World's biggest earthquake in 40 yrs

[Ankf00]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041226/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake

USGS rates it at 8.9, the tsunami wiped out 7000 in sri lanka and india alone, another 2500-3000 in indonesia, the tsunami even reached AFRICA... :(

[Methanolandbrats]

And most of those people don't even surf.

[Ankf00]

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Maps/Asia-Pacific/m_IndoQuake_041226.gif

[rabbit]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041226/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake

"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.
:eek: :(

[Cam]

I for one welcome our new Ice Age Overlords! :eek: :cry:

[RusH]

And most of those people don't even surf.

That`s about as funny as first 10,000 soldiers that are soon to be that killed in a certain war.

:gomer:

That not funny? too bad
:cry:

[Winston Wolfe]

Lighten Up, Francis ! :rolleyes:

I'm just glad my neighbor cancelled his plans to vacation in Sri Lanka this year. He usually goes each year, but this year he got married and stayed at home in SoCal. Lucky for him....

[Clown]

That`s about as funny as first 10,000 soldiers that are soon to be that killed in a certain war.

:gomer:

That not funny? too bad
:cry:Exactly.

[Methanolandbrats]

Maybe all you Aholes should Google "black humor"....................sucks to have NITSO :D

[nrc]

Black Humor: a joke about a tragedy that doesn't affect you.
Poor Taste: a joke about a tragedy that does affect you.

[IlliniRacer]

My employer has an off-shore site in Chennai. I work with these guys everyday. I'm praying that I get to work tomorrow and find out they are all ok.

[Ankf00]

13000 and counting :( 2-3mil homeless :(

[Clown]

Black Humor: a joke about a tragedy that doesn't affect you.
Poor Taste: a joke about a tragedy that does affect you.
Wrong way round :gomer:

[oddlycalm]

Heard from both of my expat friends that live in Phuket. Pretty grim stuff for the tourists on the beach there from the sounds of it, but rather minor compared to India and Sri Lanka.

The odd thing about the waves they said was that, unlike the huge waves that pound Hawaii this time of year, these waves were not all that tall, but were like a huge tidal bore; it was all the water surging in behind them that did the real damage.

Makes one appreciate the tsunami warning sirens we have at the coast here. There was more than enough time to warn everyone had there been a system in place....

oc

[Rob]

Maybe all you Aholes should Google "black humor"....................sucks to have NITSO :D
Terms like that apply to works of literature, film and theater. When someone is banging out worthless crap on an internet forum it's just called "being a jerk."

[Michaelhatesfans]

Maybe all you Aholes should Google "black humor"..........:D
Were you this funny in September 2001?

[Ankf00]

bloody hell... 22K and could reach 30 with Indonesia and the outlying Indonesian/Indian islands
"The U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites) said the quake's magnitude was 9.0 — the strongest since a 9.2-magnitude temblor in Alaska in 1964 and the fourth-largest in a century."

India and Sri Lanka don't have buoy mounted sensors in a warning system, that portion of Thailand's coast didn't have the system either, 2+ hours between the landfall in Thailand and the landfall in Sri Lanka. A guy from hornfans was at his resort's pool with his wife 150 feet from the beach, said 3 waves crashed down on them, and people were either running or being slammed into the wall

my question is regardless of warning systems... doesn't wave energy travel much faster in denser basaltic bedrock than in a fluidic water? wouldn't scientists know of an earthquake w/in the 2+ hours it took to hit Sri Lanka? also amazing how in those 2 hours news of the event didn't reach Sri Lanka, India, or Somolia from Thailand or Indonesia. And how come there are no reports from Australia? Was the tsunami just bi-directional and perpendicular to the 650 mile fault tremor?

the first one is 8.1 2 days before, then the 9.0, then aftershocks of 7.3, 6.2, 5.9, etc... 7.3 being an earthquake in its own right.. :eek:

nasa topo map, convergence zone for 3 plates resulting in Java Trench and the Himalayas
http://vathena.arc.nasa.gov/curric/land/platet.gif

[Ankf00]

Account from a Washington Post reporter who was vacationing on an island there: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6757337/

[dando]

Check this out:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/asia.warningsystem.ap/


A single wave station south of the earthquake's epicenter registered tsunami activity less than 2 feet high heading south toward Australia, researchers said....

