Earthquake December 26th. Devastating earthquake and tsunami in Southeast Asia (2004). Years after the tragedy

Curiosity

In the spring of 2017, my family and I were vacationing in Phuket on Kata Beach. When most of the excursions were already over and the moment of resort idleness came, I wanted to learn more about the strength of the tsunami in Phuket that hit the eastern Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004.

Wikipedia provides complete information about the causes and consequences of the tsunami for the inhabitants of Southeast Asia. I was very interested to learn about the strength of the wave in Phuket. Did the wave reach our Kata Sea Breeze hotel, and if so, to what floor did the water rise, and so on.

I surfed the internet and found two stories. One story formed the basis of the film "The Impossible" (more on that below), and the other was published in Esquire magazine.

Tsunami in Phuket

“On the morning of December 24, 2004, my wife and five-year-old daughter and I flew on vacation to Thailand, to the island of Phuket. Before that, I had been to Thailand several times, but with my family I got out only the second time.

On the first day, due to jet lag, we overslept breakfast, but on the 26th we forced ourselves to get up on time. According to a purely Russian habit, I even went to the beach early to take comfortable sunbeds - I left my bag and towels there. During breakfast, at about 10 o'clock, we heard some excited screams from the beach. My daughter and I decided to go and see what was happening there. You never know, maybe the shark swam up.

Our hotel, Kata Beach, was located on the first line. A two-meter ramp rose from the beach to it, and we saw that the sea had come so close that all the beach chairs were in the water, and some things were floating on the surface. I was upset, because we had a bag there, towels. Some German grandmothers, who, as usual, woke up before everyone else and went to the beach before everyone else, swam up to this ramp, and people pulled them out.

Then the water began to decrease right before our eyes and receded quite far - 50-70 meters. Even part of the seabed was exposed. “A strange situation,” I thought, “I’ll go and go to the room for a video camera; All of this needs to be removed." There was no panic, the first wave rolled calmly and moved away. There was no blow or anything like that.

I went to the hotel, took a video camera; it took five minutes. And so I begin to shoot all this, my daughter and two children of our friends are standing nearby. Suddenly I see through the lens of a video camera that one of the fishing schooners, which was anchored at the pier, has risen and is rushing towards the coast. But not directly at us, but to the left - to where the restaurant was. The first thing I thought was: “She’s going to go to the restaurant now, is he crazy or something?” There was no breeze, no hesitation, absolute calm, but then I did not attach any importance to this. Only after a few seconds did he realize that it was this schooner that was being carried ashore with such force. I lower the video camera and see: a huge wave is rising in the ocean.

I shouted to the children: “Run!” - and they ran. The wave speed was catastrophic. Saved me, probably, that I'm an athlete. I understood that now I was going to be hit, and at that moment I simply grouped myself. I folded my arms and legs so as not to damage anything, and then, when I was hit and carried by a wave, I began to rake.

Then I felt something solid with my feet and realized that it was the roof of one of the hotel buildings. I sat down a little, pushed off from her with my feet, and the wave, retreating into the ocean, lowered me to the ground.

It was scary when I was down again. All these palm trees, sunbeds, chairs, tables - complete chaos around. The water began to roll back in such a powerful stream and dragged everything into the ocean.

People were screaming all around. The first instinct is to find the child. Water drags you to the ocean along with all sorts of objects: some boats, scooters. I still have a video camera dangling in my hand, and I am trying to find and catch my daughter in this river so that she is not swept into the ocean. I didn't see where she went when the wave hit me. Those 10-15 minutes were really hard to get through. And when I heard my wife cry - from the third floor of the hotel - that everything is in order, that my daughter is upstairs - it was real happiness.

Then they told me that everyone who ran to the hotel grabbed the children and carried them upstairs. Some dark-skinned man picked up my daughter.

I didn’t get seriously injured: I broke my knee, slightly injured my leg when I fell and tumbled in the water with all this garbage. Two Swedes went missing from our hotel. They went on a morning excursion and their boat went missing. Our hotel did not suffer very much - the ramp saved it, which dampened the wave a little. But from the hotel, which stood about three hundred meters from us, there was nothing left at all. Only a concrete frame and, the funny thing, a toilet that was firmly embedded in concrete.

