Archives for December 2004

This site has the most comprehensive information on the Asia quake. Be sure to scroll down the page after it loads. Update: 29-Dec-04: Command Post continues to be updated with instructions/suggestions for contributing to the rescue/recovery efforts as well as other information related to the catastrophe.

Update: 31-Dec-2004
Indian Ocean Tsunami – Ambassador : Aceh Death Toll May Hit 400,000
05:34 AM EDT | Posted By Alan E Brain
>> Go here to visit Alan E Brain’s weblog.

From the Malaysian National News Agency Bernama :

The death toll in Acheh, the region worst hit by last Sunday�s tsunami, may exceed 400,000 as many affected areas could still not be reached for search and rescue operations, Indonesia�s Ambassador to Malaysia Drs H. Rusdihardjo said Thursday.

He said the estimate was based on air surveillance by Indonesian authorities who found no signs of life in places like Meulaboh, Pulau Simeulue and Tapak Tuan while several islands off the west coast of Sumatera had �disappeared�.

He said the latest death toll of more than 40,000 in Acheh and northern Sumatera did not take into account the figures from the other areas, especially in the west of the region.
[Read more…]

WHY THE TSUNAMI DEATH TOLL IS SO HIGH:

ries most severely affected – including India, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka – had a tsunami warning mechanism or tidal gauges to alert people to the wall of water that followed a massive earthquake, said Waverly Person of the USGS National Earthquake Information Centre.

“Most of those people could have been saved if they had had a tsunami warning system in place or tide gauges,” he said yesterday. . . .

US seismologists said it was unlikely the Indian Ocean region would be hit any time soon by a similarly devastating tsunami because it takes an enormously strong earthquake to generate one.

“That’s really what has created all of these problems – is that the earthquake is just so massive,” said Dan Blakeman, a USGS earthquake analyst.

But Person said governments should instruct people living along the coast to move after a quake. Since a tsunami is generated at the source of an underwater earthquake, there is usually time – from 20 minutes to two hours – to get people away as it builds in the ocean.

“People along the Japanese coasts, along the coasts of California – people are taught to move away from the coasts. But a lot of these people in the area where this occurred – they probably had no kind of lessons or any knowledge of tsunamis because they are so rare.”

Like an asteroid strike, it seemed too unlikely to be worth guarding against.

…excerpt from:

I’ve just sent off a donation to the Red Cross to help the survivors of the earthquake and tsunamis that have struck south Asia. Please help if you can.
…excerpt from: weblog.siliconvalley.com…