Indian Ocean Tsunami Essay

The tsunami caused devastation in coastal communities in Indonesia and eleven other countries. More than 225 000 people died leaving families destroyed, children orphaned and people not knowing if their loved ones were dead or alive. 500 000 people were left homeless adding to the trauma of the disastrous event. Across the affected countries there were an estimated 5 million people deprived of basic services such as clean water and sewage. This lead to

The most noticeable difference between a tsunami and a hurricane is the cause of each. A tsunami is the aftermath of an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption. The force of the earthquake or eruption, along with the moving of the tectonic plates, sends large amounts of water in all directions. The waves can be thousands of feet high when they reach the shoreline. These giant waves can arrive at a moment's notice with no warning. The tsunami is a large natural phenomenon originating from the ocean, but it is not the only phenomenon to start in the ocean.

Tsunamis are caused by earthquakes underneath the ocean, which can results in gigantic waves that cause devastation and change the Earth’s surface by causing radiation and causing underwater landslides. In the article “Is Santa Catalina Island Sinking or Rising?” it describes how an effect of tsunamis. It states, “A tsunami could have struck the coast from Catalina when the underwater landslide occured” (Los Angeles Times 2). Therefore, tsunamis can strike coasts and can create landslides underwater, changing the ocean floor by creating caves and canyons. Also, tsunamis can wear away beaches. When giant waves crash into coasts of masses of land, they can wear away the coast. Finally, tsunamis can cause radiation. In the article “Dangerous Tsunami Threat off U.S. West Coast,” it explains, “It [the tsunami] also damaged a nuclear power plant, causing a meltdown and spreading dangerous radiation in the area” (Los Angeles Times). Consequently, tsunamis can destroy and interfere with human made buildings which may contain toxic gases which may be released into the air and cause damage the environment. Incidentally, damaging the environment can lead to killing plant and animal life, and the Earth in that area could potentially become barren and

Throughout this unit, the Science in Practice class has been learning about natural disasters and the impact it has on humans and environment. The natural disaster that will be discussed in this report is the Boxing Day Tsunami, which occurred on the 26th of December, 2004. The tsunami took place in the Indian Ocean. Due to, two tectonics plates, the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate colliding, causing an underwater earthquake. Due to this awful disaster, people were killed, injured, diagnosed with diseases, homes and businesses were destroyed, the environment damaged.

As survivors from the quake rushed around in fear and confusion, they were greeted by yet another disaster. Shortly after the earthquake, a tsunami occurred. The tsunami’s waves struck the coastline beginning at twenty feet. But as more waves hit the coast, the height of the tsunami grew to just under forty feet, taking out everything that hadn’t already been destroyed by the earthquake, reducing the entire city to rubble. The tsunami stretched across sixty-two miles of coastline near Messina, and another twenty-four miles of coastline near Calabria. The damage from the tsunami was greater near the Calabria coast, where waves were higher and the water quickly swallowed houses and bridges, and flooded rivers. The tsunami that occurred in Messina still holds the title for one of the biggest tsunamis in today’s history. Recently, however, geologists have revisited origin of the tsunami, which is now widely debated. Some

The book The Killing Sea, was created by a person named Richard Lewis, and was based off true events of a tsunami attacking Aceh, Indonesia, on December 25, 2004. Richard Lewis wanted to send a message towards the readers, which was, “Enjoy everything you have now, because possibly one day, everything could be taken away.” In The Killing Sea, the two main characters were introduced. Ruslan, and Sarah. Sarah is a Western white girl, who has a father, mother, and a little brother named Peter. The two teenagers, Ruslan and Sarah, comes face to face with a tsunami, which left them separated from their parents. Sarah’s brother is in need of a doctor, while Ruslan is on the search for his only father. Which leaves Ruslan and Sarah, to test their

This generated one of the deadliest tsunamis known to mankind, killing over 230,000 people and leaving over two million people displaced. The epicenter of the earthquake was located in the Indian Ocean, right off the west coast of Sumatra. The tectonic plates beneath the ocean floor had been colliding and building up pressure for hundreds of years, until this day when subduction occurred between the Indian and the Burma plates. The process of subduction displaced billions of tons of water, creating waves that traveled towards the shorelines at hundreds of miles per hour and as high as sixty to one hundred feet. There was absolutely no warning for the people of Southeast Asia, as the tsunami progressed quite rapidly. (National Geographic,

Tsunamis occur when there is sudden movement in an extensive body of water such as earthquakes, landslides on the sea floor, major volcanic eruptions or meteorite impacts. The most common source of a tsunami is earthquakes, which are another type of geomorphic hazard that is caused by the friction and stress that tectonic plates put on each other. Tsunamis primarily occur in coastal or island regions where there is a tectonic border or what is known as the ring of fire. As shown in the diagram below the ring of fire is located along the coastal and island regions of the world.As a result of the Pacific Plate diving beneath the Eurasian plate, on March 11, 2011, there were 2 geomorphic hazards, a magnitude-9 earthquake struck north Japan, which caused a deadly tsunami that reached heights of 39 meters. The destructive dilemma was dubbed ‘The Great Sendai Disaster’. The earthquake was caused by multiple centuries of stress on the tectonic plates surrounding the island. The earthquake caused a tsunami that reached the height of 39 meters (128 feet). Japanese scientists had previously discovered that there was another tsunami just like the one in 2011 that took place in 869 AD. But their warning was unhindered. The tsunami, which occurred in 869 AD, was caused by the same tectonic fault as the 2011 tsunami. The epicenter of the earthquake was off the northeast cost of Japan leading to a devastating tsunami that killed many and left many wishing they were. The massive earthquake caused an upward wave that headed towards the city of Sendai. Researches have recently uncovered a thin layer of clay that lubricated the fault zone causing the deadly tectonic slip, thus creating a tsunami that could wipe out an entire city as it did in 2011.The aftermath of the 2011 tsunami and earthquake was not pretty; it caused many deaths, injuries, traumas, financial difficulties, destruction of property, health bills and the destruction of the landscape as a whole. The natural disaster caused nearly 16,000 casualties and there are an estimated 2,500 people still reported missing. Although drowning caused most deaths others include, crushed by debris, suicide and diseases caused by nuclear radiation (cancer) spilled from nuclear

