and we have yet to hear from Bangladesh and Burma.
Has anyone heard anything of earthquake damage from Sumatra
Update on death toll from December quake and tsunami
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AussieMark
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Matt-hurricanewatcher
Asia battles earthquake aftermath
The Thai tourist resort of Phuket was badly hit by the tsunami
Survivors and rescuers are battling through the devastation left by sea surges that killed more than 16,000 people on Asia's southern shores.
Mass graves are being dug even as families search desperately for missing relatives and soldiers recover bodies washed high into trees.
The extent of the damage is still not known in areas worst hit, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Thailand.
Sunday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake sent huge waves from Malaysia to Africa.
Click here for map of affected area
DISASTER TOLL
Sri Lanka: 5,860 dead
Indonesia: 4,500 dead
India: 4,270 dead
Thailand: 839 dead
Malaysia: 44 dead
Maldives: 32 dead
Bangladesh: 2 dead
Eyewitness accounts
In pictures: Quake disaster
At-a-glance: Countries hit
The number of dead has already soared into the thousands in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India. Thailand was also badly hit, and the waves killed people in Malaysia, Maldives and Bangladesh.
Aid teams are heading to the huge disaster zone to offer help to national emergency services, swamped by the scale of the demands for rescue, shelter and medical attention.
Thousands are missing and many more thousands forced from their homes by the worst earthquake in 40 years that generated a wall of water speeding across the oceans.
Aftershocks were detected on Monday, sparking warnings from Indian and Sri Lankan weather officials of further, smaller surges, also known as tsunamis.
EARTHQUAKE EXPLAINED
Click below to see how the disaster unfolded
In graphics
In countries across the region, emergency workers are still assessing what happened and what can be done.
In Sri Lanka, where at least 5,860 died and where a national disaster was announced, bodies were piled up along beaches and in hospitals. "We are struggling to cope. Bodies are still coming in," Karapitiya Teaching Hospital administrator Dr HG Jayaratne told Reuters.
Similar scenes were reported in coastal regions of southern India and searches were still going on for those swept away from beaches or in fishing boats. "Death came from the sea," Satya Kumari, a construction worker living in Pondicherry, told Reuters. "The waves just kept chasing us. It swept away all our huts. What did we do to deserve this?"
In Indonesia, nearest the epicentre of the undersea quake, soldiers were sent to recover bodies from trees where they were dumped by huge waves, as correspondents reported the stench of death was beginning to become overpowering. One man, Rajali, told the Associated Press news agency he could not find dry ground to bury his wife and two children.
GIANT EARTHQUAKES
1960 - Chile, 9.5 magnitude
1964 - Alaska, 9.2
1957 - Alaska, 9.1
1952 - Russia, 9.0
2004 - Indonesia, 9.0
Every village and road on Car Nicobar, one of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, is reported to have been destroyed and officials are still trying to make contact with other communities in the Indian-owned archipelago that lies off Indonesia. "At a very conservative estimate I would say that 3,000 people are dead and as many missing," the islands' police chief SB Deol told local TV.
Helicopters winched survivors from Phi Phi island in Thailand overnight as the navy was called in to help the rescue effort from the country's ruined holiday resorts that had been packed with tourists from dozens of countries. Many of the bodies still being recovered are said to be clad in swimsuits, with people dragged to their deaths as the tsunami smashed into beaches without warning.
A national disaster has been announced in the low-lying Maldives islands, more than 2,500km (1,500 miles) from the quake's epicentre, after they were hit by severe flooding.
Waves forced out from the earthquake are even reported to have reached Somalia, on the east coast of Africa.
Aid promises
International aid agencies have called for a rapid response to avert further deaths.
I have many friends on this beach and we have already found one dead. I am sure there will be many more
Tony Bridges,
Phuket, Thailand
Tell us your experiences
The European Union immediately pledged 3m euros (£2.1m) to disaster relief efforts.
The United Nations is warning that epidemics may follow the devastation, with a lack of clean water and sanitation threatening to spread disease through survivors.
Sunday's tremor - the fifth strongest since 1900 - had a particularly widespread effect because it seems to have taken place just below the surface of the ocean, analysts say.
Experts say tsunamis generated by earthquakes can travel at up to 500km/h.
IMPACT OF THE
The Thai tourist resort of Phuket was badly hit by the tsunami
Survivors and rescuers are battling through the devastation left by sea surges that killed more than 16,000 people on Asia's southern shores.
