Why was 2004 tsunami so devastating

Tsunami is an ever-present and real threat for the these islands of the Indian Ocean due to the presence of a tectonic interactive plate. Their disaster management priority is the development of an early tsunami warning system in order to effectively and timely communicate with all the people in that region. Disaster management should involve national, regional, and international organizations at all levels in order to develop tsunami program, fund tsunami projects, and continue research program.

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Journal overview. Special Issues. Academic Editor: Christian K. Received 13 Dec Revised 08 Mar Accepted 22 Mar Published 18 May Abstract Tsunami of , caused by a 9.

Introduction Tsunami is a series of ocean waves typically caused by large undersea earthquakes or volcano eruptions at tectonic plate boundaries. Results and Discussion 3. Lessons Learned from Tsunami To prevent the devastating effects of future tsunami, these islands of Indian Ocean have set their priorities in achieving 3 goals [ 5 ]: i development of disaster tsunami program which include implementation of tsunami program at national level, regional, and international levels and coordination of all these programs, ii development of an Indian Ocean early warning system, iii development of tsunami research program.

National Level The most studied plans are the Madagascar plan, the tsunami early warning and response system in Mauritius, and the creation of the Department of Risk and Disaster Management in Seychelles. Regional Level Disaster management is a regional priority in the Indian Ocean due to permanent threat of cyclones, floods, and tsunamis.

Future and Challenges The main challenge for all the islands of the Indian Ocean is to coordinate all the national efforts with existing regional and international endeavors to meet their stated priorities before the next tsunami events.

The role of one special group of physicians should be mentioned at all these levels. But some of the worst devastation was reserved for the island nation of Sri Lanka, where more than 30, people were swept away by the waves and hundreds of thousands left homeless. He credits the unsparing destructiveness of the Indian Ocean tsunami on the raw power of the earthquake that spawned it. The quake originated in a so-called megathrust fault, where heavy oceanic plates subduct beneath lighter continental plates.

The quake ruptured a mile stretch along the Indian and Australian plates 31 miles below the ocean floor. Rather than delivering one violent jolt, the quake lasted an unrelenting 10 minutes, releasing as much pent-up power as several thousand atomic bombs.

In the process, massive segments of the ocean floor were forced upward an estimated 30 or 40 meters up to feet. Titov emphasizes that tsunamis look nothing like the giant surfing break-style waves that many of us imagine. An earthquake and tsunami of the magnitude that struck in is so rare that catastrophic tsunamis are all but unknown in the long cultural histories of India and Sri Lanka, explains Jose Borrero, a tsunami researcher with the University of Southern California and director of eCoast , a marine consultancy based in New Zealand.

Both Borrero and Titov took part in U. Geological Survey expeditions in early to measure the full extent of the tsunami that struck Sumatra. Reuters - December 26 marks 15 years since a 9.

When the quake opened a faultline deep beneath the Indian Ocean, it triggered a wave as high as Northern Aceh province bore the brunt of the disaster, where a total of , people were killed, according to statistics compiled by the government and aid agencies. Day by day, the death toll rose, as bodies littered the streets, waiting to be collected, and others continued to wash ashore, decaying among piles of debris. Hospitals and morgues struggled to cope with injured and bewildered victims and bloated corpses.

Over , people were displaced and , buildings and homes destroyed in Indonesia as the wave swallowed large parts of the coastline.