Tsunami dead. Phuket - tsunami (2004): history and consequences

Many people remember the tsunami that swept through Southeast Asia in 2004, killing 400,000 people. This happened before the New Year and became a real disaster for local residents and vacationers. Here we remember the tragic events that occurred during tsunami in Thailand 2004 of the year.

Tsunami in Thailand 2004: how it happened

The cause of the super-powerful tsunami in Thailand was an earthquake in the Indian Ocean. As a result, 18 countries were affected by the wave. The underwater shock occurred on December 26 at 7.58 local time and went almost unnoticed. This led to huge casualties tsunami in Thailand 2004 of the year. After 2 hours, the first wave approached the Thai coast. The magnitude of the earthquake was 9.1 - 9.3 points (it was recognized as the 3rd most powerful in history), and the epicenter was only 160 km from Sumatra. As a result, some small islands moved as much as 20 meters, and the Earth’s rotation around its axis even slightly accelerated.

The height of the wave was 15 meters and washed away almost everything in its path: trees were torn out, buildings were destroyed, cars were washed away from parking lots, boats and larger vessels were thrown ashore. The water that flooded the beaches of Thailand, including the popular Patong, went several hundred meters deep onto the land, and in some places went 2 kilometers deep. 2004 Thailand Tsunami, which came the first time, washed away almost the entire infrastructure, but after that the wave returned twice more and completed the destruction.

2004 Thailand Tsunami: Devastation

Many escaped in the mountains, and those who did not make it climbed onto the roofs of hotels. The islands of Phuket, Phi Phi (the island was completely submerged), and the provinces of Krabi and Phangan were hit the hardest. About 8,500 people, citizens of 40 countries, died in Thailand.

The same wave reached India in 90 minutes, and reached the African coast in Somalia in 7 hours. Destruction was noted even in South Africa in Port Elizabeth. Even the state of Kerala in India, which is also known for its bloody rains, was affected, although it is located on the west coast and not the east. The total number of victims ranges from 250 to 300 thousand.

This tsunami in Thailand became the largest in 80 years and is among the TOP 10 most destructive in history.

Thailand is a beautiful and friendly country with its own flavor, history and interesting sights. The main source of income for this state is the tourism business, so everything here is equipped for an ideal holiday. World-famous Thai resorts such as Phuket, Pattaya, Phi Phi, Krabi and others receive more than a million tourists annually.

This amazing country could confidently be called paradise on earth, if not for one thing that reminds Thais and visitors from time to time. Tsunamis in Thailand are by no means a rare phenomenon, which makes travelers think about the question of whether it’s worth going to the resort at all in order to risk their lives, and when arriving, be constantly on the alert.

A tsunami occurs as a result of strong earthquakes underwater, the vibrations move a huge amount of water. In the open space, the waves gain enormous speed, rushing rapidly to the shore. The most dangerous seismological zones are located near Indonesia and the Philippines. It is from there that giant waves rush towards Thailand.

It should be noted that not the entire territory of the country is susceptible to natural disasters. Therefore, those traveling in the southern part of Thailand should be more wary. Access to the Gulf of Thailand is blocked by the Indochina Peninsula, so those who go on vacation to Koh Samet, Pattaya, Koh Kood should not worry.

The tsunami in Thailand mainly affects only the southern resorts. Since 2004, a national center for warning the population about natural disasters has been operating in the country. He began his work immediately after the terrible tragedy that struck the country. In 2004, the tsunami in Phuket killed more than 400 thousand people. Such a huge number of victims could have been avoided if people had been warned in advance.

Each tourist must take care of his own salvation. Since a tsunami in Thailand can occur at any time of the year, you need to keep your eyes open at all times. Cannot be completely ignored There may be announcements about the impending threat on local TV channels, newspapers or the Internet. That's why it's so important to always stay up to date.

Animals can also predict the approach of a tsunami in Thailand. They sense a threat in advance, begin to get nervous and run further into the mountains. The reaction of animals in the zoo is especially noticeable. In 2004, many people were saved thanks to the elephants they rode along the coast. The animals sensed the approaching tsunami in Thailand and ran to higher ground.