Mass graves are being dug even as families search desperately for missing relatives and soldiers recover bodies washed high into trees.
The extent of the damage is still not known in areas worst hit, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Thailand.
Sunday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake sent huge waves from Malaysia to Africa.
Click here for map of affected area
DISASTER TOLL
Sri Lanka: 5,860 dead
Indonesia: 4,500 dead
India: 4,270 dead
Thailand: 839 dead
Malaysia: 44 dead
Maldives: 32 dead
Bangladesh: 2 dead
Eyewitness accounts
In pictures: Quake disaster
At-a-glance: Countries hit
The number of dead has already soared into the thousands in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India. Thailand was also badly hit, and the waves killed people in Malaysia, Maldives and Bangladesh.
Aid teams are heading to the huge disaster zone to offer help to national emergency services, swamped by the scale of the demands for rescue, shelter and medical attention.
Thousands are missing and many more thousands forced from their homes by the worst earthquake in 40 years that generated a wall of water speeding across the oceans.
Aftershocks were detected on Monday, sparking warnings from Indian and Sri Lankan weather officials of further, smaller surges, also known as tsunamis.
EARTHQUAKE EXPLAINED
Click below to see how the disaster unfolded
In graphics
In countries across the region, emergency workers are still assessing what happened and what can be done.
In Sri Lanka, where at least 5,860 died and where a national disaster was announced, bodies were piled up along beaches and in hospitals. "We are struggling to cope. Bodies are still coming in," Karapitiya Teaching Hospital administrator Dr HG Jayaratne told Reuters.
Similar scenes were reported in coastal regions of southern India and searches were still going on for those swept away from beaches or in fishing boats. "Death came from the sea," Satya Kumari, a construction worker living in Pondicherry, told Reuters. "The waves just kept chasing us. It swept away all our huts. What did we do to deserve this?"
In Indonesia, nearest the epicentre of the undersea quake, soldiers were sent to recover bodies from trees where they were dumped by huge waves, as correspondents reported the stench of death was beginning to become overpowering. One man, Rajali, told the Associated Press news agency he could not find dry ground to bury his wife and two children.
GIANT EARTHQUAKES
1960 - Chile, 9.5 magnitude
1964 - Alaska, 9.2
1957 - Alaska, 9.1
1952 - Russia, 9.0
2004 - Indonesia, 9.0
Every village and road on Car Nicobar, one of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, is reported to have been destroyed and officials are still trying to make contact with other communities in the Indian-owned archipelago that lies off Indonesia. "At a very conservative estimate I would say that 3,000 people are dead and as many missing," the islands' police chief SB Deol told local TV.
Helicopters winched survivors from Phi Phi island in Thailand overnight as the navy was called in to help the rescue effort from the country's ruined holiday resorts that had been packed with tourists from dozens of countries. Many of the bodies still being recovered are said to be clad in swimsuits, with people dragged to their deaths as the tsunami smashed into beaches without warning.
A national disaster has been announced in the low-lying Maldives islands, more than 2,500km (1,500 miles) from the quake's epicentre, after they were hit by severe flooding.
Waves forced out from the earthquake are even reported to have reached Somalia, on the east coast of Africa.
Aid promises
International aid agencies have called for a rapid response to avert further deaths.
I have many friends on this beach and we have already found one dead. I am sure there will be many more
Tony Bridges,
Phuket, Thailand
Tell us your experiences
The European Union immediately pledged 3m euros (£2.1m) to disaster relief efforts.
The United Nations is warning that epidemics may follow the devastation, with a lack of clean water and sanitation threatening to spread disease through survivors.
Sunday's tremor - the fifth strongest since 1900 - had a particularly widespread effect because it seems to have taken place just below the surface of the ocean, analysts say.
Experts say tsunamis generated by earthquakes can travel at up to 500km/h.
IMPACT OF THE
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Matt-hurricanewatcher
Cnn
Asia quake toll tops 20,000
As dawn broke Monday across the Bay of Bengal, countries struck by tsunamis in the wake of the most powerful earthquake the planet has seen in 40 years focused on relief and rescue efforts, and said the death toll from the giant waves -- already more than 20,000 -- is expected to rise further.
Asia quake toll tops 20,000
As dawn broke Monday across the Bay of Bengal, countries struck by tsunamis in the wake of the most powerful earthquake the planet has seen in 40 years focused on relief and rescue efforts, and said the death toll from the giant waves -- already more than 20,000 -- is expected to rise further.