Many hotels were destroyed, hospitals were overflowing with the wounded, so people who were left without shelter, money, documents were brought to large shopping centers. The first night we were afraid, waiting for a repeat of the strike, and also went into the depths of the island, spent the night in a shopping center, where they gave us a bed.

But after the first night we returned to the hotel. Everything was already working there, there was electricity, they cleaned it up, put in broken glass. On December 28, we were already sunbathing on the same beach. The corpses, thank God, did not come up, but there were a lot of objects in the sea. Found bags and documents; taken out and stacked on the beach, and then the police took everything away. We were evacuated by the Ministry of Emergency Situations on December 31."

After reading Sergey's story, every time I looked at the hotel ramp and tried to imagine the approximate height of the wave, its strength and the chaos that it generated on the island. The picture in my imagination caused a wave of goosebumps, but no more. And thank God.

Many remember the tsunami that swept through Southeast Asia in 2004, killing 400,000 people. It happened before the New Year and became a real disaster for local residents and vacationers. Here we recall the tragic events that took place during tsunami in Thailand 2004 of the year.

Tsunami in Thailand in 2004: how it was

The massive tsunami in Thailand was caused by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean. As a result, 18 countries were affected by the wave. Underwater shock occurred on December 26 at 7.58 local time and went almost unnoticed. This resulted in huge casualties. tsunami in Thailand 2004 of the year. After 2 hours, the first wave approached the Thai coast. The magnitude of the earthquake was 9.1 - 9.3 points (it was recognized as the 3rd largest in history), and the epicenter was only 160 km from Sumatra. As a result, some small islands have shifted by as much as 20 meters, even the rotation of the Earth around its axis has slightly accelerated.

The wave height was 15 meters and washed away almost everything in its path: trees were uprooted, buildings were destroyed, cars were washed away from parking lots, boats and larger ships were washed ashore. The water that overflowed the beaches of Thailand, among which was the popular Patong, went deep into the land for several hundred meters, and in some places went deep into 2 kilometers. Tsunami in Thailand 2004, which came for the first time, washed away almost the entire infrastructure, but after that the wave returned twice more and completed the destruction.

2004 Thailand tsunami: devastation

Many escaped in the mountains, and those who did not have time climbed onto the roofs of hotels. The islands of Phuket, Phi Phi (the island was completely submerged), the provinces of Krabi and Koh Phangan suffered the most. About 8,500 people died in Thailand, who were citizens of 40 countries.

The same wave reached India in 90 minutes, to the African coast in Somalia in 7 hours. Destruction was noted even in South Africa in Port Elizabeth. Even the state of Kerala in India, also known for its bloody rains, was affected, although it is located on the west coast, not the east. The total number of victims varies from 250 to 300 thousand.

This tsunami in thailand became the largest in 80 years and is in the TOP-10 most destructive in history.

In 2016, another, smaller attack happened in Phuket - - Portuguese boats.

On December 26, 2004, an underwater earthquake in the Indian Ocean with a magnitude of about 9.0 (the third most powerful ever recorded) caused a catastrophic tsunami. According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake released energy comparable to the 23,000 atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima. It had the largest capacity in the last 40 years. The effects of the 2004 tsunami on Phuket were devastating.
A tsunami is actually a series of waves that rush forward at the speed of a jet aircraft, with some waves being up to 30 meters high. Tsunami 2004 came to Phuket very much. Indonesia was hit hardest, but high waves reached the shores of Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. As a result, more than 230 thousand people died, and millions of survivors were left homeless. The tsunami even reached the coast of East Africa, where it also killed several people and caused significant damage to property.
In Thailand, the 2004 tsunami affected the entire Andaman coast, including Phuket and Khao Lak, which were hardest hit. The death toll in Khao Lak is estimated at more than 4,000, but some estimates put the death toll in the area as high as 10,000. The fact is that due to inaccurate census and confusion in the days after the tsunami, the true numbers remained unknown.
How many people died in the 2004 tsunami in Phuket? The death toll in Phuket is estimated to be around 1,000, although various sources give figures ranging from 900 to 2,000. Why was the death toll from the 2004 tsunami lower in such a popular resort area than in the less popular Khao Lak? Most likely, this is due to the presence of high-rise hotels in Phuket, in which many people were saved. In Khao Lak, hotels at that time consisted mainly of low bungalows that could not withstand angry waters.

