Again, grants or loans from the government have been essential to enable the industry to re-equip itself. Asian Tsunami Disaster, Khao Lak, Thailand (2004) Asian Tsunami Disaster, Aceh, Indonesia (2004) Tai Chung County Earthquake (1999) Highland Towers Collapse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1993) Baguio City Earthquake, Philippines (1990) Flooding due to Dam Collapse, Attapeu Province, Laos PDR With waves traveling 500 mph across the Indian Ocean, the tsunami hit the coastal provinces of Phang Nga and Phuket an hour and a half later. There were revelations about the height of these poles, too – the (up to) 10 meter waves submerged the shorter, older poles. That’s 300 miles (480 km) per hour, leaving more than 1.7 million homeless affecting 18 countries. Due to the topography of the seabed, coastline and reefs offshore, the tsunami waves piled on top of themselves and in doing so, create the infamous 'disappearing sea effect' which enticed many tourists to their deaths. Feb 12, 2015 - To give an accurate representation of what happened. Curious beachgoers even wandered out among the oddly receding waves, only to be chased down by a churning wall of water. Hundreds of holiday tourists on the Phi Phi Islands were washed out to sea. “So without a natural warning, without an official warning and with no history of tsunamis, hitting coastlines full of people, that’s the perfect combination to cause a lot of death and destruction.”. The family was on vacation in Thailand when the tsunami struck. This is due to increasing doubts about the reliability of the classification on the basis of visual identification of badly decomposed bodies into "Thai" and "foreign" categories. All Rights Reserved. All bodies of unknown origin will now be DNA tested to determine their ethnic origin. An article in the Bangkok Post on 10 January suggested that some of the figures in this table may be seriously misleading. image caption Survivors walk through the debris on Phuket's Patong beach the day after the tsunami Shortly before 08:00 on 26 December 2004, a magnitude-9.1 … Thais found this possibility offensive both on health grounds and for religious reasons. The sea around these islands when the tsunami struck was reported to have strong currents and divers underwater felt as though they were in a washing machine. The tsunami was the deadliest in recorded history, taking 230,000 lives in a matter of hours. [1] The epicenter of the 9.0 magnitude quake was located in the Indian Ocean near the west coast of Sumatra. An hour later, on the opposite side of the Indian Ocean, the waves struck the southeastern coast of India near the city of Chennai, pushing debris-choked water kilometers inland and killing more than 10,000 people, mostly women and children, since many of the men were out fishing. Tsunami 2004 Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. What has saved her, she tells Tim Adams , … Apart from deaths, thousands of people had been injured and more than one million displaced. Thai sources acknowledge that the great majority of those listed as "missing" are in fact dead, and that a large majority of these are foreigners. The tsunami struck the west coast of Phuket island, flooding and causing damage to almost all the major beaches such as Patong, Karon, Kamala, and Kata beach. He credits the unsparing destructiveness of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on the raw power of the earthquake that spawned it. Over 500,000 people were injured by the tsunami, with a further 150,000 at risk from infectious diseases in the aftermath. Within 100 seconds, an enormous rupture in the earth crust appeared 30 km below the seabed. This effect is also known as the tsunami drawback. The sectors most badly damaged were tourism and fishing. The Thai government reported 4,812 confirmed deaths, 8,457 injuries, and 4,499 missing after the country was hit by a tsunami caused by the Indian Ocean earthquake on 26 December 2004. Titov will never forget the scene of widespread devastation he witnessed on Sumatra even months after the tsunami waters had subsided. At 7:59 AM, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake—one of the largest ever recorded—ripped through an undersea fault in the Indian Ocean, propelling a massive column of water toward unsuspecting shores. Rather than delivering one violent jolt, the quake lasted an unrelenting 10 minutes, releasing as much pent-up power as several thousand atomic bombs. Live TV Once caught in the raging waters, if the currents don’t pull you under, the debris will finish the job. Reinforced concrete power poles are normally the standard in countries with high seismic risk. Tourists Warren and Julie Lavender were scuba diving off Thailand when the tsunami struck. RIP. Thousands of Thais dependent on tourism-related industries lost their jobs, not just in the south but also in the poorest part of Thailand, Isan in the north-east, where many workers in the tourism industry come from. The Story of Dwayne Meadows, survivor of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, tsunami