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AussieMark
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- Posts: 5858
- Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 6:36 pm
- Location: near Sydney, Australia
Tsunami Waves Kill Over 19,930 in Asia
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - A military spokesman raised the estimated number of deaths in Sri Lanka caused by devastating tidal waves by more than 5,000 people on Monday, raising the death toll from the regional catastrophe to just under 20,000 people.
Thousands of soldiers scoured Asia's coastlines for survivors of the walls of water that obliterated seaside towns in nine countries, killing more than 19,930 people. Aid poured into the region, and parents in India mourned as hundreds of children were buried in mass graves.
The death toll began climbing sharply after Sunday morning's 9.0-magnitude quake that struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean off the coast of Indonesia, the most powerful temblor in four decades.
The waves sped away from the epicenter at over 500 mph before crashing into the region's shorelines without warning, sweeping people and fishing villages out to sea. Millions were displaced from their homes and thousands were missing.
Officials said the death toll would continue to rise and warned that disease outbreaks were possible.
Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India each reported thousands dead, and Thailand — a Western tourist hotspot — said hundreds were dead and thousands missing. Deaths were also reported in Malaysia, Maldives, Mayanmar, Bangladesh and even in Somalia, 3,000 miles away in Africa.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - A military spokesman raised the estimated number of deaths in Sri Lanka caused by devastating tidal waves by more than 5,000 people on Monday, raising the death toll from the regional catastrophe to just under 20,000 people.
Thousands of soldiers scoured Asia's coastlines for survivors of the walls of water that obliterated seaside towns in nine countries, killing more than 19,930 people. Aid poured into the region, and parents in India mourned as hundreds of children were buried in mass graves.
The death toll began climbing sharply after Sunday morning's 9.0-magnitude quake that struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean off the coast of Indonesia, the most powerful temblor in four decades.
The waves sped away from the epicenter at over 500 mph before crashing into the region's shorelines without warning, sweeping people and fishing villages out to sea. Millions were displaced from their homes and thousands were missing.
Officials said the death toll would continue to rise and warned that disease outbreaks were possible.
Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India each reported thousands dead, and Thailand — a Western tourist hotspot — said hundreds were dead and thousands missing. Deaths were also reported in Malaysia, Maldives, Mayanmar, Bangladesh and even in Somalia, 3,000 miles away in Africa.
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AussieMark
- Category 5
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- Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 6:36 pm
- Location: near Sydney, Australia
Massive Quakes Difficult to Measure
Sunday's earthquake in Sumatra had a preliminary magnitude of 9.0, classifying it as a great quake and making it the strongest in 40 years.
Earthquakes (news - web sites) near the very top of the magnitude scale are difficult for scientists to measure. For one thing, they occur rarely — once a year or less — so researchers don't have many chances to analyze them.
And, the tools that scientists use to measure movements in the planet's crust are becoming more sophisticated. So the way in which they assign a number to signal an earthquake's fury is evolving.
Today, when seismologists describe an earthquake's magnitude, it is a composite of several types of instruments and equations that calculate several aspects of an earthquake's behavior.
The methods started in a more simple way nearly 70 years ago when seismologist Charles Richter of the California Institute of Technology developed his now-familiar Richter scale of earthquake magnitude.
Today, researchers still use its familiar scale. Each whole number represents a tenfold increase in seismic movement and severity.
Moderate earthquakes begin at 5.0. Strong earthquakes begin at 6.0 and cause damage even to modern structures. Major earthquakes are rated at 7.0 and higher, causing damage over hundreds of miles.
Sunday's quake was the strongest since the 1964 tremor that struck Alaska and measured 9.2.
The most powerful earthquake on record was a 9.5 in Chile in 1960.
While researchers still use the familiar Richter scale numbers, the equations that go into the original scale are too limited, especially for larger earthquakes and those that extend down faults for hundreds of miles.
As a result, researchers have turned to more precise measurements, such as "seismic moment," which quantifies how much energy is released by an earthquake.
Because of these uncertainties, scientists may initially estimate an earthquake's magnitude, only to tweak it as more data are available. The U.S. Geological Survey initially said Sunday's quake had a magnitude of 8.1, then revised that to 8.5 and then 8.9 before calling it a 9.0.
Sunday's earthquake in Sumatra had a preliminary magnitude of 9.0, classifying it as a great quake and making it the strongest in 40 years.