Which beaches were affected by the tsunami in Phuket

Today, many tourists are interested in which beaches in Phuket had a tsunami. These tourists hope that the answer to this question will allow them to choose Phuket's tsunami-safe beaches. But in fact, there are no beaches in Phuket that are safe in this regard. Although the beaches in the east of the island are, in principle, safe from tsunamis (a destructive tsunami is impossible in the shallow Phang Nga Bay), a few tourists from Russia rest on these beaches.
But let's get back to the question of which Phuket beaches were hit the hardest by the 2004 tsunami. All the beaches on the west coast of the island got hit, but the beaches of Patong and Karon received the most damage. This is not surprising when you consider that Patong and Karon are the most popular beaches in Phuket with a large number of hotels and other facilities. Kata, Kamala, Bang Tao, Surin and other beaches in the west of the island were also affected by the tsunami in 2004, but the damage on these beaches was noticeably lower than on Patong and Karon.

Wave height of the 2004 tsunami in Phuket

There are different opinions about how high the tsunami wave was in Phuket in 2004. Some sources say that the wave height was about 30 meters. But if the wave had been that high, the death toll would have been much higher. In fact, the height of the wave is on average "only" 5 meters, but the fact is that this wave moved at a very high speed, which was approximately 600 km / h. Imagine what impact force such a wave has. Due to the high speed of this wave, many tourists simply did not have time to escape.

How the victims of the tsunami were buried in Phuket

The story of how the victims of the tsunami in Phuket were buried deserves special mention. Phuket after the tsunami became the main gathering place for all the dead, who were brought here from other parts of Thailand. Over time, the death toll became so huge that there was nowhere to store them, as morgues, hospital basements and refrigerators were completely packed. Then it was decided to temporarily bury the unidentified bodies that were literally rotting in the sun. In the 2006 movie Tsunami: The Aftermath, there was footage of the bodies of the dead being burned in furnaces, but as far as we know, there was nothing like that. Although some of the bodies were indeed burned in ovens, these were the bodies of Thais and other Asians who practiced Buddhism. That is, these were ordinary cremation ceremonies, and not disposal of corpses.

Phuket after the 2004 tsunami

When the waters receded, almost all the elephants available in the region were used in Phuket and Phang Nga province to move heavy loads and clean roads. These animals have been of great help in finding the survivors and the dead.
The economic impact of the 2004 tsunami on Phuket was significant. Tourism, which was one of the main sources of income for the island, was hit the hardest, as most of the hotels were destroyed or seriously damaged. The fishing industry was also hit hard by the loss of fishing boats, trawlers, tackle, most of which the fishermen could not afford to replace. In addition, many fishermen have lost their homes. But that was not all the trouble for the fishing industry, as the tsunami destroyed many piers and fish processing facilities. The fishermen who were able to start working again faced the following problem - local traders refused to buy fish, because the local population believed that the caught fish fed on the human flesh of victims who were swept into the sea by the tsunami. For the locals, this was a spiritual issue, although possible health problems were also a concern. As the locals stopped consuming fish caught near Phuket, many merchants began to buy fish caught in the Gulf of Thailand or brought from Vietnam, Malaysia or other countries.
Although Phuket was one of the hardest hit areas in 2004, the island recovered fairly quickly from the disaster. According to initial estimates, the restoration of this popular tourist area should have been delayed for ten years, but after a year there were almost no traces of the tsunami left on the island. For example, in Patong, only a few "scars" could be seen already 6 months after the disaster.
Today, being in Phuket, you can hardly imagine that just a few years ago this island experienced a devastating tsunami. Only the Evacuation Route signs (evacuation route) remind of the tragedy of 2004.

Monument to the Victims of the Tsunami in Phuket

Another reminder of this tragedy is the monument to the victims of the tsunami, which is installed on Kamala Beach. This monument was built to commemorate the tsunami that devastated the west coast of Phuket in 2004. The Phuket Tsunami Monument is located opposite the Print Kamala Resort, close to the center of Kamala Beach. The monument is a metal sculpture called "Heart of the Universe". Every year on the anniversary of the tsunami, ceremonies are held here with prayers and the laying of wreaths.

