26th December 2004
From AP Newswire
More than 8,700 people across Asia were killed Sunday after one of the most powerful earthquakes on record triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into coastlines in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Thailand and Malaysia.
Tourists, fishermen, hotels, homes and cars were swept away by walls of water unleashed by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake, centered off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where at least 1,902 people were killed by floods and collapsing buildings, officials said.
But the scope of the disaster became apparent only after waves as high as six meters (20 feet) crashed into coastal areas throughout the Indian Ocean and Andaman Sea.
In Sri Lanka - some 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) west of the epicenter - the death toll stood aabout 4,500, according to a police chief in the capital.
One million more were affected by the surging wall of water, the government said.
Indian officials said as many as 1,900 had been killed along the country's southern coast.
Another 198 were confirmed dead in Thailand, 42 in Malaysia and 2 in Bangladesh. Thousands of people were missing, many of them fishermen at sea, and rescue workers struggled against floodwaters to find and evacuate stranded victims.
The death toll climbed throughout the day and was expected to grow even higher as more bodies were discovered.
Hundreds of bodies were found on various beaches along India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, and more were expected to be washed in by the sea, officials said.
"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, a resident of the neighboring Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
"Many boats were upturned, but fishermen were still holding on to them,'' Ramanamurthy said.
"They also were pushed into the sea. It was shocking.''
Among those killed along India's Andhra Pradesh state were 32 people, including 15 children, who had gone into the sea for a Hindu religious bath to mark the full moon day, police said.
They said 20,000 people were evacuated in four districts.
The U.S. Geological Survey's Web site recorded the magnitude 8.9 earthquake off the west coast of northern Sumatra, 1,620 kilometers (1,000 miles) northwest of Jakarta.
It was centered 40 kilometers (25 miles) below the seabed.
Aftershocks struck in the magnitude 7 range.
The earthquake was the world's fifth most powerful since 1900 and the strongest since a 9.2 temblor slammed Alaska in 1964, U.S. earthquake experts said.
The force of it shook unusually far afield, causing buildings to sway hundreds of miles away, from Singapore to the city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, and in Bangladesh, hours after the region's Christian communities had finished Christmas celebrations.
Initial damage centered on the Indonesian province of Aceh on northern Sumatra. Dozens of buildings were destroyed, but as elsewhere, much of the death toll appeared to come from onrushing floodwaters.
Towns nearest the epicenter were leveled by tidal waves, which killed at least 1,902 people and left bodies wedged in trees as the waters receded, Indonesian officials and witnesses said.
Officials warned the death toll could rise dramatically.
"I saw nine people killed by flooding, including four children,'' a witness who gave his name as Mustafa told el-Shinta radio station from Banda Aceh.
A spokesman for Indonesian state-owned Garuda Airlines said Banda Aceh's airport was flooded and planes were unable to land.
In Sri Lanka, the government called Sunday's events a national disaster and appealed for emergency relief.
"It is a very tragic situation,'' said police spokesman Rienzie Perera, adding that some hospitals were unable to treat the injured.
Holidays turned to disaster in southern Thailand, which welcomes hundreds of thousands of tourists to its southern beaches during the Christmas season.
At least 198 people died, 1,900 others were injured and many more - reportedly including foreign tourists on diving excursions - were missing, authorities said.
"Just out of nowhere, suddenly the streets (were) awash and people just running and screaming from the beach,'' John Hyde, a vacationing Australian state lawmaker, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television.
"People were getting swept along still on their motorbikes,'' Simon Morse, another Australian tourist, told the ABC.
"There were cars that had been picked up by the storm surge and they were getting pushed down the road, taking things out as they went.''
The owner of two resorts on Phi Phi island - where the film "The Beach'', starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was filmed - said that 200 of his bungalows were swept out to sea, along with some of his employees and customers.
"I am afraid that there will be a high figure of foreigners missing in the sea, and also my staff,'' said Chan Marongtaechar, who was in the Thai capital of Bangkok at the time.
He estimated that 700 people could have been on the beach.
In India, 1,900 people were killed, many swept away in boats, homes and vehicles, officials said.
The worst affected area was Tamil Nadu state where 1,567 people were killed, said the state's top elected official, Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa.
At least 102 people were killed in the federally administered territory of Pondicherry near Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy said.
Another 14 people were killed in Kerala state and 14 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Patil said.
