A powerful tsunami occurred on December 26, 2004 in Thailand, at the very peak of the season. Its cause is an underwater earthquake in the Indian Ocean. Until now, it is considered one of the most serious natural disasters in modern history and the third most severe in the entire history of observation. Its power was 9.1 points on the Richter scale.
The force of the elements can be judged if only because it backfired even in South Africa, where waves of 1.5 m were recorded.Around the world, this event claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, according to various estimates, the number of victims of the tsunami in 2004 was from 200,000 up to 300,000 people.
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The epicenter of the earthquake was located near the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The countries located directly next to it have suffered the most: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Maldives, Myanmar, Malaysia and others. Waves 15 m high reached the coasts of states at different times - to Sumatra very quickly, to India - after 1.5 hours, and to Somalia - after 7 hours. The tsunami reached the mainland of Thailand 2 hours after the earthquake.
The large number of casualties is attributed to the poor warning and tsunami recognition system. The fact is that huge waves appear only near the coast, and in the ocean they are not very high. A good indicator was the animals that left all coastal areas overnight and rushed into the mountains. But in the process of evolution, man lost his intuition and connection with nature, therefore he rested as if nothing had happened.
Tsunami in Thailand in 2004
A tsunami in 2004 struck the western part of Thailand, which goes into the Andaman Sea, Phuket, Phi Phi, Khao Lak, Lanta, Krabi, and the Similian Islands were severely affected. It is estimated that about 9,000 people died, with the majority being tourists and not the local population.
Outwardly, the tsunami in Thailand in 2004 looked like this: suddenly the water began to leave the coast into the sea for a very long distance, and after a few minutes everyone saw giant waves approaching the coast. There were only 1-2 minutes left for the rescue. Since the wave height reached 10-15 meters, many "undersized" hotels were flooded. However, we will omit the details so as not to once again remember the tragedy. Probably everyone saw the news footage that flew around the world: twisted trees, cars, trains ...
Tsunami in Phuket in 2004
The tsunami affected almost the entire western coast of Phuket, where the most are located - Patong, Karon, Kamala and Kata. The infrastructure was partially destroyed - hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs. It is estimated that several hundred people died.
Although the tsunami on Phuket Island caused great damage, the infrastructure was rebuilt very quickly. In fact, by 2006, nothing reminded of this tragic event.
Tsunami in 2012
The tsunami in 2012 is a failed tsunami and, in a sense, even a curious incident. Many do not even know what it was. But first things first.
Should you be afraid of a tsunami in Thailand in Phuket, Phi Phi and others
Having described all the horrors of the tsunami above, many will decide not to get involved with Thailand and forever deprive themselves of the joy of rest in the resorts of the Andaman coast. We hasten to calm you down. Our answer is unequivocal - not worth it. The fact is that after the tragedy of 2004, the Thai government, together with American experts, established a deep-water system (the largest in the world) for early detection of tsunamis. A loudspeaker system was also installed on the coast, which notifies the population of the approaching disaster in several languages. And all this happens a couple of hours before the alleged disaster. An evacuation system has already been worked out, which will quickly take people to safe areas, away from the sea.
You may ask, what about such small islands as Phi Phi Islands, where you will not really get away from the coast. Again, our answer is, don't worry. There are huge mountains, compared to which the height of the 15 meters wave is just dwarf.
The early warning system was tested on April 11, 2012, when there was a tsunami in Thailand and when the entire west coast of Phuket was evacuated, which I witnessed. So everything is fine, welcome to the resorts of the Andaman coast!
If you are still plagued by vague doubts, then relax in the resorts of the Gulf of Thailand. They are successfully protected by the Malacca Peninsula from the tsunami in the Indian Ocean and Cambodia and Vietnam from the tsunami in the Pacific Ocean. The safest are located in the very depths of the Gulf of Thailand - Pattaya, Rayong, Hua Hin, Cha Am, Samet Island and Ko Lan. If you come to Thailand for a long time and the sea is not particularly important for you, then go to the north of the country, where the worst thing that can happen is to overflow the banks of the Chao Phraya or Mekong rivers. Of course, this is an unpleasant event, but in no way fatal.
This year will be 15 years since the tragedy that occurred on December 26. 230,000 deaths in fourteen countries, one of the deadliest natural disasters ever.
The 2004 Thailand tsunami cannot be forgotten, but there are so many distortions of facts and fiction around this tragedy that it is worth figuring out what is true and what is a clear lie. How many people died and why did the tsunami happen in Thailand? Could it happen again? How dangerous is it to go on vacation to Thailand?
What Caused the 2004 Thailand Tsunami?
The 20014 tsunami in Thailand was indeed caused by the largest and deadliest earthquake in history.