Chance of a tsunami in Phuket

Of course, there is a tsunami threat to Phuket, but not a single seaside area is immune from such a natural disaster. Nevertheless, not a single scientist will give a forecast for the tsunami in Phuket, because it may happen even today, or it may never happen.
But it is important to note that Thailand has done everything possible to minimize the number of victims in the event of a new tsunami. A disaster warning system was developed and tsunami shelters were built. The disaster warning system consists of special floating buoys that transmit all data on the state of water and tremors. In the event of a tsunami, the sensors will instantly transmit information to the central administration, which will immediately notify the population and do everything to quickly evacuate people.

Where to escape the tsunami in Phuket

As you already understood, at present there is a high probability of being saved from the tsunami in Phuket, in case of its occurrence. In some places on the island, special shelters have been built for such cases, and you can get to them if you follow the signs of the Evacuation Route. You can also climb some tall building. In any case, you should have enough time to leave the area of ​​potential danger. But still we hope that such a tsunami will not happen again.

Films about the tsunami in Phuket

There are two rather interesting films about the tsunami in Phuket and Khao Lak. The first film is "The Impossible". He talks about a family who came to rest in Khao Lak and suffered during the tsunami. The second film - "Tsunami (2006)" - is more versatile and shows not only the grief that people experienced, but also some other aspects of this tragedy and its consequences.

Video, Tsunami, Thailand, Tsunami Thailand (Koh Phi Phi) — 12/26/2004

Eyewitness video. Tsunami in Thailand on December 26, 2004.

An undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean that occurred on December 26, 2004 at 00:58:53 UTC (07:58:53 local time) triggered a tsunami that has been recognized as the deadliest natural disaster in modern history. The magnitude of the earthquake was, according to various estimates, from 9.1 to 9.3. This is the third strongest earthquake in the history of observation.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located in the Indian Ocean, north of the island of Simeulue, located near the northwestern coast of the island of Sumatra (Indonesia). The tsunami reached the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, southern India, Thailand and other countries. The height of the waves exceeded 15 meters. The tsunami caused enormous destruction and a huge number of deaths, even in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 6900 km from the epicenter.

Died, according to various estimates, from 225 thousand to 300 thousand people. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the death toll is 227,898. The true death toll is unlikely to ever be known, as many people were swept into the ocean.

Tsunami propagation in the Indian Ocean

The earthquake north of Simeulue Island was originally estimated at 6.8 magnitude on the Richter scale. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) estimated it at magnitude 8.5 immediately after the incident. The moment magnitude, which more accurately estimates earthquakes of this magnitude, was 8.1. Upon further analysis, this score was gradually increased to 9.0. In February 2005, the magnitude of the earthquake was estimated at 9.3 magnitude. The PTWC accepted this new estimate, while the USGS puts the quake at magnitude 9.1.

Since 1900, the recorded earthquakes with comparable strength were the Great Chilean earthquake of 1960 (magnitude 9.3-9.5), the Great Alaska earthquake of 1964 in Ice Bay (9.2), the earthquake in 1952 near the southern coast of Kamchatka ( 9.0). Each of these earthquakes also caused a tsunami (in the Pacific Ocean), but there were significantly fewer deaths (a few thousand people at most) - perhaps because the population density in those areas is quite low, and the distances to more populated coasts are quite large .

The hypocenter of the main earthquake was at the point with coordinates 3.316° N. latitude, 95.854° E (3° 19′ N, 95° 51.24′ E), at a distance of about 160 km west of Sumatra, at a depth of 30 km from sea level (initially reported 10 km from sea level ). This is the western end of the Pacific Ring of Fire, an earthquake belt in which up to 81% of all the largest earthquakes in the world occur.

The earthquake was unusually large in a geographical sense. There was a shift of about 1200 km (according to some estimates - 1600 km) of rock at a distance of 15 m along the subduction zone, as a result of which the Indian plate moved under the Burma plate. The shift was not one-time, but was divided into two phases within a few minutes. Seismographic data indicate that the first phase formed a fault approximately 400 km by 100 km, located at about 30 km above sea level. The fault formed at a speed of about 2 km/s, starting from the Ase coast towards the northwest for about 100 seconds. Then there was a pause of about 100 seconds, after which the fault continued to form north towards the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Indian Plate is part of the large Indo-Australian Plate that lines the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal, moving northeast at an average speed of 6 cm per year. The Indian Plate meets the Burmese Plate, which is considered part of the larger Eurasian Plate, to form the Sunda Trench. At this point, the Indian Plate is subducting under the Burmese Plate, which contains the Nicobar Islands, the Andaman Islands, and northern Sumatra. The Indian Plate gradually slides deeper and deeper under the Burmese Plate until the rising temperature and rising pressure turns the subducted edge of the Indian Plate into magma, which is eventually ejected upward through volcanoes (the so-called Volcanic Arc). This process is interrupted due to plate adhesion for several centuries, until the build-up pressure causes a major earthquake and tsunami as a result.