Among those killed in Andhra Pradesh were 32 people - 15 of them children - who had gone into the sea for a Hindu religious bath.
High waves inundated the Maldives, a string of 1,192 coral atolls off the southwestern coast of India, injuring one Italian tourist and forcing the airport to close, an official said.
A British man died from a heart attack minutes before the waves hit.
In Malaysia, authorities closed some beaches to the public after 42 people were swept away near the northern city of Penang.
The victims were believed to be mainly tourists and included some foreigners, a police spokesman said.
Their identities were not immediately known.
At least 2 children were killed when a boat capsized in Bangladesh, local authorities said.
Officials received reports that some vessels capsized at sea, but there were no further details, said Low Kong Chiew, director of the state government's Seismological Division.
The figures:
-Sri Lanka: About 4,500 reported dead, up to 1 million displaced. Massive tidal waves smash coastal villages.
-India: More than 2,000 reported dead. Huge waves leave southern beaches strewn with bodies and flip over fishing boats and cars. Some flooding.
-Indonesia: 1,902 reported dead. Towns leveled and bodies wedged in trees by walls of water. Aceh province on Sumatra island - torn by separatist violence for years - was near the Indonesian quake's epicenter and was the hardest-hit part of the vast archipelago
-Thailand: 198 reported dead and many missing, mostly in idyllic southern islands packed with holiday revelers from around the world at the height of this country's tourist season. Swimmers are battered on coral reefs and sunbathers are swept out to sea.
-Malaysia: 43 people, including an unknown number of foreign tourists, reported dead. Tens of thousands are temporarily evacuated from hotels and apartments after the Indonesian quake was felt around peninsular Malaysia. No major damage reported.
-Bangladesh: A magnitude 7.36 temblor struck the southern port city of Chittagong. Tidal surges kill at least two children as a boat with about 15 tourists capsized. Reports said the quake was felt in the central, southern and western parts of the country, including the capital Dhaka.
-Maldives: No deaths confirmed, but much of this low-lying country of coral atolls off India's southwestern coast, a popular high-end tourist destination, is reportedly inundated. The country's only international airport is closed.
Ysunami or tidal waves
Tidal waves, or tsunami, often set off by undersea earthquakes, have caused several major disasters in coastal communities over the years.
References to these waves date back as far as ancient Greece and Rome, including a wave that shook the Eastern Mediterranean on July 21, 365, killing thousands of residents of Alexandria, Egypt.
Among other notable tsunami:
-December 26, 2004, the most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggers waves that travel thousands of kilometers (miles) to crash onto the coastlines of at least five Asian countries, killing more than 8,700 people and affecting millions of others.
-July 17, 1998, an offshore quake triggers a wave that strikes the north coast of Papua-New Guinea killing some 2,000 people and leaving thousands more homeless.
-Aug. 16, 1976, a tsunami kills more than 5,000 people in the Moro Gulf region of the Philippines.
-March 28, 1964, Good Friday earthquake in Alaska sends out a wave swamping much of the Alaskan coast and destroying three villages. The wave kills 107 people in Alaska, four in Oregon and 11 in California as it sweeps down the West Coast.
-May 22, 1960, a wave reported as up to 11 meters (35 feet) high kills 1,000 in Chile and causes damage in Hawaii, where 61 die, and in the Philippines, Okinawa and Japan as it sweeps across the Pacific.
-April 1, 1946, Alaskan quake generates tsunami that destroys North Cape Lighthouse, killing five. Hours later the wave arrives at Hilo, Hawaii, killing 159 people and doing millions of dollars in damage.
-Jan. 31, 1906, a devastating offshore quake submerges part of Tumaco, Colombia, and washes away every house on the coast between Rioverde, Ecuador, and Micay, Colombia. Death toll estimated at 500 to 1,500.
-Dec. 17, 1896, a tsunami washes away part of the embankment and main boulevard of Santa Barbara, California.
-June 15, 1896, the Sanriku tsunami strikes Japan without warning. A wave estimated at more than 23 meters (70 feet) high hits a crowd gathered to celebrate a religious festival, killing more than 26,000 people.
-Aug. 27, 1883, the eruption of the volcano Krakatau generates a massive wave that sweeps over the shores of nearby Java and Sumatra, killing 36,000 people.
-Nov. 1, 1775, the great Lisbon earthquake generates a wave up to 6 meters (20 feet) high that strikes coastal Portugal, Spain and Morocco. - AP
