2004 Indonesia Indian Ocean Tsunami

2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami also known as the deadliest Tsunami ever recorded

Type of Natural Hazard: Tsunami

Damaged caused:
This tsunami killed an estimated 225,000 people in a few nations, wreaking
havoc upon Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, and Thailand.

Thousands of non-Asian vacationers who were vacationing in the area were

also confirmed listed as missing.

The shortage of food, clean water, and medical treatment, along with the
immense job faced by rescue workers trying to transport supplies into some
distant places where roads had been wrecked or where civil war was raging,
added to the number of victims.

Villages, tourist destinations, agriculture, and fishing grounds were all

devastated or swamped with debris, corpses, and plant-killing saline water,
causing long-term environmental devastation.

Here is what the city Banda Aceh looked like after the tsunami wrecked it

Influencing factors:
On Sunday morning, December 26, 2004, a strong underwater earthquake off
the coastline of Sumatra Island, Indonesia, triggered the 2004 Indian Ocean
tsunami.

A 900-mile length of fault line in which the Indian and Australian plate tectonics
intersect was broken by the magnitude 9.1 earthquake.

It was a massive mega thrust earthquake that struck where a heavy ocean plate
collided with a weaker continental plate.

The earthquake caused the ocean bottom to surge 40 meters in a matter of

seconds, resulting in a tremendous tsunami.

Within 20 minutes after the earthquake, the first of multiple 100-foot waves
slammed onto Banda Aceh's beachfront, killing over 100,000 people and
destroying the city.

Then, in quick succession, tsunamis struck Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka, killing
tens of thousands more people. Those killed in 2004 seemed to have no formal
notice of the impending waves and had little opportunity of avoiding them.
That was because the countries had no detection signals of approaching waves.

People had no idea what was going to hit them because of no signals/alerts of
approaching tsunami

Timeline
Short-Term: Right after disaster
Mid-Term: 1 week after disaster

Long-Term: 1 month after disaster

Short-term strategies: Search and rescue, Medical care, Temporary shelter,

Re-establishing infrastructure and communications

Search and Rescue

Many search and Rescue parties were launched to find as many people as
possible, dead or alive. More than 25 thousand people have been found alive
after the disaster.

Medical care
Both surgical and general healthcare teams were required following the
Tsunami. Several of the issues were chronic medical in nature, which might
indicate a shortage of healthcare infrastructure prior to the Tsunami.

Temporary shelter
People took shelter in enormous communal tents, abandoned structures,
rented homes, or with family and friends in the weeks following the tsunami.
Temporary housing centers were constructed by the government
(centre).Many others used reclaimed materials to construct their own shelters.

Mid-Term strategies: Rebuilding homes, Supply of food and water,

Rebuilding homes

Shortly after the Tsunami wiped out most of the villages on the Indonesian cost
people started to rebuild the homes and businesses they lost in the disaster

Supply of food and water

A week or so after the Tsunami a load of food fresh drinking water arrived to
feed the ones in need. This load came in a bit late because most of the roads
were destroyed after the tsunami.
Long-Term strategies: Improving Tsunami signals, Having rescue teams
ready, building more solid buildings

Improving Tsunami signals

Indonesia instated multiple Tsunami signals to be ready when a natural hazard

like this happens again

Having rescue teams ready

One of the biggest problem was that Indonesia didn’t have a rescue helicopter
and a rescue team prepared for a situation like this. It has improved from its
mistakes.

Building more solid buildings

Some people have started to build more solid homes from harder materials so
the Tsunami won’t sweep it away. This of course this includes the houses a bit
further from sea

References

Augustyn, Adam. “Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004.” Encyclopædia Britannica,

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 7 Nov. 2008,
https://www.britannica.com/event/Indian-Ocean-tsunami-of-2004.Accessed
1,November,2021

Roos, Dave. “The 2004 Tsunami Wiped Away Towns with 'Mind-Boggling'
Destruction.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2 October 2018,
https://www.history.com/news/deadliest-tsunami-2004-indian-
ocean#&gid=ci0234664b20012725&pid=1-tsunami-51915383.Accessed
1,November.2021