Earthquakes (news - web sites) near the very top of the magnitude scale are difficult for scientists to measure. For one thing, they occur rarely — once a year or less — so researchers don't have many chances to analyze them.
And, the tools that scientists use to measure movements in the planet's crust are becoming more sophisticated. So the way in which they assign a number to signal an earthquake's fury is evolving.
Today, when seismologists describe an earthquake's magnitude, it is a composite of several types of instruments and equations that calculate several aspects of an earthquake's behavior.
The methods started in a more simple way nearly 70 years ago when seismologist Charles Richter of the California Institute of Technology developed his now-familiar Richter scale of earthquake magnitude.
Today, researchers still use its familiar scale. Each whole number represents a tenfold increase in seismic movement and severity.
Moderate earthquakes begin at 5.0. Strong earthquakes begin at 6.0 and cause damage even to modern structures. Major earthquakes are rated at 7.0 and higher, causing damage over hundreds of miles.
Sunday's quake was the strongest since the 1964 tremor that struck Alaska and measured 9.2.
The most powerful earthquake on record was a 9.5 in Chile in 1960.
While researchers still use the familiar Richter scale numbers, the equations that go into the original scale are too limited, especially for larger earthquakes and those that extend down faults for hundreds of miles.
As a result, researchers have turned to more precise measurements, such as "seismic moment," which quantifies how much energy is released by an earthquake.
Because of these uncertainties, scientists may initially estimate an earthquake's magnitude, only to tweak it as more data are available. The U.S. Geological Survey initially said Sunday's quake had a magnitude of 8.1, then revised that to 8.5 and then 8.9 before calling it a 9.0.
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Matt-hurricanewatcher
Asia quake death toll tops 20,000
Monday, December 27, 2004 Posted: 5:44 AM EST (1044 GMT)
A street littered with debris at Patong beach, Phuket.
Image:
FACT BOX
SRI LANKA
Sri Lankan military authorities report more than 10,000 people killed. In the northeast, Tamil Tigers report recovering 800 bodies.
INDIA
At least 6,000 killed by waves which flooded the southern coast, official media report.
INDONESIA
News agencies report more than 4,000 killed, many of them in Aceh in northern Sumatra.
THAILAND
Thai authorities report more than 461 people dead and between 400 and 600 missing at sea.
MALDIVES
At least three children reported killed in the high waters on an island north of the capital, Male
CHENNAI, India (CNN) -- The death toll from Sunday's tsunamis climbed to 20,000 by Monday as fears of disease from decaying bodies and contaminated water grew in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The giant waves -- triggered by the most powerful earthquake on Earth in 40 years -- also left thousands injured, thousands missing and hundreds of thousands homeless.
A Sri Lankan forecaster warned of a "remote possibility of small tidal waves" caused by aftershocks Monday.
Some of the tsunamis reached as far as 1,000 miles from the epicenter of the 9.0 magnitude quake, which was located about 100 miles (160 km) off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island at a depth of about 6.2 miles (10 km).
The quake struck about 7 a.m. Sunday (7 p.m. ET Saturday), according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC). It is the fourth-largest earthquake since such measurements began in 1899, according to the NEIC, tying a 1952 quake in Kamchatka, Russia.
More than 10,000 people have been reported dead in Sri Lanka. Most of them, authorities said, were in the eastern district of Batticaloa. Thousands were missing, an estimated 1 million were displaced and an estimated 250,000 were homeless.
In southern Sri Lanka, 200 prisoners escaped when the waves swept away a high-security prison in Matara.
Witnesses in the eastern Sri Lankan port city of Trincomalee reported 40 foot (14 meter) waves hitting inland as far as a half mile (1 km).
The Sri Lankan government declared a state of emergency, and, along with the government of the Maldives, has requested international assistance, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.
As the sun rose, 20,000 Sri Lankan soldiers and naval personnel launched relief and rescue efforts. India sent six warships carrying supplies, along with helicopters. Priorities included identifying the hardest-hit areas and airdropping supplies, along with shepherding stranded people to safer areas.
Sri Lankan authorities imposed a curfew overnight, and many residents remained concerned about the possibility of additional tsunamis. The country has been in the throes of a civil war, and land mines uprooted by the waves were hampering relief efforts.
Sri Lanka's director of meteorology Abey Singha Bandara told CNN his department's analysis suggested "a remote possibility of small tidal waves, but not of the magnitude experienced on Sunday."