Another sure sign of an approaching natural disaster is a strong ebb of water. Perhaps, if people had paid attention to this in time, they would not have walked carelessly along the shore, but would have managed to move to a safe distance. The tsunami seems to absorb water, which is why the tide is observed, so that it can then strike with incredible force.

To save yourself from a tsunami, you must always be aware of events, listen to conversations, carefully follow the news and pay attention to warnings from local authorities. You should also look closely at natural phenomena, monitor the sea, and the habits of animals. At the slightest sign, you must immediately evacuate away from the shore to higher ground, without wasting a single minute.

In the history of mankind, December 26, 2004 was marked by a tragedy of enormous proportions, which brought a sea of ​​suffering to a huge number of people. At 00:58 UTC (07:58 a.m. local), a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 to 9.3 occurred in the depths of the Indian Ocean, near the Indonesian island of Simeulue. It gave rise to a series of rogue waves, which within a few hours brought terrible destruction to the shores of Asia, killing approximately 300 thousand people. Among the countries hit by the disaster was Thailand.

Start

On the most ordinary December morning, powerful tremors of the seabed led to the displacement of huge masses of water in the ocean. In the open sea, it looked like low, but stretching for thousands of kilometers water semicircles, rushing at incredible speed (up to 1000 km/h) to the shores of Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and even African Somalia. As the waves approached shallow water, they slowed down, but in some places acquired monstrous sizes - up to 40 meters in height. Like enraged chimeras, they carried an energy twice as high as the energy of all the explosions of the Second World War with the nuclear bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki inclusive.

At this time, residents and guests of the western coast of Thailand (Phuket, Krabi province and the surrounding small islands) began a very ordinary day. Some were in a hurry to go to work, some were still basking in a soft bed, and some had already decided to enjoy the sea. The tremors were practically unnoticeable, so no one, absolutely no one, suspected the impending mortal danger.

About an hour after the earthquake, strange phenomena began to appear on land at sea: animals and birds ran away in anxiety, the sound of the surf ceased, and the water in the sea abruptly left the shore. Intrigued, people began to go out to the shallow areas of the seabed to collect exposed shells and fish.

No one saw the approaching 15-meter wall of water, since it did not have a white crest, and for a long time visually merged with the surface of the sea. By the time she was noticed, it was already too late. Like an angry lion, the sea crashed onto the land with a roar and howl. With tremendous speed it carried streams of enraged water, crushing, tearing and grinding everything in its path.

The ocean traveled hundreds of meters inland, and in some places up to two kilometers. When his strength was exhausted, the movement of the water stopped, but only to rush back at the same speed. And woe to those who did not have time to take cover. At the same time, the danger was not so much the water itself, but what it carried. Huge pieces of soil, concrete and reinforcement, broken furniture, cars, advertising signs, broken high-voltage cables - all this threatened to kill, flatten and injure anyone who found themselves in the frantic flow.

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When the water left

After it was all over, a truly terrifying picture appeared to the survivors. It seemed that evil giants were playing terrible games here, moving huge objects and leaving them in the most unexpected places: a car in the hotel lobby, a tree trunk in a window or a swimming pool, a boat on the roof of a house, a hundred meters from the sea... Buildings that once stood on the shore and were almost completely destroyed. The streets turned into a hellish mess of fragments of furniture, mangled and overturned cars, shards of glass, broken wires and, worst of all, the bodies of dead people and animals.

Elimination of the consequences of the tsunami

Measures to eliminate the consequences of the tsunami began to be taken immediately after the water left. All military and police were mobilized, camps were organized for the victims with access to clean water, food and a place to rest. Due to the hot climate, the danger of outbreaks of infections associated with contamination of air and drinking water increased every hour, so the government and local population faced a tough task: to locate all the dead in the shortest possible time, identify them if possible and properly bury them. To do this, it was necessary to clear away the rubble all day long, without sleep or rest. Many governments around the world sent human and material resources to help the Thai people.

The total number of deaths on the shores of Thailand reached 8,500 people, 5,400 of whom were citizens of more than forty countries, a third of them were children. Later, after the governments of the affected states were able to assess the total damage, the 2004 tsunami was recognized as the deadliest ever known.

