter cold at the peak of the holiday season, families and friends had tearful reunions Monday after a day of fear that their loved ones had been swept away.

Katri Seppanen, 27, of Helsinki, Finland, walked around barefoot, in her salt water-stained T-shirt and skirt, at the Patong Hospital waiting room where she spent the night with her mother and sister. She had a bandaged cut on her leg.

"The water went back, back, back, so far away, and everyone wondered what it was — a full moon or what? Then we saw the wave come, and we ran," said a tearful Seppanen, who was on the popular Patong beach with her family. The wave washed over their heads and separated them.

Fifty-eight half-naked and swimming suit-clad corpses lay in rows outside the Patong Hospital emergency room. Three babies under the age of one were among the victims. A photo of one baby was posted on the wall of victims, the little corpse in a nearby refrigerator.

The earthquake hit at 6:58 a.m.; the tsunami came as much as 2 1/2 hours later, without warning, on a morning of crystal blue skies. Sunbathers and snorkelers, cars and cottages, fishing boats and even a lighthouse were swept away.

Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India each reported thousands dead. Deaths were also reported in Malaysia, Maldives and Bangladesh.

"It's an extraordinary calamity of such colossal proportions that the damage has been unprecedented," said Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa of India's Tamil Nadu, a southern state which reported 1,705 dead, many of them strewn along beaches, virtual open-air mortuaries.

"It all seems to have happened in the space of 20 minutes. A massive tidal wave of extreme ferocity ... smashed everything in sight to smithereens," she said.

At least three Americans were among the dead — two in Sri Lanka and one in Thailand, according to State Department spokesman Noel Clay. He said a number of other Americans were injured, but he had no details.

"We're working on ways to help. The United States will be very responsive," Clay said.

John Krueger, 34, of Winter Park, Colorado, described being inside his bungalow Sunday on Khao Luk Beach, north of Phuket, with his wife, Romina Canton, 26, of Rosario, Argentina, when the water filled it and blew it apart.

"The water rushed under the bungalow, brought our floor up and raised us to the ceiling. The water blew out our doors, our windows and the back concrete wall. My wife was swept away with the wall, and I had to bust my way through the roof," Krueger said while waiting to talk to a U.S. Embassy official at Phuket City Hall. "It was like being in a washing machine."

Canton was dragged into the ocean for more than an hour until a wave brought her back to land again, with a broken nose and foot scratches all over her body, Krueger said.

The quake was centered 155 miles south-southeast of Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province on Sumatra, and six miles under the Indian Ocean's seabed. The temblor leveled dozens of buildings on Sumatra — and was followed Sunday by at least a half-dozen powerful aftershocks, ranging in magnitude from almost 6 to 7.3, and one aftershock Monday that hit India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The waves that followed the first massive jolt were far more lethal.

An Associated Press reporter in Aceh province saw bodies wedged in trees as the waters receded. More bodies littered the beaches. Authorities said at least 4,448 were dead in Indonesia; the full impact of the disaster was not known, as communications were cut to the towns most affected.

The waves barreled across the Bay of Bengal, pummeling Sri Lanka, where more than 4,500 were reported killed — at least 3,000 in areas controlled by the government and about 1,500 in regions controlled by rebels, who listed the death toll on their Web site. There was an unconfirmed report of 500 more deaths on another Web site that provided no details. Some 170 children were feared lost in an orphanage. More than a million people were displaced from wrecked villages.

Devinda R. Subasinghe, the Sri Lanka ambassador to the United States, said the extensive damage will make the rescue effort more difficult. "It's going to take time to figure out access to these areas that have been impacted," Subasinghe said Monday in an interview on CNN. Up to 70 percent of the island's coastline was damaged, he said.

There was sporadic, small-scale looting in the towns of Galle and Matara, and authorities said about 200 inmates escaped from a prison, taking advantage of the chaos after guards panicked and fled when water entered the building.

About 2,300 were reported dead along the southern coasts of India. The private Aaj Tak television channel put the death toll there at up to 3,300, but the report could not be confirmed. At least 431 in Thailand, 48 in Malaysia and 32 in the Maldives, a string of coral islands off the southwestern coast of India. At least two died in Bangladesh — children who drowned as a boat with about 15 tourists capsized in high waves.

In India's Andhra Pradesh state, at least 32 Hindu devotees were drowned when they went into the sea for a religious ceremony to mark the full moon. Among them were 15 children. On Monday, bodies of women and children lay strewn on the sand.

"I was shocked to see innumerable fishing boats flying on the shoulder of the waves, going back and forth into the sea, as if made of paper," said P. Ramanamurthy, 40, of that state.

In Cuddalore, in the worst-hit Tamil Nadu state, survivors huddled Monday in a marriage hall turned makeshift shelter, as fire engine sirens whined outside. Broken boats law on the shore near smashed huts with only frail bamboo frames jutting out of the ground.

The earthquake that caused the tsunami was the largest since a 9.2 temblor hit Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1964, according to geophysicist Julie Martinez of the U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites).

"All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation.

The quake occurred at a place where several huge geological plates push against each other with massive force. The survey said a 620-mile section along the boundary of the plates shifted, motion that triggered the sudden displacement of a huge volume of water.

Scientists said the death toll might have been reduced if India and Sri Lanka had been part of an international warning system designed to advise coastal communities that a potentially killer wave was approaching. Although Thailand is part of the system, the west coast of its southern peninsula does not have the system's wave sensors mounted on ocean buoys.

As it was, there was no warning. Gemunu Amarasinghe, an AP photographer in Sri Lanka, said he saw young boys rushing to catch fish that had been scattered on the beach by the first wave.

"But soon afterward, the devastating second series of waves came," he said. He climbed onto the roof of his car, but "In a few minutes my jeep was under water. The roof collapsed.

"I joined masses of people in escaping to high land. Some carried their dead and injured loved ones. Some of the dead were eventually placed at roadside, and covered with sarongs. Others walked past dazed, asking if anyone had seen their family members."

Michael Dobbs, a reporter for The Washington Post, was swimming around a tiny island off a Sri Lankan beach at about 9:15 a.m. when his brother called out that something strange was happening with the sea.

Then, within minutes, "the beach and the area behind it had become an inland sea, rushing over the road and pouring into the flimsy houses on the other side. The speed with which it all happened seemed like a scene from the Bible — a natural phenomenon unlike anything I had experienced before," he wrote on the Post's Web site.

Dobbs weathered the wave, but then found himself struggling to keep from being swept away when the floodwaters receded.

The international airport was closed in the Maldives after a tidal wave that left 51 people missing in addition to the 32 dead.

Indonesia, a country of 17,000 islands, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the margins of tectonic plates that make up the so-called the "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific Ocean basin.

The Indonesian quake struck just three days after an 8.1 quake along the ocean floor between Australia and Antarctica caused buildings to shake hundreds of miles away. The earlier temblor caused no serious damage or injury.

Quakes reaching a magnitude 8 are very rare. A quake registering magnitude 8 rocked Japan's northern island of Hokkaido on Sept. 25, 2003, injuring nearly 600 people. An 8.4 magnitude tremor that struck off Peru on June 23, 2001, killed 74.
_________________

[MissZero]

damn this is some ****........ill be prayin for everyone affected by this disaster.

[Hollow]

ugh ya i was there. eye got hit by the tsunami but i luckily had my floaties.