With a sharp advance of tectonic plates, the seabed also rises by several meters, thereby giving rise to destructive tsunami waves. Tsunamis do not have a point center as such, which is erroneously assumed from illustrations of their propagation. Tsunamis propagate radially from the entire fault about 1200 km long.

Text: Alexander Ivanov
Photo: Vladimir Smolyakov

The ocean is never completely calm. Waves roll towards the shore in an endless series, reluctantly lick the beach and dissolve in the endless expanse of water. The even rustling of the waves and the incomparable smell of the sea – these are the factors that have had a philosophical and pacifying effect on a person from time immemorial... And when the FIRST WAVE appeared (it was only two times higher than the others), almost no one noticed it. Another two hours later, the SECOND WAVE came, flooding the beaches for fifty meters and washing away some things of the vacationers (which caused a playful 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 very educated people wandered the shallows in joyful excitement, collecting shells and small fish. All this continued until the THIRD WAVE came...

The foreseeable history of mankind (we naively believe that we know almost everything about this period) has several millennia. By human standards, this is a lot, but by cosmic or geological - not even a moment. Take the 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 realize such an abyss of time. Human memory in general is 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 witnesses are still alive ...

retrospective

The European layman was spoiled. All catastrophes and wars moved away in time or, at worst, in space. Well, tell me, who among the living today remembers the word "Krakatau"? Yes, almost no one. In general, we are all overwhelmingly sure that planetary comfort and tranquility will be enough for our age...

After the terrible disaster that befell South Asia, we begin to clearly understand: humanity in general and its specific representatives in particular are not insured against anything. Is the Indian and other oceans far away? Do you know that there are also faults in the Caspian Lake (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, then not only Iran and Azerbaijan will be flooded, but also, for example, Astrakhan. It's getting closer, isn't it?

By the way, our brother journalist hastened to call the tsunami that swept across southern Asia “the biggest disaster in the history of mankind.” But this, to put it mildly, is not true. Do you know what the aforementioned Krakatau is? And this is just a small volcanic island in the same Indonesia. So, it 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? And it hasn't even been a century and a half. That's what it is...

Or another kind of example. In 1931, the Yangtze River flooded. From floods, famine and epidemics, at least 3,000,000 people died (no, no, you were not mistaken in counting zeros, exactly three million)! No one moved: firstly, they are Chinese, and secondly, they are far away. But you can find mournful examples even closer... 1201, the Mediterranean Sea. The earthquake claimed more than a million souls in Syria and Egypt. But for the planet, 800 years is not a term, 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 activity of our planet. And there are also "space" tsunamis caused by collisions with meteorites. So, a boulder about 10 kilometers across once landed in the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), forming a funnel 30 kilometers deep. North America burned to the ground, and one can only guess about the height of the waves. 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, according to the remains of living organisms thrown out by a tsunami to a height of several hundred meters (Andes). Can you imagine such a vibe? Me not. And I don't want to. But whatever one may say, it is still exotic. And the Earth is rare with space rocks. But "home" tsunamis happen dozens of times a year. So what is this phenomenon?

Modern science says that a tsunami is a special kind of wave of non-storm origin, most often caused by an underwater earthquake. The distance between the crest of a wave and a hollow in the open sea can be hundreds of kilometers, and the height is not more than a meter. For navigation, they are practically safe (a ship may simply not notice such a wave). But tsunamis in the open sea expend their energy quite slowly and can spread over very long distances. When the wave reaches shallow water, and even more so gets into narrowness (bay, gulf, harbor), it turns into that same monster - a wall of water up to several tens of meters high. Actually, “tsunami” is a Japanese word and means nothing more than “wave in the harbor”. The Japanese know what they are saying: they have water all around, and seismically active zones are "at hand" ... On June 15, 1896, in the Sanriku region, in the late afternoon, residents felt tremors. People lived by the sea and understood how it 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 receded from the coast ... It was too late to run, and seven 35-meter waves leveled three provinces (800 kilometers of coast). 27,000 victims. But note: the fishermen who were at that time at sea simply did not notice anything ...

