INDONESIAN 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.

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. violent rupture occurred on the sea floor along a fault about 1,000km long.

Source:-BNPB,2005

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.

Source:-BNPB,2005

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.

Source:-BNPB,2005

“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…….

Whole villages were flattened as here in indonesia

BANDA ACEH CITY, SUMARTA

DIGITAL GLOBESATELLITEPHOTOS

Before

After

Damage map of Banda Aceh showing the impact of tsunamis wave fronts from two directions. The numerals indicate the tsunami elevation in meters near the beach (white) and flow depth inland (black).

Source :- UNOSAT, Tsunami data: Borrero et al. 2006, Jaffe et al., 2006, Matsutomi et al., 2006).

Source:-International strategy for disaster management ISDR,2004

CONCLUSIONS• The Tsunami caused in indonesia killed >300,000 people because there was no Warning System.• Source region for Tsunami extends from Banda Aceh through the Nicobar Islands.• We need a method for estimating size of great earthquakes within a time frame useful to the

Tsunami Warning System.

References:-

Geocities, web page: www.geocities.com

Goda Y., Random Seas and Design of Maritime Structures, University of Tokyo Press,Tokyo, Japan, 323 pp.

Mapsoftworld, web page: www.mapsoftworld.com

USGS, Geological Survey web:http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/

 "Tsunamis and Earthquakes: Tsunami Generation from the 2004 Sumatra Earthquake — USGS Western Coastal and Marine Geology". Walrus.wr.usgs.gov. Retrieved 12 August2010