The earthquake that raised giant waves was so strong that it pierced our planet right through, causing ground vibrations of up to 3 mm in the United States. At the same time, such a mass of energy was released that the Earth changed its rotation, reducing the length of the day by 2.6 microseconds. Some small islands near Sumatra have shifted to the southwest by up to 20 meters.

Years after the tragedy

Next year will mark 10 years since the tragedy that claimed more than 300 thousand lives and brought grief and despair to even more people around the world. During this time, Thailand was able to recover and completely restore the affected areas. A year after the disaster, the issue of providing housing for those who lost a roof over their head was resolved.

New homes, especially on the coast, are now being built to specific specifications. Their design, materials and location will allow them to withstand the elements of the sea and, in the event of a threat, reduce casualties and destruction to a minimum.

But most importantly, Thailand has joined the international system of deep-sea tracking of the movement of masses of water in the ocean, with the help of which it is possible to predict the arrival of a tsunami in advance. On islands and cities where there is a possibility of giant waves, warning and evacuation systems have been created. Extensive educational work has been carried out to familiarize people with the rules of behavior in the event of a natural disaster.

On July 9, 1958, a strong earthquake triggered a giant landslide in Lituya Bay, southwest Alaska. Three hundred million cubic meters of soil, rock and ice then fell into the sea, raising a record-high wave in the entire history of tsunami observations. A wall of water 524 meters high moved at a speed of 160 km/h, blocking the sky and the sun, and hit Cenotaph Island, creating several more giant waves in the bay.

Today, the general phobia of a possible tsunami in Thailand has practically disappeared. Tourists flock to the shores of the kingdom with renewed enthusiasm and enjoy traveling around this amazing country. The coast now looks more beautiful than it was, and only signs with the rules of behavior in the event of danger remind of the tragedy of 2004. But this is only external. The elements left behind a huge number of broken human destinies. People will keep memories of the fear they experienced for a long time and grieve for those who can no longer be returned.

Almost all people have probably heard about the tsunami in Thailand in 2004, as it was the most destructive tsunami in history. The tsunami in Thailand in 2004 is best shown in films such as “Tsunami” (released in 2006) and “The Impossible” (released in 2012). These films talk about how destructive the tsunami was and how difficult it was to find your family and friends after this natural disaster.

What is a tsunami?
Tsunamis are large waves that are usually caused by an earthquake, explosion, or other event that displaces a large volume of water. In the open ocean, a tsunami is usually harmless and invisible to the naked eye. A huge wave can pass almost unnoticed until it reaches shallow waters off the coast. Near the shore, the wave can reach a height of up to 40 meters.

2004 tsunami in Thailand.
The 2004 tsunami, called the Indonesian Tsunami, was one of the worst natural disasters in human history. It was caused by an undersea earthquake with an estimated magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3 on the Richter scale, making it the third most powerful earthquake ever recorded.
The tsunami that followed the earthquake killed more than 230,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, left scores homeless and caused billions of dollars in damage.

Which regions of Thailand suffered the most?
Khao Lak was the worst hit area in Thailand. Here the water made its way from the shore to a distance of 1.5 km. After this tsunami, dolphins were discovered in one of the lakes, located about 1.5 km from the shore. The wave traveled this distance in about one minute. Only one hotel on the hill survived the disaster. The rest were badly damaged.
Phi Phi Don is an H-shaped island. To the east and west there are mountains of limestone that act as a giant wall that blocks the strong winds during the monsoon season. Both of these pieces of sushi are connected by a narrow isthmus.
The isthmus is surrounded on both sides by bays: Ton Sai in the south and Loh Dalam in the north. This isthmus is only 150 meters wide, but is crowded with bungalows and sightseers. The tsunami hit from both bays, so people simply had nowhere to run. The waves were much stronger in Loh Dalam Bay on the western side.
The Phi Phi Island Village Beach Resort and Spa was badly damaged because it was built on a site where there is no hill to block the tidal waves coming from the west.