Tsunamis as large and destructive as Sunday's typically happen only a few times in a century.

A tsunami is not a single wave, but a series of traveling ocean waves generated by geological disturbances near or below the ocean floor. With nothing to stop them, these waves can race across the ocean like the crack of a bullwhip, gaining momentum over thousands of miles.

Most are triggered by large earthquakes but they can be caused by landslides, volcanoes and even meteor impacts.

The waves are generated when geologic forces displace sea water in the ocean basin. The bigger the earthquake, the more the Earth's crust shifts and the more seawater begins to move.

Most tsunamis occur in the Pacific because the ocean basin is rimmed by the Ring of Fire, a long chain of the Earth's most seismically active spots.

In a tsunami, waves typically radiate out in directions opposite from the seismic disturbance. In the case of the Sumatra quake, the seismic fault ran north to south beneath the ocean floor, while the tsunami waves shot out west and east.

Tsunamis are distinguished from normal coastal surf by their great length and speed. A single wave in a tsunami series might be 160 kilometers (100 miles) long and race across the ocean at 1,000 km/h (600 mph). When it approaches a coastline, the wave slows dramatically, but it also rises to great heights because the enormous volume of water piles up in shallow coastal bays.

600 mph! :eek:

Also, here's a tag from Drudge, that's not attributed to a source or linked:


Moved the entire island of Sumatra about 100 feet toward the southwest

Interestingly there was an 8+ trembler between Oz and Antartica last Thurs that didn't result in any wave activity, or other serious damage:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11775215%255E421,00.html

-Kevin

[Ankf00]

the indian ocean plate is converging beneath the plate sumatra is on at the same rate as your fingernails grow...

[Kiwifan]

Sad news all around the Indian Ocean. The damage is staggering. :cry:

I did wonder why there was no warning given but it seems the area is just too vast, and poor to have any significant system in place. It's just heartbreaking to know there was (up to) a 2 hour period from the 'quake till the waves hit India and Sri Lanka. (The Sri Lankan cricket team are here in NZ on tour and have decided to continue but are obviously deeply distressed.)

We had an 8.4 just off the coast of NZ a couple of weeks back but it was pretty deep and like the latest quake linked above between Aussie and us I think it went sideways and not vertically which may account for there being litle or no wave action.

Meth', that was tasteless mate. :thumdown:

Rusty.

[Dave99]

the indian ocean plate is converging beneath the plate sumatra is on at the same rate as your fingernails grow...
Is that right? That is huge. I guess that's a reflection of just how active that region really is.

From what I remember, the North American plate travels North at a rate of 2mm per year and the Pacific plate travels North at a rate of 4mm per year.

Some day Los Angeles (on the Pacific plate) and San Francisco (on the North American plate) will be neighboring cities. Both will eventually end up underneath Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Then you die.

[dando]

Video of the tsunami hitting a Thai beach:

http://www.nbc10.com/news/4026938/detail.html

:eek:

-Kevin

[KLang]

Video of the tsunami hitting a Thai beach:

http://www.nbc10.com/news/4026938/detail.html

:eek:

-Kevin

WOW. And that one didn't look as tall as what's been reported to have hit to the west.

[oddlycalm]

I did wonder why there was no warning given but it seems the area is just too vast, and poor to have any significant system in place. While it will be like closing the barn door after all the horses have gotten out, I predict speedy implementation of a warning system similar to that in the Pacific.

oc

[Ankf00]

Maybe all you Aholes should Google "black humor"....................sucks to have NITSO :D
ya, this is just sooo amusing ...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=events/wl/122604indonesiaquake&tmpl=sl&e=2

[Michaelhatesfans]

ya, this is just sooo amusing ...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=events/wl/122604indonesiaquake&tmpl=sl&e=2
And from the AP,

On Monday, parents wept over the bodies of their children in streets and hospitals across the island, even as some dead children still dangled unclaimed from barbed wire fences.


Yep. Freaking hilarious.

[dando]

Check out this snipet from Drudge:


Quake May Have Altered Earth's Rotation // May have shortened the day by 3 microseconds, said gravity expert Richard Gross of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena... On premise a slab slid into core, Gross said he's done calculations 'to see what effect this (earthquake) should have had.' The result: A day shortened... 'We won't know for weeks,' said a geophysicist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 'So it's a guess, as of now'...