Some tourists, meanwhile, were evacuated from the hard-hit eastern coasts to the capital Colombo, on the west coast and unaffected by the disaster.
At first light, many Sri Lankans ventured out to scour the debris for belongings or to search for information on missing family members.
In India, the official government news agency Press Trust of India said at least 6,000 Indians were killed, and more bodies were being recovered.
A resident of Chennai (formerly Madras) in Tamil Nadu district -- India's hardest-hit area -- said he saw several people being swept out to sea.
Along India's southeastern coast, several villages appeared to have been swept away. Thousands of fishermen -- including 2,000 from the Chennai area alone -- who were at sea when the waves thundered ashore have not returned.
Along the coast, brick foundations were all that remained of village homes. In Tamil Nadu, 2,500 people have been confirmed dead, and officials said 3,000 died on the remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, where dozens of aftershocks were centered. Communication from the islands to the mainland was cut off.
In Thailand, authorities said more than 400 people are dead, and hundreds are missing. Among the missing were scuba divers who had been exploring the Emerald Cave off Phuket's coast.
Phuket's airport -- which closed when its runways flooded -- reopened, but most roads in the area remained closed as officials tried to assess the damage.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived in Phuket and declared the situation "under control." He told CNN he planned to direct rescue and relief efforts overnight.
Witnesses reported guests drowned in their hotel rooms near the coast as 30-foot waves washed ashore.
Others reported narrow escapes, including a Spaniard who had been aboard a boat when a wave approached.
The captain began screaming and turned the boat directly into a nearby shore, where he beached it. As those aboard jumped from the craft and scrambled up the steep beach, they turned back to see the waves crush their boat, the Spaniard said.
Among the dead are three Americans -- two in Sri Lanka and one in Thailand, said U.S. State Department spokesman Noel Clay. A number of Americans also were injured in Thailand.
More than 4,000 people are reported dead in Indonesia -- many of them in Aceh in northern Sumatra, about 100 miles from the quake's epicenter, officials said.
The quake also inflicted heavy damage on the area, which is a hotbed of rebel activity, before two tsunamis slammed the coastline. Access and communications were difficult if not impossible. The death toll remained a mystery on the west coast of Aceh, where communication had been wiped out.
No warning
The tsunamis struck with no warning to those in coastal areas, as no warning system exists for the Indian Ocean, said Eddie Bernard, director of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine and Environmental Labs in Seattle.
Staffers at warning centers that cover the Pacific Basin and the U.S. West Coast were aware of the quake and the possibility of tsunamis, said Laura Kong, director of the International Tsunami Information Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.
"They were able to make contact, but they did not have the proper government officials to notify," she said. "They'll be working on this in the future."
The earthquake is classified as "great" -- the strongest classification given by the National Earthquake Information Center.
NEIC geophysicist Don Blakeman said the tsunamis were triggered by the initial massive jolt.
"The damage is just phenomenal," said Jan Egelund, U.N. emergency relief coordinator. "I think we are seeing now one of the worst natural disasters ever."
There was disagreement over whether the threat was over. Waverly Person, Blakeman's colleague at NEIC, said the tsunamis are "long over" and residents and visitors should not worry about further tsunamis.
Bernard, however, said the aftershocks are strong enough to produce more tsunamis.
One such aftershock, measuring 7.3 in magnitude, struck about 200 miles (300 km) northwest of Banda Aceh -- on Sumatra's northernmost tip -- more than four hours after the initial quake, according to the NEIC. The center expects the quake to produce hundreds of smaller aftershocks under 4.6 magnitude, and thousands smaller than that.
"A quake of this size has some pretty serious effects," Person said.
The quake represented the energy released from "a very large rupture in the earth's crust" more than 600 miles (1,000 km) long. The rupture created shock waves that pushed the water at speeds of up to several hundred miles per hour.
It was the strongest earthquake to hit anywhere on Earth since March 1964, when a 9.2 quake struck near Alaska's Prince William Sound. The strongest recorded earthquake registered 9.5 on May 22, 1960, in Chile.
Monday, December 27, 2004 Posted: 5:44 AM EST (1044 GMT)
A street littered with debris at Patong beach, Phuket.
Image:
FACT BOX
SRI LANKA
Sri Lankan military authorities report more than 10,000 people killed. In the northeast, Tamil Tigers report recovering 800 bodies.
INDIA
At least 6,000 killed by waves which flooded the southern coast, official media report.