The 2004 Indian Ocean and Tsunami, everyone has heard about this tragic experience before. It is the third-largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph and had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. A Tsunami is a long high sea wave caused by an earthquake, submarine landslide, or other disturbance. For the book, Wave, there was family of four where the brother, mom and dad went to Thailand to spend their winter break. The daughter had decided to spend her winter break in New York City. In Thailand, there was a Tsunami that had struck the resort where the family had been staying at. The dad and his son went out to go and help others while the mom stayed back in the hotel lobby. Or what was left of it.

It was warm, sunny, and clear. The southern coast of Asia is filled with everything from elegant resorts to poor fishing villages and even some isolated tribes who live amongst themselves with out any outside contact. On this day fishing boats were out on the Indian Ocean and tourists many of who were vacationing from far away as Finland, Sweden and even the United States were out enjoying the water, the beaches, and hotel pools. These local fishermen, tourists, and even the hotel workers had little idea of what was to come. And what was to come was and underwater earthquake and subsequent tsunami unlike anything they had seen or heard of before. As some tourists played in the water and lay on the beaches a few of them noticed that the ocean was acting a bit strange. In some areas the normally beautiful turquoise blue ocean was turning dark. In other areas the water began to recede exposing many fish and ocean material usually not exposed as far from the beach as these were. At first many tourists and locals alike ran out to look at and collect the fish that lay exposed. For some of the local fishermen it was a windfall as all they had to do was go out and fill their baskets and sacks with fish they would normally work hours fishing to catch. They were a few people however that knew something ominous was about to happen. One tourist named Tilly Smith an eleven-year-old

For the Humanitarian Project I projected my views of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and Earthquake onto a newsletter. There were multiple sections included on the newsletter, like interviews of the survivors themselves and the effects that the crisis had on the surrounding countries. In my eyes, the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and Earthquake compares to Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 hurricane that hit the United States, in many ways. It’s kind of like us United States citizens can sympathize for the people in Asia because we can compare to what they went through, even though we experienced it after. Asia experienced many conflicts going through this crisis. With a magnitude of 9.3, the quake was the second largest earthquake in history. It killed about

The 9.0 magnitude Indian Ocean earthquake was caused by subduction under the Indian Ocean. Earthquakes are usually caused by convection currents leading to subduction/convergent currents. Convection currents is caused by magma rising from the deepest part of the earth, then slowly cooling, sinking again then re-heating, then rising upwards basically repeating the rising and cooling then re-heating cycle over and over again. The plates are separated from each other and they move apart, the plates then obviously hit another plate right next to it causing subduction. This earthquake was caused on the Oceanic crust, in the Indian Ocean, creating tsunamis that caused disasters and thousands of life loss throughout the Indian Ocean basin. The

So, the rising temperatures affects the melting of land/sea ice which then raises the sea

In March of 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake hit Japan, releasing a dangerous tsunami. Japan was not expecting the magnitude of the earthquake and tsunami, and endured much hardship after the disaster. The effects of the tsunami can still be seen in Japan today through its residents, economy, and through actions that have been taken to further protect residents from future disasters. Though the Japan 2011 tsunami is one of the most destructive tsunamis ever recorded, dangerous tsunamis continue to take place across the globe. The Japan 2011 tsunami not only affected the inhabitants of Japan, but also affected people around the world. After disasters such as this, each area must endure the aftermath of the disaster and recover from the effects.

Tracing back to through history, mankind has tried to caution upcoming generations of horrific overland deluge events. You can discover this message in the epic tells of the Sumerian King Gilgamesh. It is juxtaposed with Hebrew Bible referencing Noah. The Abrahamic and Babylonian regions have warning stories as well. Other places such as Japan and the Hawaii Islands have passed down forewarnings and changed their life to face this ominous threat. They tell stories of whole towns and villages washed away overnight. The event is called tsunami, which means (Killer Wave) in the Japanese language. Unlike your typical overland downslope flow of water, masses amount of displace water rises overland and then recedes back to the ocean. Plate tectonics, earthquakes, violent storms and landslides are well understood causes of this event; however, the killer wave or Tsunami is so rare that we fail to understand how in depth and devastating it is. The Indonesian tsunami of 2004 video highlighted the true scale and size of a tsunami wave. While deployed overseas in Misawa Japan, I was still skeptical about just how much damage a wave of water could create. Surprisingly, seven years later, the Japanese tsunami of 2011 would give me a crash course in flora, fauna and structural destruction.