The biggest earthquake to hit planet earth in 40 years hit Southeast Asia with a vengeance today, triggering tidal waves and tsunamis that have killed thousands of people.
JAKARTA, Indonesia - The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into villages and seaside resorts across southern and southeast Asia on Sunday, killing more than 7,200 people in six countries.
Tourists, fishermen, homes and cars were swept away by walls of water up to 20 feet high that rolled across the Bay of Bengal, unleashed by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake centered off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
In Sri Lanka, 1,000 miles west of the epicenter, more than 3,000 people were killed, the country's top police official said. At least 1,870 died in Indonesia, and more than 2,000 along the southern coasts of India. At least 289 were confirmed dead in Thailand, 42 in Malaysia and 2 in Bangladesh.
But officials expected the death toll to continue to rise, with hundreds reported missing and all communications cut off to Sumatran towns closest to the epicenter. Hundreds of bodies were found on various beaches along India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, and more were expected to be washed in by the sea, officials said.
The rush of waves brought sudden disaster to people carrying out their daily activities on the ocean's edge: Sunbathers on the beaches of the Thai resort of Phuket were washed away; a group of 32 Indians — including 15 children — were killed while taking a ritual Hindu bath to mark the full moon day; fishing boats, with their owners clinging to their sides, were picked up by the waves and tossed away.
"All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation.
The U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites) measured the quake at a magnitude of 8.9. Geophysicist Julie Martinez said it was the world's fifth-largest since 1900 and the largest since a 9.2 temblor hit Prince William Sound Alaska in 1964.
This is a terrible tragedy. It is estimated that the loss of life will top 10,000 people. Our prayers go out to the residents of the affected areas, as well as those who were just there for a vacation.
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December 28, 2004 11:22 AM
This is the most horrible time I have ever heard of. May God give strength and comfort to those who lost their families. My heart and prayers go out to all who survived this horrific event.
December 28, 2004 02:27 PM
People just dont realize events in geologic time.this is just a force of nature and as the irresponsible human species procreates and reproduces and overpopulates coastal areas casualties will occur.Nature doesnt care-these natural events will continue to occur and if youre in the wrong place-oh well-you npay your money-you take your chances nobody lives forever.As to providing aid to these affected nations-where were you when we needed help-chris U.S.A.
December 28, 2004 02:35 PM
Its hard to feel sorry for rich foreign tourists who go to these poverty stricken nations to sate their twisted pleasures.Also hard to feel sorry for affected populations who overpopulate the world-i feel sorry for the affected animal species and the poor children-the Hell with fat rich tourists and natives who need to have dozens of kids-things happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 28, 2004 05:36 PM
Chris,
Your comments are cold and heartless. Be grateful it didn't happen to you or someone you love.
Joel
December 29, 2004 08:08 PM
Many peoples love will grow cold. Chris it is too bad that you have no compassion for others in a different land. I suppose it was no big deal to you when we lost thousands on our turf too . . . just a couple thousand less New Yorkers to clutter the city? It is a perverted and degenerate mind that can easily right off a hundred thousand humans without a care.
December 30, 2004 09:16 AM
The last couple of world disasters had an unusually high component of rich people in the casualty makeup.
And they were pursuing rich people activities at the time, in luxurious and decadent settings. The WTC was one of the most brazen examples of capitalism. Thai resorts are as much a decadent symbol of another kind.
They are not like disasters such as Bhopal, Chernobyl and Bangladesh where the only the impoverished died in massive numbers.
Money did not protect them, in fact it bought them their death. Fortune became misfortune for those. They are a lot like the lottery winners who lose it all and suicide once its all over, victims of their own greed.
December 30, 2004 10:36 AM
I don't wish poverty on anyone in this world.
I do wish that all people in this world had the money to live well and decent.
Why do so many people wish poverty instead of prosperity on the multitudes?
December 30, 2004 11:48 AM
Jason, your envy of people who have money is quite sad. This disaster was no respecter of wealth. It did not target people based on their checkbook balance.
