Tsunami: A very large wave which has its
origins in earthquakes or other geological disturbances, and can cause much
devastation.
Factors that cause this phenomenon to
happen: Tsunamis are most generally caused by earthquakes, but they can be
caused by numerous other factors ranging from landslides, such as when a minor
earthquake on the southern edge of the Grand Banks in November 1929, caused a
large section of the Grand Bank to give way in an underwater landslide,
creating a tsunami which caused great damage to the southern coast of the
island of Newfoundland. Volcanic
eruptions have also created tsunamis, such as when a volcanic eruption that
destroyed much of the island of Santorini created a tsunami, (or tsunamis)
which devastated the north coast of Crete and many of the Aegean islands in
about 1450 BCE and may well have directly influenced the end of the Minoan
civilization. Meteorites have also caused tsunamis but it is exceedingly rare
for them to do so. As well, the testing of nuclear weapons has been known to
create small tsunamis but has not, and is unlikely to; create tsunamis of any
great size due to international treaties banning the use of nuclear weapons.
The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami starts to
push inland in Thailand.
Where it happened: the Earthquake that
triggered the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 started off the coast of Sumatra. It
was quite a large quake at a magnitude of 9.3 and when it hit, a rather large
area of sea floor, (1200 kilometers) suddenly rose up triggering the Tsunami.
In terms of countries hit by this killer wave there were quite a few: the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, (technically part of India, but so hard hit by the
tsunami they got a classification of their own) Bangladesh, Burma, India,
Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, the Seychelles, Somalia, Sri Lanka,
Tanzania, and Thailand were hit directly by this giant wave, with tidal
fluctuations occurring as far away as the eastern seaboard of North America.
Though the Boxing day Tsunami of 2004
only hit 12 countries in the Indian ocean directly, tidal fluctuations, caused
by the severity of the earthquake that triggered the tsunami could be felt as far
away as the eastern seaboard of North America.
Why it happened: The Boxing Day Tsunami of
2004 was caused by the Earthquake that preceded it. The severity of this
particular quake and the huge area of seafloor which was displaced by it led to
the far reaching sever effects that this Tsunami had over a very large portion
of the Indian Ocean, and lesser affects felt around the world.
What was the Impact: The first country to
be hit by this devastating tsunami was Indonesia, which was right next to where
the tsunami began, and felt the worst of its fury. In all, this one tsunami
Killed about 250 000 people and destroyed the homes of about 2 million people.
It swept untold people and debris out to sea, as well as decimating large areas
of coastline. (Especially in Indonesia) As well as destroying livelihoods, (in
many areas, even a year after the tsunami occurred, people were still living in
makeshift shelters and in many cases still waiting to resume their regular
jobs) and prompting countries in the Indian Ocean to be more vigilant when
watching for tsunamis.
An example of an area affected by the
tsunami before and after the event occurred.
How did the region recover: The recovery
process was very different in different areas hit, some simply had to repair
the relatively minor damage sustained to their coastlines, while other had to
rebuild from the ground up. In areas such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka a fair
amount of aid was required to be brought in due to the sheer severity of the
situation. Since the events of December 26th 2013 however, the regions affected
seem to be recovering quite nicely, at least physically. There is however still
a very real long lasting philological trauma that many of the tsunami survivors
have had to go through and still go through, that will likely remain with them
for the rest of their lives. Their still seems to be some regions which have
not cleaned up from the tsunami physically, and one of those places is Tamil
Nadu, India, where boats washed inland have still not been cleaned up.
This is a village that was virtually
destroyed by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. Before.
This is a photo of what I am convinced
is the same village, 2 years later. After. The only recognizable feature from
the village as it was 2 years before, being the white building on the left hand
side of the picture.
What is the region doing to predict and
prepare for future perils: To protect themselves better from future tsunamis,
the countries bordering the Indian ocean have set up an early warning system of
sorts, a series of experimental tsunami buoys of which there are now 39
throughout the Indian Ocean. (Before the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 struck
there were six) These will help to let people know a tsunami is coming, and
hopefully give them enough time to escape to safety.
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