third wave

And then December 26, 2004 came ... An earthquake (the strongest in forty years in this area) occurred under the waters of the Pacific Ocean along a fault line off the coast of the island of Sumatra and caused vertical (both up and down) displacements of the ocean floor. Its area was 1,200 kilometers long and about 100 kilometers wide.

The energy released at the same time was monstrous, but only one percent went to the formation of the actual waves. But even 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. These are the 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, the water usually recedes far from the coast, exposing the seabed for hundreds of meters (and sometimes for several kilometers), and this low tide can last from minutes to hours. The very movement of the waves can be accompanied by thunderous sounds that are heard long before the approach of the tsunami (for example, it was in Japan in 1895). And yet, we are frankly distrustful of the “anti-wave” measures recommended by some experts, including such advice as climbing onto roofs and hiding under ... dining tables (this is not fiction, the author 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 the Pacific, on the contrary, the international warning system has long existed, and, in particular, it includes the east coast of Thailand...

Today, the "wave" warning system is able to notify of danger in 3-14 hours. But since there are no wave sensors installed in the region (seismologists simply registered a strong earthquake), it was not possible to determine the direction of the tsunami. The only "wave" station south of the epicenter registered a tsunami less than two feet high moving towards Australia.

The waves also hit the beaches of 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 western 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, in the direction of the Thai resort of Phuket. It happened on Sunday morning, when people were just waking up. As a result of an earthquake of magnitude nine, water walls as high as a two-story house moved west across the Bay of Bengal and struck at the inhabitants of the coasts. A few hours after the earthquake, a series of strong shocks also occurred in Sumatra. The quake began on a fault line deep in the ocean off the coast of Sumatra before spreading north and south, reaching the Andaman and Nicobar Islands between India and Myanmar in the north, scientists say. Apparently, the seabed was deformed along the entire length of this fault.

And when the water is 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 human 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. But never from a tsunami. In that 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 over the continents work in Tsentrospas. They were in Turkey and Taiwan, Colombia and India. But they didn't have to see it either. 12 hours after receiving the news of the disaster, the detachment was transferred by transport Il-76 to Sri Lanka to an airfield near the capital of the island of Colombo. The fighters of the detachment were ready to start rescue work immediately, but then the notorious "human factor" intervened. It's no secret that on our planet, in addition to natural factors, unfortunately, there are also political factors. And South Asia is not a piece of paradise at all (separatism blooms there in full bloom). So, in the Indonesian province of Aceh, rescue work was hampered by the actions of the rebels, demanding ... of course, independence. Moreover, they are difficult to such an extent that the authorities at first generally refused to let anyone in there. The same is true 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 advance to 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 Moratura. In the north and northeast of the country, detachments of the so-called Tamil Eelam Liberation Tigers (LTTE) operate. And the authorities did not dare to let our rescuers into these territories for a long time. Well, when permission was finally received, the detachment moved further north in the direction of the city of Galle. On the way, I had to dismantle the destroyed roads, work on the rubble, cut concrete blocks. But since by this time there was practically no one to save, 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 a mobile hospital of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

What about search dogs? "Our dogs are looking for the living," one of the people there told us. “Corpses are a shock to them.” And for us? Those who lost their homes were received by Buddhist monasteries and Catholic churches, and it was there that our doctors went on a specially equipped Land Rover Defender. At this time, two other "defs" with rescue crews were working in the destruction zone. They saw everything: swept away houses, washed ashore ships, 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 in actually saving people, the detachment practically did not accept participation. When the cars reached the wave passage zone, all the bodies had already been removed - it is not difficult to dismantle a village house. As a result, doctors were most in demand. The affected people also need food, water, medicine and blankets. All this needs to be bought, brought and distributed. So, we need people, cars, ships and planes. Under-Secretary General Jan Egeland of Norway is responsible for UN humanitarian operations. But as it turned out, his organization is so bureaucratic, works so slowly and inefficiently, that by definition it cannot cope with a task of this magnitude. Apparently, this is another reason why our guys spent some of the hottest days outside the disaster zone.