that hit the coasts of several countries of South and Southeast Asia in December 2004. But some of the worst devastation was reserved for the island nation of Sri Lanka, where more than 30,000 people were swept away by the waves and hundreds of thousands left homeless. Source: Bangkok Post. Many Thai-owned hotels and other small businesses were ruined, and the Thai government provided large amounts of capital to enable the recovery of the private sector. The number of deaths whose nationality has not been established has risen correspondingly, from less than 200 to about 2,100. The massive 9.1 magnitude quake even shook buildings in Bangkok, Thailand 1,242 miles (nearly 2,000 kilometers) from where the … The December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was caused by slippage of about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) of the boundary between the India and Burma plates off … December 26, 2004. RECOVERY PROCESS IN THAILAND AFTER THE 2004 INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI group made a detailed survey on tsunami behavior (Matsutomi et al., 2004; Satake et al., 2005 and Tsuji et al., 2006). PHOTO: Phuket just moments after the Indian Ocean Tsunami hit the holiday island on December 26, 2004 – Associated Press/Stephen Trupp Fifteen years after the Indian Ocean tsunami killed upwards of 230,000 people on December 26, 2004, a container at the Takua Pa police station in Phang Nga, southern Thailand, still contains personal items from the hundreds of victims whose … Many people were the victim of one of the most powerful aspects of nature, the Tsunami. On December 26, 2004, at 7:59 am local time, an undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 struck off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Field Survey northern Sumatra and Banda Aceh, Sumatra region after the December 26th, 2004 earthquake and tsunami led to the This was followed by a large withdrawal of the sea before the … The beach resorts along the Andaman Sea coast were extensively damaged. Addition of the tsunami's waves and associated debris demonstrated their weakness to shearing at the base. The tsunami in Thailand that occurred on December 26, 2004, was by far the largest tsunami catastrophe in human history. While the destruction in Thailand… Bayona. “In earthquakes, a certain number of people die but many more are injured. The tsunami was the deadliest in recorded history, taking 230,000 lives in a matter of hours. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! A 2004 tsunami took some 230,000 lives in a matter of hours. The popular tourist resort of Phuket was badly hit. The most affected country during that terrible tsunami and earthquake was Indonesia. Titov emphasizes that tsunamis look nothing like the giant surfing break-style waves that many of us imagine. The "total deaths" and "total injured" categories include dead and injured persons whose nationality is not given or has not been established. In early November 2004, Hawai’i resident Dwayne Meadows attended a scientific conference where he purchased a commemorative t-shirt. The Thai government reported 4,812[1] confirmed deaths, 8,457[1] injuries, and 4,499[1] missing after the country was hit by a tsunami caused by the Indian Ocean earthquake on 26 December 2004. Khao Lak also has an extensive area of flatland only a few meters above the sea level, on which most bungalows were situated. In the long run the tsunami disaster brought considerable benefits to Thailand, especially the southern tourist areas. Thailand held legislative elections on 6 February 2005, and the tsunami disaster was drawn into the election campaign. The effect was like dropping the world’s largest pebble in the Indian Ocean with ripples the size of mountains extending out in all directions. During the 2004 Tsunami, neither the quick data analysis nor the ground warning systems were in place, but since then countries involved have worked to remedy that shortcoming. The resulting earthquake was the third largest ever recorded. “Almost no injuries, because it’s such a difficult disaster to survive.”. “They are the largest faults in the world and they’re all underwater,” says Titov. While underwater, they … Billions of people were waking up, making coffee, or in other parts of the globe preparing for a good night’s sleep. If you continue browsing the site, you agree to … The Boxing Day tsunami would be the deadliest in recorded history, taking a staggering 230,000 lives in a matter of hours. Case study: tsunami. Thailand was next. In response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, World Vision mounted its largest-ever relief response across five countries simultaneously — Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, and Myanmar — and raised more than $350 million. Due to proximity of the Andaman coasts of Thailand situated just about 500 km east of the earthquake epicentre, the tsunami took just 2 hours to reach and strike the western coastline of the country. The total numbers of