NEWS: 9.0 Quake, Tsunamis Strike SE Asia - 275,000+ Dead

The death toll of Thailand is now 700.

Lets hope its enough:

BIREUEN, Indonesia, (AFP) - A global relief effort was underway after the world's worst earthquake in 40 years triggered monstrous tidal waves which killed more than 14,000 people across southern and southeast Asia.

With the death toll constantly rising as dawn revealed the full scale of the catastrophe, governments pledged millions in aid and despatched naval ships, military aircraft and soldiers on rescue and relief operations.

The United Nations rushed disaster teams to the region, saying hundreds of thousands of people in coastal areas remained at risk, with livelihoods from fishing and farming wiped out and disease threatening to wreak more havoc.

story.news.yahoo.com.../afp/20041227/wl_asia_afp/asiaquake_041227063131&e=1

Man, that's gotta be one of the scariest things.... Being from the coast of S. Jersey, I could only imagine being on the beach one day and seeing a giant Tsunami heading straight for the beach. I'd rather face an armed assailent anyday than a giant tsunami. Thoughts go out to all effected.

An hour ago there was another quake (M5.3) in almost the exact same position as the original. Let's hope this is just normal aftershocks and that help arrives soon for the people.

The death toll in Thailand seems to increasing rapily now. It may exceed 1000. Death toll in Thailand now stands at 829

Sorry if this has already been posted:

Preliminary Earthquake Report
U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver

A great earthquake occurred at 00:58:50 (UTC) on Sunday, December 26, 2004. The magnitude 9.0 event has been located OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

Magnitude 9.0
Date-Time Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:50 (UTC)
= Coordinated Universal Time
Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 6:58:50 AM
= local time at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 3.298�N, 95.779�E
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
Distances
250 km (155 miles) SSE of Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia
320 km (200 miles) W of Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia
1260 km (780 miles) SSW of BANGKOK, Thailand
1605 km (1000 miles) NW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 9.2 km (5.7 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters Nst=157, Nph=157, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.35 sec, Gp= 29�,
M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=9
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)

Event ID usslav
Felt Reports At least 3,000 people killed in Sri Lanka, 2,300 in India, 2,000 in Indonesia, 289 in Thailand, 42 in Malaysia, 8 in Somalia and 2 in Bangladesh by tsunamis. Tsunamis also occurred on the coasts of Maldives and Cocos Island. At least 200 people killed, buildings destroyed or damaged in the Banda Aceh area, Sumatra. Felt widely in Sumatra. Also felt in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand. This is now the fourth largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and is the largest since the 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska earthquake.

USGS Report

To make matters a bit worse it seems local police had thoer hands full rounding up prisoners who escaped when a tiadal wave hit thier jail. I cannot blame them if thier life was in danger though:

JAKARTA (Reuters) - More than 200 prisoners escaped from a jail in Indonesia's restive Aceh province Sunday after a tsunami knocked down the prison walls, a police official said.

Ali Taruna Jaya, police chief in the town of Pidie, said a few of the 204 inmates who fled from the coastal jail had given themselves up.

"The prisoners escaped from the jail. It appears some did it for their own safety after the tsunami crashed into the jail," Jaya told Metro TV.
Escape

Sky news report death toll 22,000+ with Sri Lankan toll of 10,029 dead


[edit on 27-12-2004 by Indigo_Child]

LONDON (AFP) - Perhaps 10,000 tourists from Britain were in the vast southern swath of Asia hit by a powerful earthquake and killer tidal waves, the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said.

Some 3,000 were in the Maldives, with another 2,000 or so in Sri Lanka and in Thailand, plus "some independent travellers that we don't even know about" scattered around the region, ABTA spokesman Keith Betton told AFP.

A relatively small number of tourists were believed to have been in Indonesia, following Foreign Office warnings of a "heightened risk" of terrorist attacks over the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

Tourist

As i sit watching the raw footage comming into the newsroom of the satalites, (stuff the public likley WONT see) Im stunned at the sheer power exhibited by nature....you literally see people being sucked away by the sea, drown before the camera....in seconds. Everything, people. plants, busses, homes, whatever isnt attatched, and most of the stuff that is.

