Tsunamis in the Indian Ocean

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2004-12-27 03:19am

India Daily is reporting, to quote:

India Daily wrote:Witnesses in the eastern Sri Lankan port city Trincomalee reported 14 meter (40-foot) waves hitting inland as far as a kilometer (0.6 miles).

There is also a small possibility of additional tsunamis caused by aftershocks.

Chris OFarrell · Post by **Chris OFarrell** » 2004-12-27 03:20am

Holy CRAP. This is just stunning. The shear loss of life....and whats worse, the region its in simply isn't set up for this. The infastructure isn't there to respond quickly. Hell, unlike the Pacific, the indian ocean doesn't even have a Tsuanami warning system, there was no warning until it slamed into the coast of the various countries.

And does anyone else get annoyed at all the reports who keep calling it a tidal wave? It has nothing to DO with the tides!

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2004-12-27 03:30am

Death toll in Sri Lanka has gone up by about another 350. There are also "thousands" reported missing in Thailand, and "hundreds" in Indonesia along with "villages that rescue workers have been unable to reach."

Post by **fgalkin** » 2004-12-27 03:30am

Latest death toll from the BBC

Sri Lanka: 4,850 dead
Indonesia: 4,440 dead
India: 4,270 dead
Thailand: 430 dead
Malaysia: 44 dead
Maldives: 32 dead
Bangladesh: 2 dead
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4126971.stm

My dad's employer was actually scuba diving off his yacht somewhere in the area at the time. On one hand, I want the bastard to die, and the world to be rid of one of the worst oligarchs in existence. But on the other hand, this would mean that his compmany would collapse and my dad would have to start looking for another job.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2004-12-27 03:34am

fgalkin wrote:Latest death toll from the BBC

Sri Lanka: 4,850 dead
Indonesia: 4,440 dead
India: 4,270 dead
Thailand: 430 dead
Malaysia: 44 dead
Maldives: 32 dead
Bangladesh: 2 dead
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4126971.stm

My dad's employer was actually scuba diving off his yacht somewhere in the area at the time. On one hand, I want the bastard to die, and the world to be rid of one of the worst oligarchs in existence. But on the other hand, this would mean that his compmany would collapse and my dad would have to start looking for another job.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

The big sites are behind in their tallies because they're all getting information from different sources--there are eight or more nations affected plus some areas under the control of rebel groups--and having to tally them themselves. For example the Sri Lankan figure does not include 1,500 reported killed in the areas of Ceylon controlled by the Tamil Tigers. Likewise the Indian newspapers are reporting 2,000 dead in the Nicobars and Andamans which haven't been added to the official tally yet, and the increased death toll in Tamil Nadu and the missing in Andhra Pradesh. The Thai figures' increase has been reported by several sites. However, the tallies of the big news sites are in some cases starting to exceed 16,000. Based on what I've seen so far and what's still coming in, we'll be very lucky if less than 25,000 people were killed.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2004-12-27 03:36am

The Japanese government has stated that there are about 20 of its tourists in the area killed and at least 700 missing.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2004-12-27 04:00am

Latest from Reuters

Death toll has increased by about 250 in Andhra Pradesh state and there are now "at least 3,000" killed in the Andamans and Nicobars, up by more than 1,000. But worst of all:

Reuters wrote:The toll in the Andaman and Nicobar islands -- many of which had no high ground for people to escape to -- includes at least 68 air force personnel and their families.

A councillor from the capital of the island territory said she was alarmed nothing had been heard from Great Nicobar island, home to about 45,000 and close to the epicentre.

"The worrying thing is that there is no news about Great Nicobar and we have not been able to reach Great Nicobar," Port Blair councillor Pratima Madhukrishnan said in Madras.

The Coast Guard has pressed all operational ships and aircraft into search and rescue operations and crews reported seeing hundreds of bodies along the eastern coast.

"This is a really bad disaster. We are continuously recovering bodies." Commandant Navin Chandra Pandey said.

This may turn out to be one of the most deadly days in human history.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2004-12-27 04:09am

The Duchess of Zeon wrote:
This may turn out to be one of the most deadly days in human history.

Not to sound uncaring or anything, but to do that there needs to be at least 200,000 casualties, and hopefully this will not happen.

Edit: I did a Google search on the Nicobar islands and it apears that they are inhabited by aborigines, with the island being off-limits to everyone but Indian nationals engaged in research. So, it may be that the waves have merely destroyed the few radios on the island.

have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Chris OFarrell · Post by **Chris OFarrell** » 2004-12-27 04:15am

fgalkin wrote:
The Duchess of Zeon wrote:
This may turn out to be one of the most deadly days in human history.
Not to sound uncaring or anything, but to do that there needs to be at least 200,000 casualties, and hopefully this will not happen.

"ONE of the"
Not "The MOST deadly..."

That said, i'm concerned about this island. I wonder why no-one has tried to fly over it or even turn a satelite in that direction....

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2004-12-27 04:16am

fgalkin wrote:
The Duchess of Zeon wrote:
This may turn out to be one of the most deadly days in human history.

This is the works quake in morden history so far:

Tangshan, China July 28, 1976
242,419 killed

Not to dismiss this one but it is not a disaster in the same scale.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2004-12-27 04:19am

Chris OFarrell wrote:
fgalkin wrote:
The Duchess of Zeon wrote:
This may turn out to be one of the most deadly days in human history.
Not to sound uncaring or anything, but to do that there needs to be at least 200,000 casualties, and hopefully this will not happen.