people killed during that tsunami were nearly 230,000. These included six male Indian elephants which had previously been used in making the movie Alexander. The city of Banda Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra was closest to the powerful earthquake’s epicenter and the first waves arrived in just 20 minutes. The quake originated in a so-called megathrust fault, where heavy oceanic plates subduct beneath lighter continental plates. Read more: The Deadliest Natural Disasters in U.S. History. An earthquake and tsunami of the magnitude that struck in 2004 is so rare that catastrophic tsunamis are all but unknown in the long cultural histories of India and Sri Lanka, explains Jose Borrero, a tsunami researcher with the University of Southern California and director of eCoast, a marine consultancy based in New Zealand. It was just their fifth diving expedition. The tsunami also moved east across the Indian Ocean. Relatives of people killed in the 2004 tsunami embrace at a commemoration ceremony on Dec 26, 2014 in Phangnga’s Takua Pa district to mark the 10th anniversary of the deadly disaster. The economic impact of the tsunami on Thailand was considerable, though not as great as in poorer countries such as Indonesia or Sri Lanka. It’s completely reversed with tsunamis,” says Titov. It was 2004, the day after Christmas, and thousands of European and American tourists had flocked to the beaches of Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia to escape the winter chill in a tropical paradise. It was during these expeditions that scientists confirmed maximum wave heights of more than 131 feet on the northwestern tip of the island. The death toll in Thailand was nearly 5,400 including 2,000 foreign tourists. Sonali Deraniyagala lost her husband, children and parents in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and was maddened with grief. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Khao Lak experienced the highest run-up of any tsunami wave height of any location outside Sumatra. The number of "foreign injured" has been reduced by evacuations of foreign nationals. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Today we remember the victims of that fateful day back in 2004. On Sunday 26 December 2004, a magnitude 9 earthquake occurred off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. After the 2004 Tsunami, Thailand created a tsunami evacuation system with alarm towers along the coast, plus radio, television, and text message warnings and clearly marked evacuation routes in densely populated areas. On the coast of Thailand, billions of tons of water crashed onto the shores.An extremely powerful earthquake, classified as a ‘megathrust’, caused an enormous Tsunami. With Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Oaklee Pendergast. The huge quake triggered a massive tsunami across the Indian Ocean which would kill more than 230,000 people across 14 countries and become one of the world's deadliest and most destructive natural disasters. A further problem was the public aversion in Thailand to eating locally caught fish, for fear that the fish have fed on human dead bodies which were swept out to sea by the tsunami[citation needed]. “It’s a wave, but from the observer’s standpoint, you wouldn’t recognize it as a wave,” Titov says. more Watch the tremendous tsunami of 2004 approach the coast of Thailand. The 2004 quake ruptured a 900-mile stretch along the Indian and Australian plates 31 miles below the ocean floor. Bhumi Jensen, grandson of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej was among those killed in Khao Lak. Vasily Titov is a tsunami researcher and forecaster with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Center for Tsunami Research. On the morning of the 26th of December 2004, the seafloor shook and rumbled off the west coast of Sumatra. Map of Phuket Island Tsunami Region in Thailand. Thailand was one of the countries that was hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. It was an undersea megathrust earthquake that registered a magnitude of 9.1–9.3 Mw, reaching a Mercalli intensity up to IX in certain areas. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra accused the former Democratic Party of Thailand government of Chuan Leekpai of ignoring warnings in 1998 of the possible risk of a tsunami affecting Thailand. Infrastructure in general was, predictably, severely damaged, though much has been gleaned from surveying the aftermath. In the open ocean the tsunami's fast-moving waves were only a few feet high and posed little hazard to deepwater reefs. Tsunami In Thailand (2004) - Short (Documentary) This deadliest tsunami 2004 caused by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, killing more than 250,000 people in a single day is the most devastating tsunami in modern times, traveled 375 miles (600 km) in a mere 75 min. It was triggered by a magnitude 9.1-9.3 earthquake along the Indian-Australian subduction zone off the northern coast of Sumatra. 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