News & Politics - Earthquake in Asia- Thousands of dead people

Gilmore Girl · 12-26-2004, 09:15 AM

I just heard it in the news... It's horrible and if someone knows more.. PLEASE post it in here... I got friends who are on the Maldives on their holidays...

Asian quake kills thousands
Sunday, December 26, 2004 Posted: 5:15 AM EST (1015 GMT)

SRI LANKA
Police say over 1,300 people killed by tsunamis in eastern districts of Batticaloa and Trincomalee.

INDIA
At least 1,000 killed by tidal waves which flooded the southern coast, interior minister says.

INDONESIA
Closer to the epicenter, over 100 people were killed in Aceh, in northern Sumatra

THAILAND
At least 14 missing and presumed dead in the southern Thailand resort island of Phuket, eyewitnesses say.

MALDIVES
At least three children reported killed in the high waters on an island north of the capital, Male.

RELATED
• Many missing in sea off Thailand
• India fears fishing fatalities
• Maldives swamped with water
• htmlQuake '5th largest since 1900'

(CNN) -- The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into villages and seaside resorts across Asia on Sunday, killing thousands across five countries.

The quake, near the Indonesian island of Sumatra, triggered giant waves -- or tsunami -- that swept across the region.

Over 1,700 people in Sri Lanka were killed after tidal waves battered the country's eastern coast, according to Colombo police. Authorities fear the death toll there could rise.

At least 1,000 Indians were killed in India as a result of tidal waves which flooded the southern coast, Interior Minister Shivraj Patil said.

Thai authorities say nearly 250 have been killed as a result of tsunamis.

Eyewitnesses in the eastern Sri Lankan port city of Trincomalee reported waves as high as 40 feet, hitting inland as far as half a mile (1 km).

In addition, up to 200 fishermen are missing at sea off the coast of India, officials have told reporters.

Flash flooding in Indonesia has claimed almost 100 lives, and many more deaths are feared in Thailand after huge waves hit the popular tourist resort of Phuket. Government officials say Thailand's toll is already above 50.

At least 14 people are missing in Phuket, where witnesses described "walls of water" as high as 30 feet (10 meters), flooding the streets, absorbing taxi cabs and other vehicles.

One witness said Laguna Beach, where many of the island's major resort hotels are located, was "completely gone."

Thailand's government has evacuated 10,000 people from southern Thailand and declared a state of emergency. The death toll

Six deaths were also reported from Malaysia's Penang island.

The reports suggest the likely total death toll in the region is likely to exceed 1,000.

The quake prompted a series of powerful aftershocks and tidal waves in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia's Sumatra Island, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center.

The death toll has reached 94 in Indonesia's Aceh province after flooding from the earthquake hit the region, hospital and local officials told AP.

Malaysia's official Bernama news agency said a tsunami that struck Penang island killed six people.

The initial quake, measuring 8.5 in magnitude, struck off the western coast of Sumatra around 7 a.m. local time (7 p.m. ET) and was followed by at least six moderate to strong aftershocks in the following hours.

The 8.5 quake is the strongest temblor to hit since 1965, according to geophysicist Julie Martinez with the NEIC, which monitors worldwide earthquakes.

In Indonesia's restive Aceh province, early radio reports said nine people died in a flash flood following the earthquake.

"I saw four bodies of kids and five bodies of adults," one resident identified as Mustofa told El Shinta radio, agencies reported. But the toll quickly rose during the day to be near 100.

CNN correspondent Aneesh Raman in Bangkok said eye-witnesses spoke of a "wall of water" bearing down on the beachfronts of the popular resort of Phuket as at least two waves struck.

Raman said Thai officials were evacuating 10,000 people from the area, and there reportedly was "untold devastation".

In India, dead and missing were reported from three coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh state, Chief Secretary Mohan Kanda told reporters.

Te Indian prime minister's office told CNN that the toll was at least 100, while Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran said the figure was at least 300.

He said the missing fishermen were out in the sea when the tidal wave hit the area. "I have alerted the administration in nine of Andhra Pradesh's 23 districts," Kanda said, AP reported.

Thousands of people fled their homes in the Aceh provincial capital Banda Aceh when the tremor struck, the official Antara news agency said.

Residents in North Sumatra's capital, Medan, reported a strong tremor that caused panic among residents.