INDONESIA
News agencies report more than 4,000 killed, many of them in Aceh in northern Sumatra.
THAILAND
Thai authorities report more than 461 people dead and between 400 and 600 missing at sea.
MALDIVES
At least three children reported killed in the high waters on an island north of the capital, Male
CHENNAI, India (CNN) -- The death toll from Sunday's tsunamis climbed to 20,000 by Monday as fears of disease from decaying bodies and contaminated water grew in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The giant waves -- triggered by the most powerful earthquake on Earth in 40 years -- also left thousands injured, thousands missing and hundreds of thousands homeless.
A Sri Lankan forecaster warned of a "remote possibility of small tidal waves" caused by aftershocks Monday.
Some of the tsunamis reached as far as 1,000 miles from the epicenter of the 9.0 magnitude quake, which was located about 100 miles (160 km) off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island at a depth of about 6.2 miles (10 km).
The quake struck about 7 a.m. Sunday (7 p.m. ET Saturday), according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC). It is the fourth-largest earthquake since such measurements began in 1899, according to the NEIC, tying a 1952 quake in Kamchatka, Russia.
More than 10,000 people have been reported dead in Sri Lanka. Most of them, authorities said, were in the eastern district of Batticaloa. Thousands were missing, an estimated 1 million were displaced and an estimated 250,000 were homeless.
In southern Sri Lanka, 200 prisoners escaped when the waves swept away a high-security prison in Matara.
Witnesses in the eastern Sri Lankan port city of Trincomalee reported 40 foot (14 meter) waves hitting inland as far as a half mile (1 km).
The Sri Lankan government declared a state of emergency, and, along with the government of the Maldives, has requested international assistance, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.
As the sun rose, 20,000 Sri Lankan soldiers and naval personnel launched relief and rescue efforts. India sent six warships carrying supplies, along with helicopters. Priorities included identifying the hardest-hit areas and airdropping supplies, along with shepherding stranded people to safer areas.
Sri Lankan authorities imposed a curfew overnight, and many residents remained concerned about the possibility of additional tsunamis. The country has been in the throes of a civil war, and land mines uprooted by the waves were hampering relief efforts.
Sri Lanka's director of meteorology Abey Singha Bandara told CNN his department's analysis suggested "a remote possibility of small tidal waves, but not of the magnitude experienced on Sunday."
Some tourists, meanwhile, were evacuated from the hard-hit eastern coasts to the capital Colombo, on the west coast and unaffected by the disaster.
At first light, many Sri Lankans ventured out to scour the debris for belongings or to search for information on missing family members.
In India, the official government news agency Press Trust of India said at least 6,000 Indians were killed, and more bodies were being recovered.
A resident of Chennai (formerly Madras) in Tamil Nadu district -- India's hardest-hit area -- said he saw several people being swept out to sea.
Along India's southeastern coast, several villages appeared to have been swept away. Thousands of fishermen -- including 2,000 from the Chennai area alone -- who were at sea when the waves thundered ashore have not returned.
Along the coast, brick foundations were all that remained of village homes. In Tamil Nadu, 2,500 people have been confirmed dead, and officials said 3,000 died on the remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, where dozens of aftershocks were centered. Communication from the islands to the mainland was cut off.
In Thailand, authorities said more than 400 people are dead, and hundreds are missing. Among the missing were scuba divers who had been exploring the Emerald Cave off Phuket's coast.
Phuket's airport -- which closed when its runways flooded -- reopened, but most roads in the area remained closed as officials tried to assess the damage.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived in Phuket and declared the situation "under control." He told CNN he planned to direct rescue and relief efforts overnight.
Witnesses reported guests drowned in their hotel rooms near the coast as 30-foot waves washed ashore.
Others reported narrow escapes, including a Spaniard who had been aboard a boat when a wave approached.
The captain began screaming and turned the boat directly into a nearby shore, where he beached it. As those aboard jumped from the craft and scrambled up the steep beach, they turned back to see the waves crush their boat, the Spaniard said.
Among the dead are three Americans -- two in Sri Lanka and one in Thailand, said U.S. State Department spokesman Noel Clay. A number of Americans also were injured in Thailand.
More than 4,000 people are reported dead in Indonesia -- many of them in Aceh in northern Sumatra, about 100 miles from the quake's epicenter, officials said.