The result of the tsunami arriving in Thailand.
The tsunami on the southwest coast of Thailand along the Andaman Sea wreaked death and destruction from the northern border with Burma to the southern border with Malaysia. The worst affected provinces in terms of loss of life and property destruction were Phang Nga, Phuket and Krabi. And this is not only because of their location, but because they were the most developed and most densely populated areas along the coast.
The large loss of life is explained by the fact that the tsunami occurred on the morning after Christmas, when many people were still in their homes or hotel rooms. At least 5,000 people have died in Thailand, almost half of them foreign tourists.
Much of Phuket's west coast was heavily damaged by the tsunami, with most homes, hotels, restaurants and other structures requiring significant repairs or restoration. Some areas, including Khao Lak, were almost completely destroyed by the waves.

Recovery after the tsunami.
Although Thailand suffered significant damage during the tsunami, it was able to rebuild all of its destroyed buildings and infrastructure fairly quickly compared to most other affected countries. When traveling to Phuket, Khao Lak and Phi Phi today, you will most likely not see traces or evidence that a tsunami occurred here.

Probability of a new tsunami.
Of course, there is a possibility of a new tsunami, since no one can guess how the earth’s crust will behave. However, earthquakes as strong as the one in 2004 are very rare (a similar earthquake was recorded in this region approximately 700 years ago). In addition, today there are new systems to detect the occurrence of a tsunami and warn people so that they have enough time to escape.

December 26, 2004 looked like an ordinary Sunday. At the beginning of this day, everyone was doing their usual things, including fishermen, Buddhist monks and doctors. Western tourists continued to celebrate an important holiday - Christmas, enjoying the warm tropical sun and blue ocean waters.

At 7:58 a.m. local time, a sudden seafloor rupture occurred 250 kilometers southeast of Banda Aceh, on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.

An underwater earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 provoked a rock shift of 1,200 kilometers, as a result of which parts of the bottom were displaced 20 meters upward and a new fault 10 meters deep opened.

This sudden movement released an incredible amount of energy, equivalent to approximately 550 million atomic bombs. When the seabed rose up, it caused a series of huge pulsations in the Indian Ocean and, as a result, a tsunami.

The people closest to the epicenter had some idea of ​​the unfolding disaster - after all, they felt the powerful earthquake and were forced to respond immediately. However, there were no official tsunami warnings.

Around 8:08 a.m., the sea suddenly retreated from the earthquake-ravaged shores of northern Sumatra. Then a series of four huge waves, the highest of which reached 24 meters, burst onto the shore.

As soon as the waves hit the shallow water, in some places they began to turn into even larger monsters, up to 30 meters high.

Seawater rushed inland, clearing large areas of Indonesia's coastline of structures and claiming an estimated 168,000 lives.

An hour later the waves reached Thailand; Still unaware of the danger, about 8,200 people were swept under the tsunami waters, including 2,500 foreign tourists.

The waves crossed the low-lying Maldives, killing 108 people there, before racing towards India and Sri Lanka, where another 53,000 died in the hours after the quake. The height of the waves was about 12 m.

Seven hours later, a tsunami hit the coast of East Africa. However, local authorities were unable to warn residents of the impending danger. Energy from the earthquake killed between 300 and 400 people along Africa's Indian Ocean coast, with most deaths concentrated in the Puntland region of Somalia.

In total, as a result of these tragic events in 2004, between 230 and 260 thousand people died. This earthquake was the third largest since 1900, after the Great Chile Earthquake in 1960 (magnitude 9.5) and the Great Alaska Earthquake in 1964 (magnitude 9.2); both of these earthquakes also produced killer tsunamis in the Pacific basin.

The Indian Ocean tsunami is considered the deadliest in recorded history.

Why did so many people die on December 26, 2004?

Densely populated coastal areas and the lack of information about the approaching disaster led to such horrific consequences. Because tsunamis are much more common in the Pacific Ocean, it is surrounded by instruments warning of the danger. Although the Indian Ocean is seismically active, it lacked a warning system despite its densely populated and low-lying coastal areas.

It is possible that the vast majority of victims of the 2004 tsunami could not be saved. Ultimately, the greatest death toll was in Indonesia, where people were hit by a massive earthquake and had only minutes to find elevated shelter to protect them from the threatening giant wave.

However, more than 60,000 people in other countries could have been saved; they had at least an hour to move away from the shoreline. In subsequent years, starting in 2004, authorities in various countries worked hard to improve the Indian Ocean tsunami warning system. It is hoped that timely notification will save many lives in the future.

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