The power of the earthquake was estimated at 9.3 points on the Richter scale. The cause of the earthquake that caused the tsunami in several countries is the collision of two tectonic plates: Burmese and Indian off the coast of Sumatra.
An underwater-mega-prospective earthquake caused a rupture of plates and the appearance of waves with a height of 5-10 storey buildings.
Was it possible to predict it? It is possible, but in those parts there was still no warning equipment and it is quite possible to assume that the number of deaths, subject to the rules, could be reduced several times.
For many years, tectonic plates rested against each other and one was supposed to pass over the other, but instead, it moved head-on and a plate shift of 19 meters occurred, which caused a fracture and displacement of millions of tons of water, which caused the tsunami.
Tsunami of "Christmas gifts"
"Tsunami at Christmas" - so the public called the tragedy that happened exactly on the Catholic Christmas holidays.
Within a few hours from the beginning of the earthquake, a series of waves up to 30 meters high caused a tsunami, which seriously affected the inhabitants of 7 countries: India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Malaysia, Thailand.
The death toll from the 2004 tsunami:
India - 730,000 people
Indonesia - 572 926 people
Sri Lanka - 516 150 people
Maldives - 11,231 people
Malaysia - 8000 people
Thailand - 8000 people
Myanmar - 3200 people
And that's not counting the people who are still missing. Due to the fact that the victims spent a long time in the water, many were simply not identified.
In the scientific community, the event that we know as the tsunami in Thailand was called the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake.
Tsunami in Thailand 2004 - how it happened
December 26, 2004 in Thailand started like an ordinary morning. Someone was in a hurry to work, someone was going to the beach, nothing boded trouble. According to eyewitnesses of that day, at about 7 am, people felt tremors, it became clear that an earthquake had occurred. But since it was short-lived, no one really attached any importance to it.
The most powerful waves in history took about two hours to reach the shores of Thailand and hit the western coast of the country.
The first were the Similan Islands. A famous diving site where diving enthusiasts from all over the world gather. Divers eyewitnesses were the first to know about the tsunami, because at the depth of the waves they behaved in such a way that a person was as if inside a huge washing centrifuge.
The biggest blow was taken by the island of Khao Lak. It was hit by the biggest wave blow, which literally swept away all the bungalows and hotels on the shore. Because of the topography of the seabed, coastline and coastal reefs, the tsunami waves depicted the infamous “disappearing sea effect” that seduced many tourists and led them to death.
The tsunami looked like this: the water abruptly went deep into the depths and exposed the seabed. Many tourists ran to look at fish, marine life and collect outlandish shells.
The moment the waves became visible, it was already too late. There were only 1-3 minutes before their fall, it was impossible to escape.
Among those killed at Khao Lak was the grandson of the King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadett, which once again confirms the fact that even the Thai authorities were not aware of the impending tragedy. Hundreds of people were simply washed into the sea, and then thrown into the nearest houses, hotels, barriers with a powerful blow.
Photo and video of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand
2004 Thailand Tsunami Video
Photos of eyewitnesses to the tsunami in Thailand:
People flee as a tsunami wave hits the coast of Koh Raya Island, part of Thailand's Andaman Islands, 23 kilometers from Phuket Island, in southern Thailand, December 26, 2004. The photographer who took this photo escaped without injury but retreated into the first wave and watched the second wave ripping apart the wooden buildings, and the third and largest wave coming forward and “ripping apart the cement buildings as if they were made of balsa wood”.
On December 26, 2004, waves hit Maddampegama, 60 kilometers (38 miles) south of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Tsunami waves caused by earthquakes hit villages along Sri Lanka's wide coastline, killing more than 35,300 people
Aerial view of Marina Beach after the Indian Ocean earthquake tsunami hit the southern Indian city of Madras on December 26, 2004
Archive photo taken on January 5, 2005 in the destroyed area of Banda Aceh in Aceh province, located on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia after the powerful tsunam on December 26, 2004
Tsunami in Thailand 2004 in Phuket
Contrary to popular rumors, Phuket was the least affected of all of Thailand's provinces. Less destruction, less fatalities. In Thailand, there were villages by the sea, in which 80% of the inhabitants died, but Phuket was not one of them.
According to official figures, about 250 people died from the tsunami in Phuket, including foreign tourists. Of course, there were many more victims. Many received lacerations in which dirt and branches were crammed. Residents suffered from lack of water, medicines and timely medical assistance.
Approximately east of Phuket, 80 km, the consequences were much more serious: 3950 deaths were confirmed, and more than 4500 on Khao Lak. hide from the elements.
Why did not many have time to evacuate?
The fact is that a tsunami of this magnitude has not happened in Thailand in modern history. The 30-meter waves that went ashore at a speed of up to 1000 km / h merged with the horizon line and they were simply not visible, since they were without a white ridge.
