It was around 7:00 on the morning of December 26th, 2004 that planet earth shook. An earthquake with its epicenter at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, just west of the Island of Sumatra, registered an astonishing 9.5 on the Richter scale. It was so powerful it caused earth to wobble in its rotation. This was an event that affected the earth globally. (1) Butts pg.104 In her book Stewart writes, “In fact the earthquake that caused the tsunami was enough to affect the earths rotation so much as to make that day December 26th to actually be a few milliseconds shorter than it should have been”. (2) Stewart pg. 10 The earthquake sent a Tsunami racing faster than a jet plane toward the southern shores of Asia as well as the east coast …show more content…
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 …show more content…
How does an earthquake cause a tsunami? We live on Earths crust. The earths crust is broken up into many parts and fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. These puzzle pieces are called “tectonic plates” At times these plates move towards one another and push together. At other times they move apart away from each other. The plates usually move slowly so we do not feel the movement beneath us. There are times however that we do feel the movements. These movements that we feel are called earthquakes as they shake the ground beneath us. There are two kinds of plates one is referred to as the “continental plate” and the other is called the “oceanic plate”. Just as their names imply the plates that lie under the continents are continental plates and those that lie under the ocean are “oceanic plates”. As we have learned in class many of the worlds earthquakes occur in what is called the ring of fire. The ring of fire is a vast area surrounding the Pacific Ocean. The edges of some of Earths tectonic plates meet in this area. Since the plates meet up there they can bump into each other. They can also move away or slide past one another. When this happens it can cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Another factor in this formula for earthquakes are something called faults. Faults are large fractures in the Earths crust. These fractures are found at the edges of the tectonic plates. This is where most earthquakes happen. When an
The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami was an horrific natural disaster. On Sunday 26th of December 2004 at 7.58 am local time there was an earthquake of a massive magnitude 9 on the Richter scale. The earthquake struck off the northern tip of Sumatra in Indonesia. It was the result of the Indio-Australian Plate subducting below the Eurasian Plate. Indonesia was hit by the tsunami first. Forty-five minutes later it reached Thailand.
The Christmas Day Tsunami was caused by a massive earthquake. There was forces that had been building up for hundreds of years and once they forces were released it caused violent and killer waves to be unleashed. These violent movements of the tectonic plates displaced huge amounts of water which sent powerful shock waves in every direction. The Earthquake that caused the Tsunami was a result of the sliding of the India plates which had been going on for a millennium. The Earth shuddered due to trillions of rocks that were moved. The disturbed seafloor was displaced and created the Tsunami. So many people were caught unprepared because this was something that took time. The forces and sliding of the plates had been happening overtime for years
The Boxing Day Tsunami had occurred on the 26th of December 2004. The tsunami had started under water, in the Indian Ocean. The cause of the tsunami was that the Indo-Australian plate had subducted below the Eurasian plate, this process is called a convergent plate boundary. This resulted with an underwater earthquake, making waves approximately 20-30 metres high and travelling at speeds up to 500km/ph. Theses waves travelled throughout Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand and left each country in terrible conditions. The earthquake that occurred underwater had
During 2004, on December 26, a 9.1 magnitude quake tsunami struck Indonesia and Thailand, according to BBC News. A person by the name of Richard Lewis, is a son of an American missionary. Richard volunteered to help people in Aceh, Indonesia after the tsunami hit, in the year 2004, which is where he saw the true events that could happen from a tsunami. Later in life, Richard Lewis wrote the book The Killing Sea and wanted to demonstrate a powerful message: Enjoy everything you have now, because possibly one day, everything could be taken away. In The Killing Sea, on page 50, the book stated, “He brushed away the hair and rock back on his heels as Tjut Sari, the beauty of the photo copy shop, stared up at him, her black eyes no longer flashing.” Ruslan thought that Tjut Sari, the photocopy shop girl, was beautiful. In the earlier chapters of the book, it explains how Ruslan would always try to impress Tjut Sari in any way, even if he was just bringing in papers to copy. Now that the tsunami hit, and that killed Tjut Sari, Ruslan is never able to express his feelings towards this girl he liked. Ruslan never tried to make conversation with Tjut Sari, and he will never be able too in life, because she is dead. According to an article, called How Scientists and Victims Watched Helplessly, by Andrew C. Revkin, the article states “Kalandar Umma, a 60-year-old grandmother, was found clinging to the upper branches of a tree. She had no memory of the waves or how she got there.” Unfortunately, Kalendar Umma lost her memories on the events that have just occurred. If Kalandar had children, or family members, she will not remember these people that she lived the rest of her life with. Which brings in the message. Later on in life, possibly something bad can happen, and that happened to Kalander. Kalander lost her memory, and all the events that happened to her long ago, and probably forgotten forever. More importantly, Richard
The morning of December 26, the peaceful morning was cut short of by a massive earthquake that struck off Indonesia causing a deadly tsunami The earthquake was described as having the power of 23,000 Hiroshima bombs, reaching a magnitude of 9.0. After the tsunami started it travels 13 countries and left beaches filled
After and the aftershocks, there was fear of a tsunami people started to worry. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a report saying that “no tsunami is expected,” although officials at the center warned of the possibility of one in Hawaii. There was so much damage they did not know what to do.