That and this AP story show how powerful this event was:

Quake's power = million atomic bombs? (http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/12/27/quake.seismic.ap/index.html)


There are also estimates now that the death toll will pass 40K. :(

-Kevin

[Ankf00]

44K now, this will hit 50...



Emergency workers who reached Aceh province at the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island found that 10,000 people had been killed in a single town, Meulaboh, said Purnomo Sidik, national disaster director at the Social Affairs Ministry.


Another 9,000 were confirmed dead so far in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, and surrounding towns, he said. Soldiers and volunteers combed seaside districts and dug into rubble of destroyed houses to seek survivors and retrieve the dead amid unconfirmed reports that other towns along Aceh's west coast had been demolished.

almost 20,000 dead in sri lanka too

USA Today (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=5&u=/usatoday/20041228/ts_usatoday/scientistsinusasawtsunamicoming) :(

Minutes after a massive earthquake rocked the Indian Ocean on Sunday, international ocean monitors knew that a tsunami would likely follow. But they didn't know whom to tell.

"We put out a bulletin within 20 minutes, technically as fast as we could do it," says Jeff LaDouce of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. LaDouce says e-mails were dispatched to Indonesian officials, but he doesn't know what happened to the information."

[Racing Truth]

And most of those people don't even surf.

Bet you're feeling really good about that one now. :gomer:

44k and more to come. I had never really even considered something like this before. :(

[FTG]

As the pictures of orphaned children and mass graves have come in, I find it hard to believe that no one has taken down that "joke."

[Ankf00]

links to various organizations which are helping out in the area

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/quake.aidsites/index.html

I'm donating to Medecins Sans Frontieres myself

[dando]

44K now, this will hit 50...
:(

Projections of 60K or more now. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if this reaches 100K after the subsequent epidemics. :(

-Kevin

[RaceGrrl]

In spite of all that we do to try to control and domesticate our surroundings, this kind of tragedy shows us that we're along for the ride, just like all other living things on the planet. We control nothing.

[dando]

Here's a link to the latest updates through Yahoo Singapore:

http://sg.search.yahoo.com/search/news?p=earthquake&n=10&ei=UTF-8&datesort=1

-Kevin

[oddlycalm]

We control nothing. True, but one doesn't need to be able to control the train to step off the tracks.

Collectively, the region has the resources for a warning system, and since one already exists in the Pacific basin, not even original thought is required.

oc

[Ankf00]

Thailand is prominent in the news despite their relatively modest death toll because of all the luxury resorts that are located there. What did the resorts do to pop up in the past 40 years? They sliced up acres upon acres of mangroves which lined the ocean to make room for their resorts. There's a reason the local villages didn't clear land to live on the beach, they lived behind mangroves... Combine that with destruction of coral reefs in the area and you have no natural obstacles to impede the progress of the tsunami and no way to dissipate its energy... modern development, bleh

[Jervis Tetch 1]

Hopefully the death toll won't top the one (numbers escape me for the moment--but I believe close to half a million) in 1970 from the cyclone that hit East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

I remember that as a kid. Pretty horrible.

[dando]

Hopefully the death toll won't top the one (numbers escape me for the moment--but I believe close to half a million) in 1970 from the cyclone that hit East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

I remember that as a kid. Pretty horrible.

Somewhere from 300-500K died in the 1970 cyclone. A big cyclone also hit in '91 that killed ~140K. A link to a listing of some of the top natural disasters of all time:

http://www.wmo.ch/wmo50/e/world/weather_pages/chronicle_e.html

-Kevin

[Ankf00]

well, I now have a use for the money mom tried geve me for xmas instead of giving it back to her sometime later...


Petra Nemcova was clinging to a palm tree for 8 hours until she was rescused, Helmut Kohl was airlifted out of his Sri Lankan hotel :eek:

[RacinM3]

True, but one doesn't need to be able to control the train to step off the tracks.

Also true, but when you step off the tracks, and mother nature makes something occur that also throws the train off the track right into you...... :eek:

The sheer power of this is something I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around. Not in an emotional way, but just comprehending it.

