Asian Tsunamis Kill at Least 20,000 People

AP ^ | 12/26/04 | DILIP GANGULY

[TexKat]

Video grab shows a tidal wave in Penang after tsunami waves hit southern Asia on Sunday in this amateur video footage taken December 26, 2004. Soldiers searched for bodies in treetops, families wept over the dead lined up on beaches and rescuers scoured coral isles for missing tourists after an earthquake, as Asia counted the cost on Monday of a tsunami that saw tidal waves kill more than 13, 400. REUTERS/Amateur Video Grab

A mother grieves as another relative carries the body of a child washed ashore at Silver Beach in Cuddalore, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Monday, Dec. 27, 2004. Massive tidal waves triggered by an Indonesian earthquake slammed into southern India Sunday, killing nearly 2,300 people and sweeping away boats, homes and vehicles. The worst affected area was Tamil Nadu state, where 1,705 people were killed. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)

[Texas_Jarhead]

lesson learned: If you see the water recede significantly, run for higher ground

[gortklattu]

---lesson learned: If you see the water recede significantly, run for higher ground---

What? and ignore all the great beachcombing?

[bd476]

This is heartbreaking, TexKat. Thanks for posting the update.

[rdl6989]

The size of this disaster boggles the mind.

[KittyKares]

I know. As I have been enjoying my evening, thousands of people have been suffering.

[Uncle Miltie]

[TamilNet, December 26, 2004 21:29 GMT]
“We went from the hospital to retrieve some bodies of people killed by the first wave near the Pandiruppu beach. We saw at a distance another massive wave, more than hundred feet high, speeding towards Kalmunaikudi. It was like a diagonal wall rising out of the sea. The sight was terrible. We ran for our lives. I do not believe that anything could have survived the force of that wave”, said a doctor at the Kalmunai base hospital Monday.
Doctor Murugesapillai Baghavan said he believed that scale of death and destruction in the Pandiruppu, Kalmunaikudi area could be much greater than what has been assessed so far.

“The wave would have sucked homes and people back into the sea. Few could have resisted its force. We think that whole areas have been buried under sand dug up by the wave’s power”, Dr. Baghavan said.

More than a thousand injured people have been treated at the Kalmunai Base Hospital until Sunday night, he added. “The hospital mortuary is full. We are piling up bodies outside the hospital”,

Seriously wounded patients have been sent to Amparai town. Evacuation is severely hindered by people who have crowded in their thousands on the main road in Kalmunai and Pandiruppu.

About hundred and sixteen bodies have been recovered so far in Thirukkovil, the large Tamil village 74 kilometres south of Batticaloa. More than hundred and fifty bodies have been recovered in Ninthavur, a Muslim, Tamil village near

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=13732

[SAJ]

Wrong lesson.

If you visit an oceanfront beach without checking for quakes of Richter 4.4 or better at sites in direct (uninterdicted by land masses) line with your chosen beach within the past 48 hrs, you has done scrod up bigtime.

Direct line is the key; the folks at the beaches on the N/NW coast of Sri Lanka, for example, were not affected, probably had a very nice sun & swim. Those who were enjoying the beach on the SE coast are dead or missing.

[rdl6989]

Now there is concern of disease due to lack of safe drinking water.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3140462a10,00.html
The United Nations warned today of epidemics within days if health systems could not cope. Experts said the top issues were water, sanitation, food, shelter and health, and warned that the effects of disease could be as bad as the tsunami itself.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The earthquake hit at 6:58 a.m.; the tsunami came as much as 2 1/2 hours later, without warning

Now that is very fascinating!

That says the initial quake did not cause the tsunami immediately but a subsequent event, like the collapse of an undersea trench that suddenly displaced a great mass of water.....assuming the timing is the arrival at the Thailand beaches.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I'd seen it mentioned earlier on the tv, that the wave traveled at a speed of 500 m.p.h.. Unbelievable and so sad for the people that were hit with this.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

see my post above about the timing.