People simply did not understand what had happened, and during the impact of the wave, only a few managed to escape.
There were several waves, and the ebb tide caused huge damage, which dragged everything into the sea: concrete structures, fittings, cars and houses. All this mixed together created a mortal threat to the people who got into this mess.
The waves that did the most damage were slow, steep, and dense. This is because the sea around the west coast of Thailand is relatively shallow, which slowed the waves down considerably.
Tsunami hit six provinces in Thailand. The final death toll was 5,395, of whom 1,953 were considered foreigners. Another 2,929 people were listed as missing. It is estimated that around 2,000 people were killed in the fishing village of Ban Nam Khem. The village has lost half of its inhabitants.
Thailand was in the middle of the tourist season. There were hundreds of thousands of foreigners in the country. The hotels were filled with foreigners. In many places the sea retreated a great distance before the biggest waves hit. When the water came out, many thought it had something to do with the moon.
Bill O'Leary, an employee at the Amanuri Resort, knew this was a sign of a tsunami. He is credited with saving dozens of lives by warning people to flee inland before the waves arrive. But others were killed because they had no idea what was going on.
The New York Times reported in those days: “Once crowded beach resorts are littered with bodies. Near the devastated beach and the spa resort Similan, where mostly German tourists stayed, a naked corpse is suspended from a tree, as if crucified. "
Many coral reefs were destroyed by the tsunami. Powerful waves hit hundreds of sea reefs. Debris from the tsunami littered natural areas. The green turtle was washed almost a mile offshore and laid in a pond north of Phuket. Some people in boats rescued survivors thrown into the sea.
What happened after?
In Thailand, the whole country came to the aid of the injured by raking garbage, evacuating those who were left homeless and helping the wounded.
Royal elephants were attracted to clear the large rubble, 6 of which starred in the Hollywood film "Alexander".
An interesting fact - the elephant during the tsunami saved the life of a girl who rode it on the shore. The animal sensed the danger and carried towards the mountains, which saved the life of the tourist.
Not without looting.
Nonhumans (they cannot be called otherwise), taking advantage of the general panic and confusion, stole children who were disoriented and could not find loved ones. There are known facts of the sale of babies abroad and the recruitment of children into sexual slavery.
They plundered houses, hotels, hotels and what could be stolen using the opportunity. Unfortunately, tragedy not only unites, but also divides people. "No-man's" property intoxicates the head.
The aftermath of the tsunami in Thailand
The consequences of the tsunami were simply disastrous not only for Indonesia, India, Myanmar and Malaysia, but also for Thailand.
Tourists threw things and flew away on the very first flight, the credibility of Thai resorts was completely undermined, and given that the tsunami happened at the height of the tourist season, in December, Thailand suffered billions of dollars in losses.
It took years to rebuild trust and a lot of action to bring tourists back to the islands.
The first thing the authorities did was to install the most powerful deep-sea tsunami warning system. The siren starts howling and notifies about the approach of waves 1-2 hours before the incident. It was already tested on April 11, 2012, when in just an hour it was possible to evacuate absolutely all the inhabitants of Phuket to the mountains.
Residents of smaller islands like Phi Phi also have nothing to worry about. And everything is prepared for evacuation there, fortunately the mountains are of such size that no waves are terrible.
Thousands of Thais dependent on tourism-related industries have lost their jobs not only in the south, but also in the poorest part of Thailand, Isana in the northeast, from where many of the tourism industry has come.
By January 12, some of the affected resorts in the south had reopened, and the Thai government launched an advertising campaign to bring tourists back to the area as soon as possible, although everyone knew it would be a long time before Thailand was back to normal. (it took almost 5 years).
Damage and losses from the 2004 tsunami in Thailand
The fishing industry suffered from extensive destruction of fishing vessels and gear that individual fishing families could not afford to replace, especially as many also lost their homes.
According to the information, more than 500 fishing vessels and ten trawlers were destroyed, as well as many piers and fish processing enterprises. Again, grants or loans from the government were needed to allow the industry to retool itself.
Ridiculous losses
Another problem was the public aversion in Thailand for eating fish caught locally, for fear that the fish were eating human corpses that were thrown into the sea by the tsunami.
Thais found this opportunity offensive for both health and religious reasons.
Fish distributors refused to buy fish and crustaceans from ports in the Andaman Sea and preferred to buy from ports in the Gulf of Thailand or even Malaysia or Vietnam so that they could convince consumers that there was no chance of such contamination.
As a result, even those fishing families who could fish could not sell their catch.
It got better after the Director General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Lee Jong-wook, appeared on Thai TV to say that he eats fish every day.
About a month after the tsunami, the Thai cabinet approved a $ 1.79 billion tsunami relief bill.