And from dando's website:


Yangtze River Flood, 1931. The summer flood along the Yangtze during July-August 1931 was the most severe, with over 51 million people affected (1/4 of China’s population). 3.7 million people perished from this greatest disaster of the century due to disease, starvation or drowning. This flood was preceded by a prolonged drought in China during the 1928-1930 period.

[Ankf00]

Officials had not yet counted the dead in two zones that suffered the brunt of both the earthquake and the tsunami that followed: the west coast of Sumatra and India's remote Andaman and Nicobar archipelagos just north of Sumatra.


Purnomo Sidik, national disaster director at Indonesia's Social Affairs Ministry, said 10,000 people had been reported killed in and around Meulaboh, a poor Sumatran town where most people are fishermen or workers on palm oil plantations. In India, police said 8,000 people were missing and feared dead on the two island chains.



almost at 60, with that it hits 80... :thumdown:

[anait]

Am I reading this right? Did more earthquakes hit Tuesday evening our time, Wednesday morning Asian Pacific time? Are these aftershocks? I can't find any news about this, so I'm wondering if I'm just not getting this information straight...

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/ussqaf.htm

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Maps/10/95_10.html

[devilmaster]

Am I reading this right? Did more earthquakes hit Tuesday evening our time, Wednesday morning Asian Pacific time? Are these aftershocks? I can't find any news about this, so I'm wondering if I'm just not getting this information straight...

According to this bulletin, I would say yes, there have been many aftershocks.

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/

[dando]

In response to M&B's crass post:

Briton surfed his way to Maldives safety (http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=102381226&p=yxz38y788)

Here's another amazing survivor story:

American diver underwater during catastrophe (http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/28/tsunami.diver/index.html)

CNN reports the toll has reached 80K. :(

-Kevin

[dando]

Am I reading this right? Did more earthquakes hit Tuesday evening our time, Wednesday morning Asian Pacific time? Are these aftershocks? I can't find any news about this, so I'm wondering if I'm just not getting this information straight...

According this piece (http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/12/28/quake.sumatra.reut/index.html) I read last night, a serious plate shift occurred right under the Nicobar Islands, which actually moved the Islands. :eek:

-Kevin

[KLang]

Found this link (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Maps/region/Asia_eqs.html) over at CW.

Many aftershocks in the 4-6 magnitude range. It's still rockin' and rollin' big time over there.

80k now. Unimaginable. :(

[dando]

It's still rockin' and rollin' big time over there.

In some piece I read over the past few days (I've read so many they all run together jow) it mentioned that the area around Sumatra is the most active earthquake zone on Earth.

Reports now of the toll reaching 100K:

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/15630695?source=Evening%20Standard&ct=5

:cry:

-Kevin

[dando]

This is amazing:

Experts: Tsunami Kills Few Animals (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=516&u=/ap/20041229/ap_on_re_as/quake_sri_lanka_animals_1&printer=1)


"This is very interesting. I am finding bodies of humans, but I have yet to see a dead animal," said Wijeyeratne, whose hotel in the park was totally destroyed in Sunday's tidal surge.

"Maybe what we think is true, that animals have a sixth sense," Wijeyeratne said.

-Kevin

[IlliniRacer]

Received a memo at work today that my employer (MasterCard) is matching any donation employees make to a selected group of organizations for disaster relief

[G.]

Apparently (according to a story in the Chicago Tribune), there has never been a (recorded) tsunami in the Indian Ocean, hence no warning bouys. Also, the Pacific is large enough to absorb most tsunamis, but with the right conditions, huge landfall tsunamis are possible. IOWs, an earthquake does not a tsunami make in an of itself, which is why they need the bouys as well.

Oz, Thailand and another country were warned, but the NOAA had no idea how to contact the other countries, but they tried (American embassies, etc.).

I will be donating to help these poor people.

[dando]

Received a memo at work today that my employer (MasterCard) is matching any donation employees make to a selected group of organizations for disaster relief
Mine is making a $200K donation and matching up to $50K. :thumbup: I hope this gains momentum like the giving spirit around 911.

Like Ank, I'll be donating my Xmas green to the cause.

-Kevin

[dando]

Apparently (according to a story in the Chicago Tribune), there has never been a (recorded) tsunami in the Indian Ocean, hence no warning bouys.