"It was quite strong. We ran out of our houses but we're now back inside," said one resident.

The tremor could be felt as far away as India, 1,400 kilometers from the quake center.

An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale rattled Indonesia's eastern Papua province in November, killing 29 people in the coastal town of Nabire.

Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire where plate boundaries intersect and volcanoes regularly erupt.

From: CNN

Vampires_Bite · 12-26-2004, 09:18 AM

Quake, tidal waves kill hundreds
December 27, 2004

A huge earthquake hit southern Asia today, setting off a tsunami that drowned hundreds in Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia and washed away bathers on the Thai tourist island of Phuket.

The earthquake of magnitude 8.5 as measured by the US Geological Survey struck about 8am (midday AEDT) off the coast of the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra and swung north with multiple tremors into the Andaman islands in the Indian Ocean.

A wall of water up to 10 metres high set off by the tremor swept into Indonesia, over the coast of Sri Lanka and India and along the southern Thai tourist island of Phuket, leaving at least 2000 people feared dead, officials said.

"Nothing like this has ever happened in our country before," said Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The earthquake was the world's biggest since 1965, said Julie Martinez, geophysicist for the US Geological Survey. "It is multiple earthquakes along the same faultline," she said.

The worst-hit area appeared to be the tourist region of Sri Lanka's south and east and the chairman of the John Keells hotel chain said five of his hotels had been badly flooded.

More than 1000 were feared dead in Sri Lanka.

"The army and the navy have sent rescue teams, we have deployed over four choppers and half the navy's eastern fleet to look for survivors," said military spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake.

An official in eastern Trincomalee said 3000 people had been displaced and six villages destroyed.

Along the southern Indian coast, at least 390 people were killed and many injured by a tsunami there, hospital and government officials said.

Officials said 400 fishermen were missing in south India.

The wave swept into the low-lying Maldive islands whose coral atolls are a magnet for tourists, flooding two-thirds of the capital Male, said chief government spokesman Dr Ahmed Shaheed.

"The damage is considerable. The island is only about three feet above sea level and a wave of water four feet high swept over us," he said.

"It is a very bad situation. It is terrible," he said.

"We have no communications with some of the outlying atolls. At this stage we fear the worst. We are trying to send boats to assess the damage, but our resources are stretched to the limit."

The world's worst tsunami in recent history struck on July 17, 1998, when three tsunamis ripped through Papua New Guinea's northwest coast, killing 2500.

As many as 94 people were killed today in Indonesia's Aceh province on northern Sumatra island.

"They were mostly drowned by the waves," Bireuen regency mayor Mustofa said by telephone, adding that hundreds of houses had been swept away.

Indonesia's geophysics and meteorology office put the epicentre of the earthquake at 150km off the southern coast of the island and said the earthquake measured 6.8 on the open-ended Richter scale.

"There was no warning and suddenly the sea water just hit the city," said Bustami, a resident of the Aceh coastal town of Lhokseumawe. "In some parts the water was up to a chest level.

"People are quite panicked now, some of us are walking by foot and others are on military trucks going to higher ground."

Residents said waves as high as five metres struck the northern coast, killing at least nine, causing widespread damage and sending thousands fleeing in panic.

Residents said buildings collapsed and people fled their houses.

Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire where plate boundaries intersect and volcanoes regularly erupt.

In the Thai tourist island of Phuket at least one person was killed, four were missing and 100 injured when the wave, five to 10 metres high, crashed onto beaches lined with luxury hotels at the peak of the tourist season.

"There was a very large ocean wave after the earthquake and about 100 people were injured," Suparerk Tansriratanawong, director general of Thailand's Meteorological Department, told Reuters.

More than 10 people were killed and 100 injured or missing in the southern Thai province of Phang Nga.

The prime minister called for the evacuation of areas hit by a tsunami wave in three southern provinces, including Phuket.

"I have ordered that rescue officials move people out of the risk area," Thaksin told reporters.

from The Age

Vampires_Bite · 12-26-2004, 09:22 AM

Two of my best friends were supposed to be in Phuket right now but they changed their plans because when they booked (spur of the moment) they forgot that they would miss my 21st birthday. I called one of them up, told her the news and she burst into tears.