Forecast for the day after tomorrow

What can await us in the future? American scientists who constantly monitor seismic activity in the Pacific Ocean warn that geological activity is on the rise. And if an event similar to the current one, but with a different vector, happens, a significant area of ​​California and other western US states may be in the flood zone. The Atlantic Ocean is also on the alert... Recently, a hypothesis has been put forward that during the explosion of a volcano located on the Canary Islands, a one-kilometer-high wave may arise! 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 in the Indian Ocean.

Forewarned is forearmed.

And one moment. Countries such as Japan or Holland have accumulated vast experience in dealing with the water element. The system of dams, embankments and other engineering structures reliably protects them. So from a technological point of view, a lot can be done. The main thing is to do. And steps in this direction are already underway - an international conference is being prepared. Well, it is not possible to fight poverty together, let's try to fight against natural disasters. Perhaps it is precisely the understanding that one will not be able to sit out that will make the governments and the inhabitants headed by them think a little about others. In the meantime, we just have to honor the memory of 230,000 dead.

P.S. We have probably become a little smarter if today “aircraft” with rescuers fly across the borders of states, ready to provide free assistance to everyone who needs it. And structures like the State Central Airmobile Rescue Squad 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 consequences of the tsunami were more like traces of a sewer break.
Vitya Lyagushkin, journalist.

While in the Maldives, I traveled around five islands that were hit by the tsunami. The trip was organized by the Maldivian travel agency with the assistance of the Maldivian government, which is very 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 needed. In the end, everything turned into a kind of propaganda war. They showed footage from Phuket, but at the same time they talked about the Maldives, although the “post-wave” situation there is radically different. There were reports from Sri Lanka, they showed the coast of India, and in the comments they added "... and the Maldives."

A group of Russian journalists was assembled 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 structure of the atolls. 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 are the islands, which are circular formations protruding above the surface of the water by a maximum of a meter. The result - the height of the tsunami wave in the Maldives was extremely insignificant. She just had nowhere to go!

How is the Maldives organized? These are 26 large atolls, on the tops of which there are fifty to sixty islands. On the inner atolls from the side of 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 vacationers in the Maldives. And because of the flooded rooms, for some time tourists were accommodated in two families per room. On Paradise (the outer island of the outer atoll) there was a wave that went through the entire island, partially destroyed the bungalow and caused damage to household appliances. The wave caused panic - people put on life jackets, fins and masks (the Russians drank all the mini-bars under the guise). There were no dead. Also, during the day after the wave, mobile phones and the airport did not work (the runway turned out to be corny dirty). The mud was washed away and flights resumed. Then mobile communication was restored. Divers who were underwater during the wave did not feel anything at all. The only thing they paid attention to was the squeak of computers that 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 rush across the ocean like a whiplash, maintaining their strength for thousands of miles. Most tsunamis are caused by large earthquakes, but landslides, volcanic eruptions, and meteorite impacts can also be the cause. Waves are caused by geological forces moving water in an ocean basin. The stronger the earthquake, the more shifts in the earth's crust and the more water comes into motion.

Most often, tsunamis form in the Pacific Ocean. This is due to the fact that its pool is bordered by the "Ring of Fire" - a long chain of seismically active points on the Earth.

During a tsunami, waves usually propagate in directions opposite to seismic shocks. In the case of the earthquake near Sumatra, seismic waves moved along the ocean floor to the south and north, and the tsunami moved to the west and east.

A 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 shore, its speed decreases sharply, and its height increases many times over. Some tsunamis resemble a tide in which the water does not stop rising and swallows the coast.

A few hours after an earthquake, the tsunami loses its strength due to friction with the ocean floor and simply because the waves "dissolve" into the vast surface of the ocean.

International Tsunami Warning System.

The International Tsunami Warning System was established in 1965 after a tsunami associated with a 9.2 magnitude earthquake hit Alaska in 1964. The system includes all the major states of the Pacific coast in North and South America and Asia, as well as the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, it includes France (under the sovereignty of which there are some islands) 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 the speed of the waves and the estimated time when they will appear in certain geographic areas. As tsunami waves move through tide stations, 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 does not normally issue warnings for earthquakes less than magnitude 7.