Most of the money was in the form of soft loans for business recovery. Some of the money came in the form of grants to people who lost relatives and property in the disaster.
Could Thailand be tsunami again?
Maybe. Closest to Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Malaysia, shakes almost constantly.
Modern warning systems will not allow death and casualties, as people will be evacuated on time. But! If, in principle, you are not close to the idea of resting on the coast with high seismic activity, then you should choose resorts located in the Gulf of Thailand, for example: Pattaya, Rayong, Samet Island, Hua Hin, Cha Am or Ko Lan Island.
They are closed from the tsunami by the Malacca Peninsula and Vietnam and Cambodia.
The maximum that can happen here is the exit of the Mekong River or Chao Phraya from the banks, which does not pose a mortal danger.
How to act during a natural disaster?
1 - Collect all the necessary things, documents, drinking water, keep children nearby
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3 - do not go down until the cataclysm has completely passed, since the first wave is not always the strongest
In the history of mankind, December 26, 2004 was marked by a tragedy of enormous proportions, which brought a sea of suffering to a huge number of people. At 00:58 UTC (07:58 am local) in the depths of the Indian Ocean, near the Indonesian island of Simolue, there was a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 to 9.3 points. It gave rise to a series of killer waves, which within a few hours brought monstrous destruction to the shores of Asia, killing about 300 thousand people. Thailand was among the countries hit by the disaster.
Start
On the most common December morning, powerful seabed tremors displaced huge masses of water in the ocean. In the open sea, it looked like low, but stretching for thousands of kilometers, water semicircles, at an incredible speed (up to 1000 km / h) rushed to the shores of Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and even African Somalia. As the waves approached the shallow water, they slowed down, but acquired monstrous dimensions in some places - up to 40 meters in height. As enraged chimeras, they carried an energy twice the energy of all explosions of the Second World War with the nuclear bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, inclusive.
At this time, residents and guests of the western coast of Thailand (Phuket, Krabi province and adjacent small islands) began the most ordinary day. Someone was in a hurry to work, someone else was basking in a soft bed, and someone had already decided to enjoy the sea. The tremors were almost imperceptible, so no one, absolutely no one, suspected of the impending mortal danger.
About an hour after the earthquake in the sea, strange phenomena began to appear on land: animals and birds fled in anxiety, the sound of the surf ceased, and the water in the sea abruptly left the coast. Intrigued people began to go out to the shallow areas of the seabed to collect exposed shells and fish.
Nobody saw the advancing 15-meter wall of water, since it did not have a white ridge, and for a long time visually merged with the sea surface. When she was noticed, it was already too late. Like a furious lion, with a roar and a howl, the sea collapsed onto the land. With great speed, it carried streams of frenzied water, crushing, tearing and grinding everything in its path.
The ocean went inland for hundreds of meters, and in some places - up to two kilometers. When his strength was exhausted, the movement of the water stopped, but only in order to rush back with the same speed. And woe to those who did not have time to hide. At the same time, the danger was not so much the water itself, but what it carried. Huge chunks of soil, concrete and reinforcement, broken furniture, cars, advertising signs, torn high voltage cables - all this threatened to kill, flatten and cripple anyone caught in the frenzied stream.
Video
When the water is gone
After everything was over, a truly terrifying picture appeared to the gaze of the survivors. It seemed that evil giants were playing creepy games here, moving huge objects and leaving them in the most unexpected places: a car in the hotel lobby, a tree trunk in a window or pool, a boat on the roof of a house a hundred meters from the sea ... stood on the shore, were almost completely destroyed. The streets have turned into a hellish mess of pieces of furniture, twisted and overturned cars, shards of glass, scraps of wires and, worst of all, the bodies of dead people and animals.
Elimination of the consequences of the tsunami
Measures to eliminate the consequences of the tsunami began to be taken immediately after the water left. All military and police were mobilized, and camps for victims with access to clean water, food and a place to rest were set up. Because of the hot climate, the danger of outbreaks of infections associated with air and drinking water contamination increased every hour, so the government and the local population had a tough task: to find all the dead in the shortest possible time, identify them if possible and properly bury them. To do this, it was necessary day and night, not knowing sleep and rest, to rake the rubble. The governments of many countries around the world have sent human and material resources to help the Thai people.
The total death toll on the shores of Thailand reached 8,500 people, 5,400 of whom were citizens of more than forty countries, a third of them were children. Later, after the governments of the affected states were able to assess the total damage, the 2004 tsunami was recognized as the most deadly ever known.
The earthquake, which raised giant waves, was so strong that it pierced our planet through and through, causing the soil to vibrate up to 3 mm in the United States. At the same time, such a mass of energy was released that the Earth changed its rotation, reducing the length of the day by 2.6 microseconds. Some small islands near Sumatra have moved southwestward up to 20 meters.