From a link earlier in this thread:


The international warning system was started in 1965, the year after tsunamis associated with a magnitude 9.2 temblor struck Alaska in 1964. It is administered by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Member states include all the major Pacific rim nations in North America, Asia and South America, was well as the Pacific islands, Australia and New Zealand. It also includes France, which has sovereignty over some Pacific islands, and Russia.

However, India and Sri Lanka are not members. "That's because tsunamis are much less frequent in the Indian Ocean," Charles McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center near Honolulu, said.

"Unfortunately, we have no equipment here that can warn about tsunamis," said Budi Waluyo, an official with Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency. "The instruments are very expensive and we don't have money to buy them."

[dando]

Check out this video:

http://www.polymathblog.com/images/tsunamiphuket.wmv

:eek:

-Kevin

[G.]

Check out this video:

http://www.polymathblog.com/images/tsunamiphuket.wmv

:eek:

-Kevinit's on the mainpage http://www.polymathblog.com/

At what point does one decide, screw this camera, drop it, and hang onto something strong?

[Ankf00]

what a crazy dude...

also, I think the first aftershock was 7.3, then a 6.9
haven't seen much video yet b/c I don't have cable in Houston, only seen still photos so far

reports have the Nicobar islands being completely wiped out, 10K ppl... :(




The relief organization list again for anyone interested (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/quake.aidsites/index.html)

[Michaelhatesfans]

We've chipped in $100 - I know it seems like pennies, but every bit helps.

by the way, if anyone hears any news from Ko Lanta, Thailand, let me know. I've got a bad feeling about the place where I stayed... :(
http://community.webshots.com/photo/239343846/239345999toNANE
http://community.webshots.com/photo/239343846/239346026WStxBo

[dando]

if anyone hears any news from Ko Lanta, Thailand, let me know. I've got a bad feeling about the place where I stayed... :(


Google News query for Ko Lanta, Thailand (http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLB,GGLB:1969-53,GGLB:en&q=Ko+Lanta%2C+Thailand)

From one of the articles:


It is believed about 770 people, mainly foreigners, are dead in Ko Lak, home to a string of luxury international hotels. It is also feared that hundreds more have died in Ko Lanta and Ko Phi Phi.

:(

-Kevin

[Michaelhatesfans]

Thanks for the help.

Not really sure what to say...

[Sean O'Gorman]

One of the members of my group in my marketing research class this past semester moved back to Indonesia after graduating...no idea on his situation right now. :(

[L1P1]

Geez, it may've changed the rate of the Earth's rotation. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/29/1332232

I wonder if the asteroid that stands a 1 in 37 chance to hit us in 2029 might give us a real spin. :eek:

[indyfan31]

Not to belittle the enourmity of the disaster but within hours of the tsunami they reported 11000 deaths, this morning there were 60000, now it's approaching 80000 (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20041230/ts_nm/quake_dc) . Considering the lack of communications, resources and the widespread area that's affected, how do you COUNT 80000 bodies in 4 days?

[Michaelhatesfans]

Not to belittle the enourmity of the disaster but within hours of the tsunami they reported 11000 deaths, this morning there were 60000, now it's approaching 80000 (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20041230/ts_nm/quake_dc) . Considering the lack of communications, resources and the widespread area that's affected, how do you COUNT 80000 bodies in 4 days?
I think that's mostly because of Indonesia releasing their numbers later than the others. The destruction was so widespread there that it sounds like it took them a few days to realize exactly what they were actually dealing with.

[Clown]

how do you COUNT 80000 bodies in 4 days?Considering thousands were swept out to sea, you don't. They're probably going on "missing person" reports.

[devilmaster]

Not to belittle the enourmity of the disaster but within hours of the tsunami they reported 11000 deaths, this morning there were 60000, now it's approaching 80000 (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20041230/ts_nm/quake_dc) . Considering the lack of communications, resources and the widespread area that's affected, how do you COUNT 80000 bodies in 4 days?

Mostly because the damage is so widespread that they weren't able to reach certain areas until today. The Aceh province was closest to the epicentre and it is expected that 1 in 4 did not survive. The capitol was literally wiped out.

Steve

[KLang]

I wonder if the asteroid that stands a 1 in 37 chance to hit us in 2029 might give us a real spin. :eek:

FYI, they re-examined the data and decided that asteroid won't get that close.

CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/12/29/asteroid.ap/index.html)

[dando]

CNN reports the toll is @ 116K. AP story reports in >120K now:

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20041230/2004-12-30T135659Z_01_N30180903_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-QUAKE-DC.html


Health Ministry sources told Reuters just under 80,000 had died in Indonesia's northern Aceh province that was close to the undersea quake, some 28,000 more than previously announced. Two sources said the toll would be officially announced soon.

Aceh, already suffering a prolonged conflict, has emerged as the "ground zero" of Sunday's great earthquake just off its coast. It triggered monstrous waves all the way to Africa that killed thousands more in India, Thailand and elsewhere.

-Kevin

[Michaelhatesfans]

http://www.globalsecurity.org/eye/andaman-sri-lanka_comp01.htm
:(
Move your cursor over, then off of the photo to toggle it.

[Wheel-Nut]

This on is even more disturbing.

Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/indonesia/aceh-andaman-tsunami_comp01.htm

[KLang]

This on is even more disturbing.

Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/indonesia/aceh-andaman-tsunami_comp01.htm

Wow, incredible. Last night just before I went to bed CNN got in some aerial footage of the islands. The devastation was obvious but seeing the before and after picture is just mind boggling.

Drudge is reporting there may be 400k dead just in Indonesia. :saywhat: :cry:

[Racing Truth]

This on is even more disturbing.

Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/indonesia/aceh-andaman-tsunami_comp01.htm

:eek: :( Wow. That's remarkable.

Heard a story on CNN a couple of hours ago. A mother, from Australia IIRC, was holding on to her 2 and 5 year-old kids. Ultimately, she had to make the awful choice of letting one go and, presumably, die. She let the 5 year-old go in the end.

Come to find out the kid SURVIVED!!! How? He stayed afloat on a floating door. The boy's name: I kid you not, LUCKY.

How appropriate.

Just donated $50 to the American Red Cross. Might give a bit to UNICEF. :(

[dando]

This on is even more disturbing.

Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/indonesia/aceh-andaman-tsunami_comp01.htm
Man, that reminds me of Sanibel and Captiva after Charley hit back in August.

-Kevin

[dando]

Drudge is reporting there may be 400k dead just in Indonesia. :saywhat: :cry:

linky (http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=111574)


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.

"Aerial surveillance found the town of Meulaboh completely destroyed with only one buiding standing. The building, which belonged to the military, happens to be on a hill," he told reporters after receiving RM1 million in aid for Indonesia's Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund here Thursday.

Rusdihardjo said there were about 150,000 residents in Meulaboh, which was located 150km from the epicentre of the earthquake while Pulau Simeuleu had a population of 76,000.

-Kevin

[rabbit]

Just to give scale to this, CNN said this morning that the amount of coastline impacted by this is the equivalent of the U.S./Canada border. :eek:

[oddlycalm]

Not surprising given the severity of the tsunami that everything and anything near the epicentre is devastated. That Global Security overlay from Acheh pretty much tells the story.

The accelleration curve of casualty estimates is disturbing as well. Tuesday the outside wildass guesses were at 50,00 yesterday they were were at 120,000 and today they are 400,000. Each previously wildass high side guess has been well surpassed by the next days official confirmation. Not a good sign, as these are heavily populated areas.

The reason all the early reports were from Tailand, India and Sri Lanka are now obvious; there were people that survived to get the word out, functioning communications networks and officials still in place.

oc

[Ankf00]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/01/01/disabled.shelter.ap/index.html


hospital for paralyzed kids... 2/3's of them swept away chained to their beds :(

that's just ****ing ****ty. really ****ing ****ty. :(

[Michaelhatesfans]

[Michaelhatesfans]

Another sense of scale...
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/indonesia/aceh-andaman-tsunami_comp04.htm

[dando]

UN Warns Tsunami Death Toll Could Double (http://reuters.myway.com/article/20050105/2005-01-05T221244Z_01_L04500531_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-QUAKE-DC.html)

My God. :cry:

-Kevin

[G.]

Several videos and many pics.

http://www.nodalpoint.net/tsunami/

some corpses - be warned

A few of the pics are not of the tsunami (a00.jpg - a07.jpg)
see http://www.snopes.com/photos/tsunami/tsunami1.asp