December 30, 2004 12:06 PM
A world trade center in New York and resorts in Thailand was what I referred to.
There's a lot of well off people in both of those places.
Of course the number of dead (now 125,000) is by far made up of the very poor.
I suppose I sympathise with the (comparatively) rich who died and suffered huge losses in the resorts more than envy them - I too when looking back had the worst experiences when money was abundant, rather than scarce. It actually causes problems, rather than loses them, because you don't know what to use it for.
I wish I'd never made it now as I'm sure many wealthy 9/11 and tsunami victims also would, but much more.
December 30, 2004 12:16 PM
Maybe that's what they meant by "Money is the root of all evil". It seems to land you in situations that are worse than poverty!
December 30, 2004 01:09 PM
Jason, the Bible does not say "money is the root of all evil". It DOES say that "the LOVE of money is root of all kinds of evil". Money in itself is ammoral. It is an object. Evil comes from the human heart, not money. In the hands of good people, it can be used for great good. In the hands of evil people, it can be used for great evil.
If a person is unprepared to handle wealth, it can be a terrible curse. It definitely takes a mature individual with proper priorities.
Regardless, money has absolutely nothing to do with this disaster, with the exception of the incredible need and the generous outpouring from Americans.
Joel
December 31, 2004 05:52 AM
What a relief to start a year without Bush and Iraq dominating the media.
December 31, 2004 05:55 AM
Let's hope that generous outpouring increases because right now, the UK has offered 96 million and the US 35. And the US economy is 7 times greater!
December 31, 2004 05:58 AM
By the UK standard, I want to see 700 million on the table from the US now! But oh, I forgot, that's already been allocated to the noble crusade of taking over Iraq against the people's and international will.
December 31, 2004 06:52 AM
To say it another way, the US is proportionately contributing 5% of what the UK contributed, its closest ally. Can that accurately be described as a "generous outpouring"?
It is also 1/3 of the total UK outlay (96 vs 35 million).
December 31, 2004 10:03 AM
I grow so weary of U.S. bashing.
Last year, we gave $2.4 billion to cover relief efforts for last year. $2.4 billion.
The $35 million we just gave DRAINED our emergency relief fund. There is NO money there and new appropriations will have to be made by the budget office.
We are also spending TENS of millions by sending transport planes with tents, blankets, food and water.
It is estimated that we will spend $1 Billion on the tsunami relief effort before all is said and done.
Compound that with the millions that are pouring forth from the pockets of individual Americans and you have an incredibly generous nation.
December 31, 2004 11:35 AM
God bless you and I hope we see that outcome.
December 31, 2004 11:39 AM
No I am not about to bow down and pray to Washington five times a day like most of the pommies and aussies.
January 2, 2005 01:13 AM
I FEEL VERY BAD AS I HAVE FACED THIS GIANT DESTROYER. I SYMPATHIZE WITH ALL OF THOSE WHO HAVE LOST THEIR LOVED ONE'S IN THE TSUNAMI.
January 5, 2005 06:37 PM
HOPE PPL R FYNE IN SRI-LANKA
January 5, 2005 09:43 PM
I shudder to think of the lives saved if the will had been there to install an Indian Ocean warning system.
Sure there would have been deaths in very large numbers - there may not have been time in Sumatra to save many due to the quake's epicentre being right there - and most of the people were killed in that region.
But Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, very hard hit by the waves, could have been spared the massive amount of lives lost. This tragedy will reverberate for decades.
Disasters of the past, like wars of the past, were limited in scope, due to lower populations and less intermingling of peoples. I wonder how many people worldwide would have been effected by the 1883 Krakatoa eruption in Indonesia that killed 36,000 people - massive in number by those times, but it would have been a very localised group.
Today there would be few countries on earth without a sizeable number of people mourning friends and relatives they have lost.
I hope their lives are not lost in vain, and that warning systems put in place globally for this possibility save future lives.
June 10, 2009 05:28 AM
God bless you and I hope we see that outcome.