Years after the tragedy
Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of the tragedy that claimed more than 300 thousand lives and brought grief and despair to even more people around the world. During this time, Thailand was able to recover and fully rebuild the affected areas. Already a year after the disaster, the issue of providing housing for those who lost a roof over their heads was resolved.
New homes, especially on the coast, are now being built according to special requirements. Their design, materials and location will allow them to resist the sea elements and, in case of threat, to reduce casualties and destruction to a minimum.
But most importantly, Thailand has joined the international deep-sea tracking system for the movement of water masses in the ocean, with which you can predict the arrival of a tsunami in advance. On islands and cities, where there is a possibility of giant waves, warning and evacuation systems have been created. Extensive educational work was carried out aimed at acquainting people with the rules of behavior in the event of a natural disaster.
On July 9, 1958, in Lituya Bay, southwestern Alaska, a massive earthquake triggered a giant landslide. Three hundred million cubic meters of soil, rocks and ice then collapsed into the sea, raising a record high wave in the entire history of tsunami observations. A wall of water 524 meters high moved at a speed of 160 km / h, blocking the sky and the sun, and collapsed on the island of Cenotaphia, generating several more giant waves in the bay.
Today, the general phobia of a possible tsunami in Thailand has practically disappeared. Tourists with redoubled enthusiasm rush to the shores of the kingdom and travel with pleasure through this amazing country. The coast now looks prettier than it used to be, and only signs with the rules of conduct in the event of a danger remind of the tragedy of 2004. But this is only outwardly. A huge number of broken human destinies were left behind by the elements. People will keep memories of the fear they have experienced for a long time to come and grieve for those who cannot be returned.
The earthquake that struck on December 26, 2004 off the coast of Indonesia caused a giant tsunami wave, recognized as the deadliest natural disaster in modern history.
The epicenter of the disaster was located at a depth of about 20 kilometers under the ocean floor, about 200 kilometers west of the northern tip of the island of Sumatra (Indonesia). The length of the earthquake source in the north-north-west (Andaman Sea) - south-south-east direction (along the coast of Sumatra Island) was more than a thousand kilometers.
The energy released during an earthquake is approximately equal to the energy of the entire world stock of nuclear weapons or the annual world energy consumption.
Following this natural disaster, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO was commissioned to develop and implement the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System. In 2005, the Intergovernmental Coordination Group was established. As a result of eight years of international cooperation under the auspices of the IOC, the Tsunami Warning System became operational in March 2013, when Regional Tsunami Watch Centers in Australia, India and Indonesia took over responsibility for transmitting tsunami warnings to countries in the Indian Ocean.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Text: Alexander Ivanov
Photo: Vladimir Smolyakov
The ocean is never completely calm. Waves in an endless succession roll to the shore, reluctantly lick the beach and dissolve in the endless expanse of water. The uniform rustle of waves and the incomparable smell of the sea - these are the factors that have been acting on a person philosophically and pacifying from time immemorial ... And when the FIRST WAVE appeared (it was only two times higher than the others), almost no one noticed it. Two hours later, the SECOND WAVE came, flooding about fifty meters of beaches and washing away some things of vacationers (which caused a joking commotion). And then the sea began to recede, exposing the bottom. Over the next two and a half hours, the coastline moved seven hundred meters deep into the ocean. An inquisitive, but apparently not too educated people, in joyful excitement, wandered through the shoals, collecting shells and small fish. All this continued until the THIRD WAVE came ...
The observable history of mankind (we naively believe that we know practically everything about this period) has several millennia. By human standards, this is a lot, but by cosmic or geological standards, it is not even an instant. Take dinosaurs, for example. According to rough estimates of scientists, these monsters died 65 million years ago! So, the human brain is simply not able to grasp such an abyss of time. Human memory is generally surprisingly short, and our children perceive the monstrous cataclysms of the 20th century as something prehistoric. But the Second World War ended only 60 years ago, and the witnesses are still alive ...
Retrospective
The European man in the street has spoiled himself. All catastrophes and wars have moved away in time or, at worst, in space. Well, tell me, who of the living today remembers the word "Krakatoa"? Almost no one. In general, we are all overwhelmingly sure that for our age, planetary comfort and tranquility will be enough ...
After the terrible disaster that befell South Asia, we begin to clearly understand: humanity in general and its specific representatives in particular are not immune from anything. Is the Indian and other oceans far away? Do you know that there are faults in the Caspian Lake too (in 1895, a wave caused by an earthquake in the Caspian completely flooded the coastal village of Uzun-Ada)? And, if it shakes harder under its serene surface, it will flood not only Iran with Azerbaijan, but also, for example, Astrakhan. Closer, isn't it?