Another one of my friends is from Sri Lanka, he is going crazy because there isn't a huge amount of info out yet.

I hope your friends are ok Gilmore be sure to keep us updated!!!

Wild Pikachu · 12-26-2004, 09:22 AM

The death toll is rising by the hour...when I first checked this story about six hours ago, they were talking about nine people dead (!!!)...three hours ago it was 700...now over 2,200. The magnitude is now being called at nearly 9, which is practically unheard of.

Quote:

Tidal Waves Kill More Than 2,200 in Asia

27 minutes ago World - AP Asia

By LELY T. DJUHARI, Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into villages and seaside resorts across Asia on Sunday, killing more than 2,200 people in five countries.

Tourists, fishermen, homes and cars were swept away by walls of water unleashed by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake, centered off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Government and hospital officials both in Sri Lanka and India said 1,000 people had been killed in each of those countries. More than 200 were reported killed in Indonesia, 61 in Thailand and 10 in Malaysia. Hundreds were reported missing, and the death toll was expected to rise.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was a magnitude-8.9. Geophysicist Julie Martinez said it was the world's fifth-largest since 1900 and the largest since a 9.2 quake hit Prince William Sound Alaska in 1964.

The effects of the quake reverberated throughout the region, as waves as high as 20 feet crashed into coastal villages over a wide area.

In Sri Lanka — some 1,000 miles west of the quake's epicenter — officials and hospital doctors said 1,000 people had died. They warned that the death toll was likely to rise. Military spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayake confirmed up to 500 had died. He said a higher toll would not surprise him.

A wall of water slammed into southern India, killing about 1,000 people, mostly in Tamil Nadu state, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said.

Hospital and local officials said the death toll on Indonesia's Sumatra island was 201 people.

Communications were down in several coastal towns facing the epicenter of the undersea quake off the western coast of the island's Aceh Province, raising fears of widespread and as yet unreported damage on the island.

Martinez blamed the tidal waves on the quake.

"This is not unusual occurrence for an earthquake this size and where it's located," said geophysicist Julie Martinez.

Gilmore Girl · 12-26-2004, 09:35 AM

Vampires_Bite Thanks and of course, I will.. The whole family watches CNN right now... So I'm sure they're the first who update the news

Oh and call me Sam

Wild Pikachu Thanks for the update

Wild Pikachu · 12-26-2004, 09:41 AM

The only thing I could find on the Maldives was a paragraph from cnn.com put up about 10 minutes ago:

"On the Maldives, at least three children were killed in the high waters on an island north of the capital, Male. An accurate death toll has not been assessed because communications to the outlying islands have been cut off, Foreign Minister Fathulla Jamil said."

None of the news channels is carrying anything live (too late, too far away, not enough flow of information). The only other thing I saw was a blurb on Foxnews (no, I'm a Democrat, but I was desperate) that "two-thirds of Maldives capital of Male is flooded."

Gilmore Girl · 12-26-2004, 09:55 AM

Thanks

But the problem is... They don't tell us which islands are overflown... Besides.. a few islands aren't even there anymore.. They were just splashed away and are now under water... It's so horrible

Vampires_Bite · 12-26-2004, 12:03 PM

Hey Sam, (I'm Stu BTW) i just found this... dont know if it is any real help though

Maldives capital flooded
December 26, 2004 - 7:45PM

Two-thirds of the Maldives capital was flooded today after a series of tsunami waves triggered by an earthquake swamped the low-lying Indian Ocean archipelago, the chief government spokesman said.

"The damage is considerable," Ahmed Shaheed said. "The island is only about three feet (one metre) above sea level and a wave of water four feet (1.3 metres) high swept over us."

Male, which is 2 km long and 800 metres wide and home to 75,000 people, is bursting at the seams.

The streets of white-washed houses are heavily built up, living conditions often cramped and areas of communal open space sparse for the country's 300,000 people.

"It is a very bad situation. It is terrible," Shaheed said after a tour of the capital.

He said the international airport was unusable, adding that President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom would shortly declare a national disaster and appeal for international assistance.

In a recent interview with Reuters, Gayoom said rising sea levels posed a great threat to the archipelago, a favourite tourist destination.

"We still face the threat of sea level rise," he said. "There is encroachment of the sea on many islands, there is erosion of our beaches.

