Tsunami
A fault rupture
was encountered at the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia along
Sunda Trench zone plate boundary, causing a devastating tsunami around
the Indian Ocean on the 26th December 2004. Since the entire water
column is involved, the tsunami in open oceans strike with long wave
lengths about 200km. The highest waves spread east-west from the
North-South running fault line.
PHYSICAL & HUMAN IMPACTS
According
to the Indian ocean earthquake and tsunami research group,from Japan,
there was 174,500 casualties, 51,500 were missing, and roughly 1.5
million people displaced. The Tsunami affected regions are along the
coasts of Sumatra, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and the
Maldives. Even the coasts of Africa and on islands in the Western Indian
Ocean, such as Seychelles Islands were strike by the Tsunami. Innocent
life were lost due to the disastrous effects. Of the 31,000 lives lost
in Sri Lanka, 80 % were in the most heavily affected areas of the
Eastern and Southern provinces. In India, 75% of the 10,700 fatalities
were in the South state of Tamil Nadu. In Thailand, residents and
foreign tourists in the Phuket Island and the surrounding Southern
Coastal Provinces were severely affected by the tsunami.
Before and After the Tsunami
Economic and Insured Losses
Overall
economic losses from the Tsunami is estimated at $ 10 billion, with 75%
of the loss attributed to the damage in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka
and India. There was damage to residential buildings, infrastructure,
including roads, water supply, schools, hospitals, electric power
systems and healthcare facilities. In the worst affected countries, the
insurance to recover the loss was extremely low.
Snapshots
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