The quake also inflicted heavy damage on the area, which is a hotbed of rebel activity, before two tsunamis slammed the coastline. Access and communications were difficult if not impossible. The death toll remained a mystery on the west coast of Aceh, where communication had been wiped out.
No warning
The tsunamis struck with no warning to those in coastal areas, as no warning system exists for the Indian Ocean, said Eddie Bernard, director of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine and Environmental Labs in Seattle.
Staffers at warning centers that cover the Pacific Basin and the U.S. West Coast were aware of the quake and the possibility of tsunamis, said Laura Kong, director of the International Tsunami Information Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.
"They were able to make contact, but they did not have the proper government officials to notify," she said. "They'll be working on this in the future."
The earthquake is classified as "great" -- the strongest classification given by the National Earthquake Information Center.
NEIC geophysicist Don Blakeman said the tsunamis were triggered by the initial massive jolt.
"The damage is just phenomenal," said Jan Egelund, U.N. emergency relief coordinator. "I think we are seeing now one of the worst natural disasters ever."
There was disagreement over whether the threat was over. Waverly Person, Blakeman's colleague at NEIC, said the tsunamis are "long over" and residents and visitors should not worry about further tsunamis.
Bernard, however, said the aftershocks are strong enough to produce more tsunamis.
One such aftershock, measuring 7.3 in magnitude, struck about 200 miles (300 km) northwest of Banda Aceh -- on Sumatra's northernmost tip -- more than four hours after the initial quake, according to the NEIC. The center expects the quake to produce hundreds of smaller aftershocks under 4.6 magnitude, and thousands smaller than that.
"A quake of this size has some pretty serious effects," Person said.
The quake represented the energy released from "a very large rupture in the earth's crust" more than 600 miles (1,000 km) long. The rupture created shock waves that pushed the water at speeds of up to several hundred miles per hour.
It was the strongest earthquake to hit anywhere on Earth since March 1964, when a 9.2 quake struck near Alaska's Prince William Sound. The strongest recorded earthquake registered 9.5 on May 22, 1960, in Chile.
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Matt-hurricanewatcher
-
Terry
- S2K Supporter
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- Contact:
Matt-hurricanewatcher, quotiing news source re Sri Lanka wrote:
Talk about piling on the stress and tragedy.
The first-hand accounts and video coming in have just been chilling. It is very hard to even grasp.
The country has been in the throes of a civil war, and land mines uprooted by the waves were hampering relief efforts.
Talk about piling on the stress and tragedy.
The first-hand accounts and video coming in have just been chilling. It is very hard to even grasp.
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Miss Mary
Sunny - I am also having trouble expressing the deep sadness I feel for these countries. The story is so shocking in itself. It almost reminds me of how we all felt after 9/11, although the two tragedies are different - one nature-made and the other man-made.
So incredibly sad. I wish those caught in the path of this killer wave could have been alerted. But that goes without saying. I'm sure we're all thinking this after seeing the horrible pictures.
Mary
So incredibly sad. I wish those caught in the path of this killer wave could have been alerted. But that goes without saying. I'm sure we're all thinking this after seeing the horrible pictures.
Mary
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Gorky
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vbhoutex wrote:Brent wrote::cry:
From Drudge:
Moved the entire island of Sumatra about 100 feet toward the southwest; first tsunami in the Indian Ocean since 1883...
YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!!!
The drudge report is probably as bad a source for reliable information as Weekly World News. If an entire continental plate moved 100ft you'd be looking at a magnitude in the order of millions of times stronger than what was recorded.
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Brent
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vbhoutex wrote:Brent wrote::cry:
From Drudge:
Moved the entire island of Sumatra about 100 feet toward the southwest; first tsunami in the Indian Ocean since 1883...
YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!!!
http://www.drudgereport.com/
Middle row, second paragraph.
I don't know if it's true, but that's what it says. He's been right with everything else so far.
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#neversummer
Miss Mary wrote:Sunny - I am also having trouble expressing the deep sadness I feel for these countries. The story is so shocking in itself. It almost reminds me of how we all felt after 9/11, although the two tragedies are different - one nature-made and the other man-made.
So incredibly sad. I wish those caught in the path of this killer wave could have been alerted. But that goes without saying. I'm sure we're all thinking this after seeing the horrible pictures.
Mary
I can't imagine what it must have been like, laying on the beach and just getting swept out to sea with no warning. The children, how terrified they must have been. It is just too heartbreaking to put into words.
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michaelwmoss
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Rainband
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