By the way, our brother journalist hastened to dub the tsunami that swept across the south of Asia "the greatest catastrophe in the history of mankind." But this, to put it mildly, does not correspond to reality. Do you know what the aforementioned Krakatoa is? And this is just a small volcanic island in the same Indonesia. So, he smoked for centuries, smoked, sometimes erupted. And in 1883, Krakatoa exploded. The result is terrible - an ocean wave 20 meters high and 36,000 victims! Who remembers? But not even a century and a half has passed. That's it ...
Or an example of a different kind. In 1931, the Yangtze River flooded. Floods, hunger and epidemics killed at least 3,000,000 people (no, no, you were not mistaken in counting zeros, namely three million)! Nobody even moved: firstly, these are the Chinese, and secondly, they are far away. But you can find sorrowful examples and closer ... 1201, Mediterranean Sea. The earthquake claimed more than a million human souls in Syria and Egypt. But for the planet 800 years is not a period, and geological processes under the Mediterranean continue.
The wave that hit the shores of Portugal, Spain and North Africa in 1775 killed more than 70,000 people. But these are, so to speak, our "internal" tsunamis, that is, tsunamis caused by the activities of our planet. And there are also "cosmic" tsunamis caused by collisions with meteorites. So, a cobblestone about 10 kilometers across at one time landed in the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), forming a crater 30 kilometers deep. North America was burnt to the ground, and the height of the waves can only be guessed at. A little (on a geological scale) later, the space block hit the Pacific Ocean closer to Antarctica. Here you can guess more specifically about the height of the wave. For example, the remains of living organisms ejected by the tsunami to a height of several hundred meters (Andes). Can you imagine such a one out there? Me not. And I don’t want to. But, whatever one may say, it is still exotic. And with space stones, the Earth is rare. But "home" tsunamis happen dozens of times a year. So what is this phenomenon?
Modern science says that tsunamis are a special kind of non-storm wave, most often caused by an underwater earthquake. The distance between the crest of a wave and a depression in the open sea can be hundreds of kilometers, and the height is no more than a meter. They are practically safe for navigation (a ship may simply not notice such a wave). But tsunamis on the high seas consume their energy rather slowly and can spread over very long distances. When the wave reaches shallow water, and even more so falls into a narrowness (bay, bay, harbor), it turns into that very monster - a wall of water up to several tens of meters high. Actually, "tsunami" is a Japanese word and means nothing more than "a wave in the harbor." The Japanese know what they say: the water is all around them, and seismically active zones are "close by" ... On June 15, 1896, in the Sanriku region, in the late afternoon, the inhabitants felt tremors. People lived by the sea and understood how this could turn out, so they rushed to the mountains. But since nothing happened, they returned after a while, and when they returned, they saw that the sea had moved away from the coast ... It was too late to run, and seven 35-meter waves razed three provinces (800 kilometers of the coast) to the ground. 27,000 victims. But note: the fishermen who were at that time at sea just did not notice anything ...
Third wave
And then came December 26, 2004 ... An earthquake (the strongest in forty years in this area) occurred under the waters of the Pacific Ocean along the fault line off the coast of Sumatra and caused vertical (both up and down) displacements of the ocean floor. The area of its zone was 1200 kilometers long and about 100 kilometers wide.
The energy released in this case was monstrous, but only one percent went to the formation of the waves themselves. But that was enough. Yes, in the open sea, the wave height did not exceed 60 centimeters, but at the same time the water shaft had a speed of 800 kilometers per hour! And since the fault went approximately from north to south, the tsunami waves ran in a perpendicular direction - to the west and to the east. In the east were the island of Sumatra (Indonesia) and Thailand, in the west - India and Sri Lanka. It was these countries that suffered the most.
What do experts advise to do in the event of a tsunami? An earthquake is a natural signal of the possibility of a tsunami. Before the arrival of a wave, water, as a rule, recedes far from the coast, exposing the seabed for hundreds of meters (and sometimes for several kilometers), and this low tide can last both minutes and hours. The very movement of waves can be accompanied by thunderous sounds that are heard long before the tsunami approach (for example, it was in Japan in 1895). And yet, we are openly distrustful of the "anti-wave" measures recommended by some experts, including such advice as climbing on roofs and hiding under ... dining tables (this is not an invention, the author has read this with his own eyes!) ...
A warning system is needed to warn people of danger. There is simply no such thing in the Indian Ocean yet. But in Tikhiy, on the contrary, the international warning system has existed for a long time, and it, in particular, includes the east coast of Thailand ...
Today, the "wave" warning system is capable of warning about danger in 3-14 hours. But since wave sensors were not installed in the region (seismologists simply registered a strong earthquake), it was not possible to determine the direction of the tsunami movement. A single “wave” station south of the epicenter recorded a tsunami less than two feet high heading towards Australia.