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.
In the article, ¨Indian Ocean Tsunami; Then and Now¨ by Lucy Rodgers and Gerry Fletcher the text says, ¨About 228,000 people were killed as a result of the 9.1 magnitude quake and the giant waves that slammed into coastlines.¨ Anything can happen at any time, and everybody living in that area were not expecting a tsunami to hit out of nowhere, causing 228,000 of them to get killed. On page 48, the text says, ¨For as far as Ruslan could see, Meulaboh had become a lake, clogged with floating debris.¨ Everything in the city was basically gone, all because nobody saw anything coming and nobody was prepared. Finally, on page 78, the text says, ¨A man stared at him with wide, and bulging eyes. Unblinking eyes, rigid with death. Around him were several more corpses, caught in the brush like debris.¨ Thousands people got killed and hurt, because a tsunami hit out of
At the bottom of the ocean there seems to be a crack on the floor and causes an earthquake. What happens after that? Well the thing that happens after there is a crack at the bottom of the ocean that causes an earthquake is something called a tsunami. A tsunami is when a series of waves that are made in big bodies of water like a lake and river or the ocean. Tsunamis can make a lot of damage to coastlines and can kill people. Some people who have not seen a tsunami in real life call tsunamis "tidal waves", but in reality the waves are huge and can be twenty to fifty feet long so tsunamis really don't relate at all with tides since tsunamis are huge
In 2004, a tsunami took place in the Indian Ocean, originated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake. Reports from the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) “The tsunami caused more casualties than any other in recorded history and was recorded nearly world-wide on tide gauges in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Ocean”. “The USGS estimates that the sudden movement
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
Over a decade ago on December 26,2004, a catastrophic event occurred on the coast of Asia that changed millions of lives forever and caused ripple affects that are still being felt 11 years later( such as the accounts of Hailey being displaced and seeking answers about her families where abouts ). A undersea mega thrust earthquake measuring at 9.0 on the Richter scale hit the coast of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean causing a devastating landslide . As a result Plates on the ocean floor shifted manifesting 100 foot waves that led to the third-largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph.
Hello, I’m Willow and I will be your reporter for tonight. Now, over 90% of tsunamis are caused by underwater earthquakes like this one. The other causes of tsunamis are underwater landslides, volcanos, and even meteorites! Earthquakes are caused by the movement of tectonic under
The tsunami in Thailand that occurred on December 26, 2004, was by far the largest tsunami catastrophe in human history. It was triggered by a magnitude 9.1-9.3 earthquake along the Indian-Australian subduction zone off the northern coast of Sumatra. The tsunami waves traveled primarily in the east to west direction and caused major damage along the coasts of southern Thailand. Unpredictably, it was a violent earthquake beneath the sea that initiated the massive waves and struck more than a dozen countries in Southern Asia. It also destroyed thousands of miles of coastline and even submerged entire islands permanently. Throughout the region, the tsunami killed more than 150,000
A tsunami is a series of huge waves occurring when there is a major disturbance on the ocean floor. Tsunamis often occur due to earthquakes, volcanoes, or landslides (Park 16). Underwater earthquakes may produce waves that travel in all different directions. Some tsunamis lose power and die out under water, others may produce large waves as they approach land. Tsunamis may look like an onrushing tidal wave as they approach land, but do not occur because of tides (Park 6). Their walls of water can move across the open ocean at speeds of up to 560 miles per hour. When the waves hit the coast, they can reach up to 100 feet (Park 5). The tsunami in Japan is believed to have occurred after two of Earth’s tectonic plates collided in the