[TexKat]

A road is damaged by a powerful earlthquake in Lhokseumawe in northern Sumatra's Aceh province December 26, 2004. Indonesian soldiers searched fort bodies in tree tops and in smashed home on Monday, a day after a tsunami triggered by a huge earthquake tore through northern Sumatra island killing at least 4,448 people. Picture taken December 26, 2004. NO ARCHIVE, NO SALE REUTERS/Waspada Daily

The scene at the Marina beach in Madras after tidal waves hit the region. The death toll from an earthquake off Indonesia and tsunamis that it unleashed reached 13,773 as officials reported deaths in seven countries in southern and southeastern Asia(AFP)

Bodies of victims who were killed by tidal waves lie at the Government Hospital mortuary in Nagappattinam, about 250 kilometers (156 miles) south of Madras, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Monday, Dec. 27, 2004. Massive tidal waves triggered by an Indonesian earthquake slammed into southern India Sunday, killing nearly 2,300 people and sweeping away boats, homes and vehicles. The worst affected area was Tamil Nadu state, where 1,705 people were killed. (AP Photo/Gautam Singh)

Foreign tourists staying in Phi Phi island arrive in Phuket , southern Thailand for treatment, December 26, 2004. One of the most powerful earthquakes in history hit Asia on Sunday, unleashing a tsunami which devastated coastal areas of Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and tourist isles in Thailand, killing more than 11,300 people. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

Aerial view of the scene at the Marina beach in Madras after tidal waves caused by an earthquake in Indonesia hit the region.(AFP/Str)

Indian bystanders watch rescue operations at the Marina beach in Madras after tidal waves hit the region, throwing a car onto a road barrier.(AFP/Str)

An unidentified mother cries near the bodies of her daughters who died in tidal waves at Kanyakumari, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004. More than 9,300 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. (AP Photo/Str)

People stand near bodies of victims who died in tidal waves, to identify them, at the Royapettah Government hospital in Madras, India, Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004. Thousands of 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. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)

People stop and watch the aftermath of the Dec 26 tidal wave that washed off the resort island in Phuket, southern Thailand, Monday, Dec 27, 2004. The tidal waves and flooding in Thailand were induced by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the world's strongest in 40 years, which originated in Indonesian waters but wreaked devastation along the southern shores of Asia, killing more than 13,300. (AP Photo/John W. Ishii)

Vehicles turns over and debris littered in the street in Phuket, southern Thailand after the Dec 26 tidal wave washed the resort island, Monday, Dec 27, 2004. The tidal waves and flooding in Thailand were induced by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the world's strongest in 40 years, which originated in Indonesian waters but wreaked devastation along the southern shores of Asia, killing more than 13,300. (AP Photo/John W. Ishii)

[noblejones]

And, of course, Howard Dean has blamed this on global warming.

He can't get to Hell soon enough.

[TexKat]

I have been seening articles regarding an earthquake hitting somewhere for the past 2 or 3 days, perhaps since Thursday evening. I'll see if I can find it.

[TexKat]

You know this is sad and I pray for those that have lost love ones.

[stlnative]

The CNN ticker says that the Tsunamis can travel as fast as 600 mph in the deepest water but that they slow down to around 30 to 40 mph as they approach the shoreline.

They are reporting that the quake ripped a 1000 kilometer hole (about 621 miles) in earth's crust.

CNN (not the headline channel HNN) is covering it live tonight.

Also there were some 2000 fishermen out overall when this happened. Many of the bodies washing up on shore in some areas are the fishermen.

I wonder if there was any cruise ships in the area when this happened?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Pulled this little tidbit from Drudge:

_____________________________________________

Moved the entire island of Sumatra about 100 feet toward the southwest; first tsunami in the Indian Ocean since 1883...

_____________________________________________________

Wonder how much the seafloor was reshaped.....

[stlnative]

I have heard this...

They are reporting that the quake ripped a 1000 kilometer hole (about 621 miles) in the earth's crust.

[Central Scrutiniser]

On the last two pictures, I have stayed several times in Phuket, about a 5 minute walk from where those pics were shot. My hotel most likely didn't get hit, but its scary. About 3.5 weeks ago, I was in Krabi, which also got hit, I hope the scuba company I was with didn't get hit while at sea.

I'm still stunned....