"ONE of the"
Not "The MOST deadly..."

That said, i'm concerned about this island. I wonder why no-one has tried to fly over it or even turn a satelite in that direction....

To be the MOST deadly, it would have to top 800,000 casulaties (or 250,000 for modern history).

Btw, I did a Google search on the Nicobar islands and it apears that they are inhabited by aborigines, with the island being off-limits to everyone but Indian nationals engaged in research. So, it may be that the waves have merely destroyed the few radios on the island.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2004-12-27 04:21am

Chris OFarrell wrote:
"ONE of the"
Not "The MOST deadly..."

That said, i'm concerned about this island. I wonder why no-one has tried to fly over it or even turn a satelite in that direction....

That's because the only Indian airforce base in the Andamans and Nicobars was destroyed by the tsunami.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2004-12-27 04:24am

fgalkin wrote: To be the MOST deadly, it would have to top 800,000 casulaties (or 250,000 for modern history).

Right, but I was thinking "one of", not "the". And it's not impossible that the final death toll could get very far up there. The Indonesians are in an information clamp-down. Their death toll hasn't budged in hours despite numerous reports of additional searches turning up more and more bodies. I suspect this has to do with the security situation in Aceh.

Btw, I did a Google search on the Nicobar islands and it apears that they are inhabited by aborigines, with the island being off-limits to everyone but Indian nationals engaged in research. So, it may be that the waves have merely destroyed the few radios on the island.

Only some of the islands are inhabited by aborigines and are off-limits. As the article I linked stated, they have full parliamentary representation in India and some of the islands (including the one they've lost contact with) are very populous. Unfortunately.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2004-12-27 04:26am

The Duchess of Zeon wrote:
fgalkin wrote: To be the MOST deadly, it would have to top 800,000 casulaties (or 250,000 for modern history).
Right, but I was thinking "one of", not "the". And it's not impossible that the final death toll could get very far up there. The Indonesians are in an information clamp-down. Their death toll hasn't budged in hours despite numerous reports of additional searches turning up more and more bodies. I suspect this has to do with the security situation in Aceh.

True, but I don't think the death toll will rise above 100,000.

Btw, I did a Google search on the Nicobar islands and it apears that they are inhabited by aborigines, with the island being off-limits to everyone but Indian nationals engaged in research. So, it may be that the waves have merely destroyed the few radios on the island.
Only some of the islands are inhabited by aborigines and are off-limits. As the article I linked stated, they have full parliamentary representation in India and some of the islands (including the one they've lost contact with) are very populous. Unfortunately.

Great Nicobar being one of those inhabited by aboriginies.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2004-12-27 04:42am

fgalkin wrote: True, but I don't think the death toll will rise above 100,000.

Oh, I wasn't even thinking that high. But even if the death toll is below 25,000 it will still be one of the eight worse quakes this century, and the only other events which really compare are things like firebombing cities in WWII and the First Day of the Somme, the later of which it has incidentally already exceeded in all liklihood.

Great Nicobar being one of those inhabited by aboriginies.

Not to be excessively pessimistic, but it was also almost exactly right on the fault line, and the subduction zone apparently stretched 1,000km northwards from the hypocentre.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2004-12-27 05:08am

The Guardian has an interview with the police chief of Car Nicobar island, who is reporting "that maybe 3,000 people are dead".

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2004-12-27 05:14am

Tamil Net is reporting at least 7,700 dead and 18,000 missing in Sri Lanka.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2004-12-27 05:26am

The Duchess of Zeon wrote:The Guardian has an interview with the police chief of Car Nicobar island, who is reporting "that maybe 3,000 people are dead".

That is bad news indeed.

btw, population figures for the Nicobar islands can be found here

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2004-12-27 05:55am

Holy shit!

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2004-12-27 06:07am

According to Ireland Online, the Death Toll has now passed 20,000, with 11,500 in Sri Lanka alone. No word from Great Nicobar and several other islands in the chain yet.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2004-12-27 06:13am

Worse news yet. Car Nicobar figure not included in new total, meaning that if the Car Nicobar figure is confirmed the death toll could now be up to 23,000.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2004-12-27 06:35am

Even more disturbing news, now from Indonesia, where it appears the death toll may have shot up from 4,500 to 8,000.

Post by **Coyote** » 2004-12-27 07:28am

Ummm... wow. Now, forgive me my ignorance, and this may sound damn stupid, but wasn't this the area where, just a few days ago, there was a tremendously loud explosion heard in Indonesia that some thougt may have been a meteor breaking thriough the atmosphere?

If there's been some sort of falling-rock type activity in the region, is it possible that....?

Old Plympto · Post by **Old Plympto** » 2004-12-27 07:44am

Meteor strike did cross my mind when I first heard of it thanks to Deep Impact being on TV a couple of weeks ago, but when later I learnt that seismologists discovered that 1000 miles of fault line did the Watusi, that took that theory off my boards. If seismologists were unclear on the cause of the tsunami, then I'd figure in a meteor strike.

Anyways, thank god it wasn't a real asteroid impact.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-12-27 07:50am

Old Plympto wrote:Anyways, thank god it wasn't a real asteroid impact.

Not to sound completely callous, but perhaps a real asteroid strike is what we need to get serious about space again.

And fuck, this whole thing is just... staggering. Thousands dead, thousands more missing.