My info comming in says 15,000 dead in 8 countries with over 1 million people without shelter.

Water is going to be an immediate concers as much of the supply is now contaminated with sea/waste water.
Food will come next....urgent within a few days...
fortunatly its affecting temperate climates so shelter wont be as urgent...

PS who is leading the world with charitable disaster relief??
THE AMERICAN RED CROSS with 6 million already allocated...GO USA!

Im predicting about 30 thousand will be the total casualty count once a few days have gone by, this includes immediate deaths, as well as deaths from injuries, and seccondary causes.



[edit on 27-12-2004 by CazMedia]

It's only been a few minutes since I reported the last toll. It's already 23,500. I estimated a maximum of 25,000. I am going to estimate a new maxiumum that I hope is not exceeded: 100,000

Originally posted by Indigo_Child
Sky news report death toll 22,000+ with Sri Lankan toll of 10,029 dead
[edit on 27-12-2004 by Indigo_Child]

CNN is reporting that figure as well
www.cnn.com...

Sky news just reported an unofficial death toll of Sri Lanka to be 20,000+

"All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute. Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation. � The Canadian Press, 2004

a news quote of how damaging the quakes are doing.last hour another quake also reported 6.3

According to CNN and other news outlets, the Tsunamis have reached even east Africa where they created tens of deaths.

The situation in Sri Lanka may worsened because of heavy rain shower predicted for the coming days.

Blobber

news.zdnet.com...

Well, apparently the info AND the time to respond was their, but not enough subscribers to the earthquake email service and no adequate evac plans by those received, because tsunamis in the indian ocean are very rare (once in 700 year)

I see a great oppertunity to make money and save some lives, just

sms DISASTER ON to my warning service and we notify you on your mobile when the canary volcano collapses in the sea (or any other fast incoming tornados, blizzards, disasters) so you have enough time to sell your stocks on wall street and run to a safe place....

Since everybody got mobile phones nowadays i see a great future for mobile phone based sector evac plans , for commercial and government purposes. Especially for carnavigators , you should see recomended escape routes that guide you out of the way of the disaster.



[edit on 27-12-2004 by Countermeasures]

AP has put the death toll at 19,930

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Rescuers scoured Asia's coastlines for survivors of devastating tidal waves that obliterated seaside towns in nine countries, killing more than 19,930 people. Aid poured into the region, but morgues and hospitals struggled to cope with the tragedy.

Hundreds of children were buried in mass graves in India as their grieving parents looked on.

The death toll began climbing sharply after Sunday morning's 9.0-magnitude quake that struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean off the coast of Indonesia, the most powerful temblor in four decades.
Toll

Fresh quake hits Nicobar Islands

AN earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale has struck India's remote Nicobar Islands.

"An earthquake hit the Nicobar Islands north of Sumatra at 4.39pm (20.39 AEDT), registered by other seismologists as 6.5 on the Richter scale," a seismologist from Thailand's meteorological department said.

"We cannot tell whether it would trigger a new tidal wave, but the earthquake was felt in Phuket."

www.news.com.au...

this is so sad,i just spoke to my friend who lives in phukett and he said that it was like being in the film "The Day After Tomorrow" he watched some of the waves come in from the hill where his house is.
Why do these things always seem to happen in really poor countrys where recovery is so tough and the victims have such poor if no access to medical help and goverment aid?

The toll in India has been revised upwards again with no real end in sight

MADRAS, India (Reuters) - At least 2,890 people have been killed in Tamil Nadu by a weekend tsunami, the state disaster control room said on Monday, pushing the national toll above 6,600.

The Press Trust of India reported that 377 people had also died in the union territory of Pondicherry, a former French colony surrounded by Tamil Nadu.

The death toll in Tamil Nadu from the tsunami, triggered by an underwater earthquake off Indonesia, had earlier stood at 2,400.
India