The waves hit the beaches of the resorts on the west coast of Thailand. Yes, Thailand is part of the international tsunami warning system, but there are no wave sensors on its west coast (they are installed on buoys in the ocean). The northern tip of the earthquake is localized near the Andaman Islands, and the waves went east, towards the Thai resort of Phuket. It happened on Sunday morning, when people were just waking up. In a magnitude nine earthquake, two-story house-high walls of water pushed west across the Bay of Bengal and struck coastal residents. A few hours after the earthquake, a series of strong aftershocks occurred in Sumatra. According to scientists, the earthquake began on a fault line in the depths of the ocean off the coast of Sumatra, and then spread north and south, reaching in the north of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands between India and Myanmar. The seabed appears to have deformed along the entire length of this fault.
And when the water was gone ...
Even if we remember that exactly one year before the current disaster (December 26, 2003), the earthquake in the province of Kerman (Iran) claimed more than 40,000 lives, all the same, what happened in the Indian Ocean basin is truly monstrous. 230,000 dead almost simultaneously - humanity has not encountered such a thing for a long time. And never from a tsunami. In this sense, it is truly the greatest disaster in history.
It was into this nightmare that the fighters of the airmobile rescue squad of the Russian Emergencies Ministry had to fly. I must say that people who have traveled all the continents work in Tsentrospas. They were in Turkey and Taiwan, Colombia and India. But they did not have to see this either. 12 hours after receiving news of the disaster, the detachment was transferred by an Il-76 transport to Sri Lanka to an airfield near the capital of the island of Colombo. The soldiers of the detachment were ready to start rescue work immediately, but then the notorious "human factor" intervened. It's not a secret for anyone that on our planet, in addition to natural factors, unfortunately, there are also political factors. And South Asia is not a paradise at all (separatism blooms there in double color). For example, in the Indonesian province of Aceh, rescue operations were hampered by the actions of the rebels, demanding ... of course, independence. Moreover, they are complicated to such an extent that the authorities at first generally refused to let anyone in there. It's the same in Sri Lanka.
Since the civil war continues in the country, the Sri Lankan government could not guarantee the safety of our people. For this reason, our leadership, in turn, did not give permission to move into the emergency zone, as a result of which only a few days later our rescuers were able to move to the north of the island in the direction of the cities of Lavinia and Moratur. In the north and north-east of the country, there are units of the so-called Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). And the authorities did not dare to let our rescuers enter these territories for a long time. Well, when permission was finally received, the detachment moved further north towards the city of Galle. On the way, we had to dismantle destroyed roads, work on rubble, and cut concrete blocks. But since there was practically no one to save by this time, the main burden fell on the doctors. There were four of them, and each assisted about fifty victims a day. The danger of epidemics exists to this day - the heat is tropical, the humidity is almost 100%. Now the doctors of the detachment have been replaced by the mobile hospital of the Ministry of Emergencies.
And what about search dogs? “Our dogs are looking for the living,” one of the visitors told us. "Corpses are a shock to them." And for us? Those who lost their homes were taken in by Buddhist monasteries and Catholic churches, and this is where our doctors went in a specially equipped Land Rover Defender. At this time, two other "def" with crews of rescuers were working in the area of destruction. They saw everything: swept away houses, ships thrown ashore, and an overturned train in which a thousand people died, and the ruins of a Sunday school, where 390 children remained ... But due to bureaucratic delays, the detachment practically did not accept participation. When the cars reached the zone of the wave's passage, all the bodies had already been removed - it was not difficult to disassemble the village house. As a result, doctors were most in demand. Affected people also need food, water, medicine and blankets. All this needs to be bought, brought and distributed. This means people, cars, ships and airplanes are needed. Deputy Secretary General Jan Egeland of Norway is responsible for UN humanitarian operations. But as it turned out, his organization is so bureaucratic, works so slow and ineffective, that it cannot cope with a task of this magnitude by definition. Apparently, this is another reason why our guys spent several of the hottest days outside the disaster zone.
Forecast for the day after tomorrow
What can await us in the future? American scientists, who are constantly monitoring seismic activity in the Pacific Ocean, warn that geological activity is growing. And if an event occurs, similar to the current one, but with a different vector, a significant territory of California and other western states of the United States may be in the flood zone. The Atlantic Ocean is also awake ... Recently, a hypothesis was put forward that an explosion of a volcano located in the Canary Islands could create a wave as high as one kilometer! The end of old Europe? So are we completely defenseless? Not really. A tsunami warning system exists in the Pacific Ocean. Now a decision has been made to create a similar service on the Indian Ocean.
Forewarned is forearmed.
