Transcript
The PowerPoint presentation which you are about to watch is sad and, in places, you may find it shocking. It was made on the 30th December 2004 by a Geography teacher who, like you, has watched with horror as the events unfolded daily on our screens.
“This is a human tragedy on a huge scale – for once caused by the action
of Nature rather than Man”William Rees Mogg 27.12.04
Indian Ocean Tsunami26th December 2004
At GMT 00.59 a magnitude 9 undersea earthquake shook the sea bed off the north west coast of Sumatra. Within hours multiple tsunamis
had swept across the Indian Ocean ravaging coastal regions and killing over 120,000 people.
The USGS (United States Geological Survey) record of the earthquake
The seismograph recording of the earthquake
Two tectonic plates, the Australian and Eurasian plates, meet just off Sumatra's south-west coast, grinding together and sending periodic seismic tremors through the region. At 0059 GMT a violent rupture occurred on the sea floor along a fault about 1,000km long.
Area affected The 9.0 magnitude quake, which was the strongest in the world for at least 40 years, wreaked havoc across the whole region.
Walls of water, tens of metres high, slammed into coastal resorts thousands of miles apart. Surging seas and floods were reported as far away as east Africa.
Deadly wave All along the rupture the seafloor was shunted vertically by about 10 metres.
This movement displaced the overlying water, generating a massive tsunami, or tidal wave.
The wave then fanned out across the Indian Ocean at enormous speed.
The waves spread out on their voyage of destruction
Within half an hour the waves had reached Sumatra and Malaysia
and swept ashore in Thailand.
Two hours later they reached Sri Lanka and India.
Within four hours they had crossed the ocean to the east coast of Africa
The power of tsunamis only becomes clear as they approach shallow water along the coast
But from the beaches few people recognised the danger of the white line on the horizon
Hildasan, 50, net-maker
I was repairing some fishing nets in the harbour when I saw the waters rising. I'd never seen anything like it. I began to run for my life - I knew something was very wrong. The rumbling noise, the rising water, just didn't make sense. As I ran inland the sea seemed to be roaring in the background.
Their full force is unleashed as they break on to land
Sundar Raj, 21, fisherman
I was sleeping in our boat when the sea began making a rumbling sound. I saw the water level rising. I jumped into the water and tied my boat to the wharf as the waves began lashing me from behind. I climbed on to the jetty and ran.
The killer wave strikes Kalutara Sri Lanka
“Scale of devastation Thousands are reported to have been killed, but there has been little news from the worst-hit areas where all transport and communication links were destroyed. “ bbc.co.uk 27.12.04
The AftermathEarly reports gave no hint of the scale of the
disaster…….
Low lying coastal areas were left obliterated and
flooded as here in Aceh province in
Sumatra, Indonesia
Current reports indicate that the north
and west coasts of Sumatra have
experienced the worst destruction
Whole villages were flattened as here in Sri Lanka
Fishing boats, which provide essential food supplies for local people here in India, have been washed ashore
Scenes which were repeated across the
Indian Ocean
Sri Lanka
Phuket, Thailand
Low lying areas have been left flooded with seawater which quickly becomes contaminated
with sewage and decomposing bodies
Male in the Maldives
Banda Aceh in Sumatra, Indonesia
Millions of people have been left homeless
Cuddalore, south of Madras, India
Penang, Malaysia
V Govindan, 55, fish seller
My house was blown nearly half a kilometre inland when the waves came. I started running with my wife and four children. I returned to the coast in the evening and saw that my home had been washed away. The signboard is still there - The board says: "Live prawns bought here". Now life is so uncertain.
Valli, 20, fish seller
My family has lived for generations by the sea. Everything almost ended on Sunday as the waves lashed our house. We managed to drag most of our belongings from our huts. Then we ran and ran until we reached the fisheries office, which is now my home.
A family survey what is left of their home south of Colombo, Sri Lanka
“Paradise Lost”
Idyllic beach resorts like Galle in Sri
Lanka, photographed here in March 2004,
have been turned into scenes of horror,
devastation and death,
Now Hell on Earth
Beach debris at Phuket, Thailand
Phi Phi Island, Thailand
All that remains of luxury holiday accommodation on Phi
Phi Island, Thailand
Devastation on Khao Lak – a once beautiful beach resort in Thailand
Communications have been completely
disrupted
Bus station in Galle, Sri Lanka
800 people died in a train derailed by the waves in Sri Lanka – it is the worst train
disaster ever recorded.
The human toll is huge – on 30.12.04 it stands at 125,000
Scenes of grief in India, Malaysia and Indonesia
Millions have been injured
In Aceh, Indonesia, so many doctors have been killed that there are few trained medical workers to assist the injured.
Many children – foreign and local – have lost parents
Increasing numbers of homeless people need shelter, food and water
Clean drinking water is required to avoid
the spread of disease
Armed police in Galle, Sri Lanka try to prevent looting
Identifying victims is a grim task
Many who died can only be identified by photographs, fingerprints or DNA tests
Tourists in Phuket make contact with frantic family members
In all affected areas survivors are hungry as
food supplies run out
Medicines are needed desperately
The threat of disease increases
The evacuation of foreign tourists from
the beach resorts begins
Many are severely traumatised
A British holiday maker arrives home from the Maldives three days after the tsunami
Other survivors, such as these women and children from the Nicobar Islands,
leave to a more uncertain future
Relief efforts, which have been slow to start, gather pace as the enormity of the disaster begins to be appreciated
French relief workers from the Medecins Sans
Frontieres organisation
German relief workers prepare to depart for Sri Lanka
Indonesian Red Cross workers in Jakarta
South Korean Red Cross assistance
Clean, bottled water supplies are assembled in Penang, Malaysia
Clothes are collected in Sri Lanka
Distribution of food in Madras state, India
In some areas relief supplies are piling up
Disruption of communications means that emergency
supplies cannot be distributed efficiently
Coffins await transport to remote areas near Phuket in Thailand
Co-ordination of relief efforts from throughout the world is proving to be a major challenge
Four days after the tsunami many of the worst affected areas cannot be reached
at 30.12.04
The death toll stands at 125,000
By the time you watch this, it will be much higher.
“We view with awe a release of power on this scale. We know that this power is greater than
that of our species – Nature holds us in its hands. We may be able to lessen some of its
consequences, sometimes we can give advance warning of the threat but we are not in control.”
The tsunami has demonstrated that Nature, and not Mankind, is
the real master.”
William Rees-Mogg 27.12.04
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