"As you know it is the peak tourist season," Shaheed said.

"We are trying to get reports from those areas. The whole of the Maldives is a tourist area so we are just hoping and praying."

*Lauren · 12-26-2004, 12:24 PM

This is terrible, terrible.

Gilmore Girl · 12-26-2004, 01:06 PM

Thanks so much, Stu

It helps... it shows that they try to get more informations about the islands

The only thing is that we can hope... and pray...

***Jerry D*** · 12-26-2004, 02:08 PM

Gilmore Girl, I hope that your friends are okay. Man, what a horrrible tragedy! Nature can sure be cruel sometimes.

Wild Pikachu · 12-26-2004, 02:08 PM

MSNBC is now putting the toll at 7,000...

I got this from Haveeru Daily Online, the newspaper of the Maldives:

Quote:

Three dead, three missing in Maldives floods
26 December 2004

MALE, Dec 26 (HNS) -- Two children were dead and three children missing from Guraidhoo island in South Male atoll following the flooding caused by the tsunami which struck Maldives on Sunday morning.

This brings the death toll to three at the time of press. A British male tourist was reported dead from a heart attack from White Sand Beach resort at Dhidhoofinolhu island in South Ari atoll.

Ahmed Nimal, a resident of Guraidhoo, told Haveeru over telephone that the children died after caught in the swells which washed ashore into the island.

One of the bodies discovered were of a two-year-old boy. The missing are presumed dead, he said.

The wave was about five feet high, according to eye witnesses.

Residents who witnessed the swells sweeping towards them are still in shock.

“Many I met were in shock. It was as if the unthinkable had happened,” commented a reporter from Haveeru Daily who went photographing scenes of damage and destruction in the capital Male.

Adults and children swimming at the artificial beach at the time were swept on shore and they came to a halt only after striking the stage built there, witnesses said.

Coral boulders were swept inland near Lonuziyaaraiy Kolhu on the east coast and Boduthakurufaanu Magu on the southern coast, damaging bicycles, motorcycles, cars and other vehicles. A speedboat lay on Boduthakurufaanu Magu swept from the swells flooding the street from atop the tetra-pod seawall.

People near the petrol shed on the southern coast said that they saw four swells.

Various types of goods were seen floating on the streets after shops, the Local Market and homes were flooded. Pumpkins, coconuts and such were seen floating in the floods near the Presidential Palace and the Justice Ministry building.

Warehouses of Maldives Ports Authority, and the Customs Building were also flooded.

State Trading Organisation said that considerable foodstuff were destroyed when floods entered its warehouses. At STO’s food warehouse located at the southwest harbor in Male, staple foods such as rice, sugar and floor were stored.

Part of the wall of State Electric Company and the Maafannu Stadium lay fallen while on the northern coast of Male, the inner breakwater and part of the street in front of Bank of Ceylon had collapsed.

Security Officers and members of the public are trying to contain the floods by pumping out water into the sea and hoisting sand bags to prevent floods from going into homes, buildings and shops.

In nearby Hulhumale, people evacuated to the mosque after the apartment areas were flooded. They were to be evacuated to Male in the afternoon.

A woman said that she had gone to throw garbage and was coming home when she was caught in the swells.

“I nearly drowned,” she said, adding that she came to a stop near the apartment complexes.

A person from Hulhumale said that residents have been asked not to go into the apartment complexes.

In nearby Villingili, walls of buildings had fallen.

Vessels have been asked to leave the harbor of Male as there is possibility of more freak waves hitting the capital, officials said.

The tsunami which hit Maldives, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia and Thailand, were caused from a powerful earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale which hit Indonesia.

Sunday is the first anniversary of the earthquake hitting Bam, Iran, which killed more than 30,000 people.

P Y R O · 12-26-2004, 02:51 PM

Oh my... this is just so sad...

Gilmore Girl · 12-26-2004, 06:29 PM

Jerry D Thanks so much

Wild Pikachu Thanks for the update

gill_orlib13 I'm so sorry,.. I hope your friend is ok!

Lorna · 12-26-2004, 06:59 PM

I heard about this on the news earlier, it's awful! They already think about 4,500 people have been killed

I will keep the friends and relatives of people out there in my prayers. I hope all your loved ones are found safe.