And one moment. Countries such as Japan or Holland have accumulated tremendous experience in dealing with the water element. The system of dams, embankments and other engineering structures protects them reliably enough. So a lot can be done from a technological point of view. The main thing is to do it. And steps in this direction are already underway - an international conference is being prepared. Well, we cannot jointly fight poverty, let's try to fight natural disasters. Perhaps it is the understanding that it will not be possible to sit out that will make the governments and the people they lead to think a little about others. In the meantime, we just have to honor the memory of the 230,000 victims.
P. S. We, probably, have become a little smarter, if today "boards" with rescuers are flying across the borders of states, ready to provide free assistance to everyone who needs it. And structures like the State Central Airmobile Rescue Unit of the EMERCOM of Russia are ready to leave at any moment to help people from another country and another continent.
In the Maldives, the aftermath of the tsunami was more reminiscent of the traces of a sewer burst.
Vitya Lyagushkin, journalist.
While in the Maldives, I toured five islands hit by the tsunami. The trip was organized by the Maldiviana travel agency with the assistance of the Maldives government, which is deeply concerned that their archipelago has been treated unfairly. The fact is that in order to restore the normal functioning of the region's economy, a constant influx of tourists is required. As a result, everything turned into a kind of propaganda war. They showed footage from Phuket, and at the same time talked about the Maldives, although the "post-wave" situation there is radically different. There were reports from Sri Lanka, showing the coast of India, and adding "... and the Maldives" in the comments.
A group of Russian journalists was assembled in order to demonstrate the real state of affairs. Indeed, there was no particular destruction in the Maldives. This is due primarily to the peculiarity of the atoll structure. The height of the atoll's trunk is about two thousand meters. The trunk rises with sheer walls to a depth of two hundred meters, and above there are islands, which are circular formations protruding a maximum of a meter above the water surface. As a result, the height of the tsunami wave in the Maldives was extremely insignificant. She just had nowhere to climb!
How is the Maldives arranged? These are 26 large atolls, on the tops of which there are fifty to sixty islands. On the inner atolls from the epicenter, there was nothing at all. And on the "outer" islands, the following happened: from the hotel rooms (they were flooded), tourists were simply relocated to the inner islands. The fact is that at that time there were a lot of tourists in the Maldives. And because of the flooded rooms, for a while, tourists were accommodated by two families in a room. On Paradise (the outer island of the outer atoll), there was a wave that went through the entire island, partially destroying bungalows and damaging household appliances. The wave caused panic - people put on life jackets, fins and masks (the Russians drank all the minibars on the sly). There were no casualties. Also, during the day after the wave, mobile phones and the airport did not work (the runway was corny dirty). The mud was washed away and the flights resumed. Then the mobile connection was restored. Divers who were under water during the wave did not feel anything at all. The only thing they paid attention to was the squeak of computers, which reacted to a sharp drop in depth.
Tsunami.
A tsunami is not a single wave, but a series of moving ocean waves resulting from geological disturbances near or below the ocean floor. These waves are unstoppable, and they sweep across the ocean like a whiplash, remaining strong for thousands of miles. Most tsunamis are caused by strong earthquakes, but landslides, volcanic eruptions and meteorite impacts can also be the cause. Waves occur because geological forces move water in an ocean basin. The stronger the earthquake, the more the earth's crust shifts and the more water is set in motion.
Most often, tsunamis are formed in the Pacific Ocean. This is due to the fact that its basin is bordered by the "Ring of Fire" - a long chain of seismically active points on the Earth.
During a tsunami, waves usually travel in directions opposite to seismic shocks. In the case of the Sumatra earthquake, seismic waves moved along the ocean floor to the south and north, and the tsunami to the west and east.
Tsunami differs from the usual surf in its enormous length and speed. One such wave can reach 185 km in length and at the same time move across the ocean at a speed of about 1000 km / h. When it approaches the coast, its speed decreases sharply, and its height increases many times. Some tsunamis resemble a high tide, in which the water does not stop rising and swallows the coast.
A few hours after the earthquake, the tsunami loses strength due to friction with the ocean floor and simply because the waves "dissolve" in the vast ocean surface.
International Tsunami Warning System.
The International Tsunami Warning System was established in 1965, after the 1964 tsunami associated with a magnitude 9.2 earthquake struck Alaska. The system includes all major Pacific coast states in the Americas and Asia, as well as the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, it includes France (under whose sovereignty some islands are located) and Russia. The warning system analyzes earthquake information from several seismological centers (including the US Geological Survey). The information, in turn, is transmitted to computer programs that simulate the formation of a tsunami. The system transmits tsunami warnings, including a forecast of wave speed and the expected time when they will appear in specific geographic areas. As tsunami waves move through tidal stations, the information is updated and a tsunami warning is issued. Other programs create “flood maps” that include areas of destruction. But keep in mind that not all earthquakes cause tsunamis. The center usually does not issue warnings for earthquakes with a magnitude of less than seven.
