The tsunami in Thailand how many Russians died. Devastating earthquake and tsunami in Southeast Asia (2004)

The New Year's bustle of 2004 was overshadowed by a terrible disaster - the tsunami in Thailand, which claimed the lives of thousands of people and became the deadliest and most destructive in modern history. The cause of this tragedy was a powerful underwater earthquake that occurred on December 26 at the deep bottom of the Indian Ocean.

According to experts, the magnitude of the tremors ranged from 9.0 to 9.3 on the local Richter scale, which led to the formation of huge waves that brought enormous and irreparable damage, troubles and suffering, deprivation and the bitterness of loss in a short time.

2004 Thailand Tsunami

The day on the West Coast and nearby islands began normally, many people were rushing to work, vacationers were basking on the beaches in the morning sun, and no one could even think about the impending mortal threat. Before the terrible tsunami in Thailand in 2004, this phenomenon was extremely rare in these parts, which is probably why extreme carelessness and ignorance played a fatal role in this tragedy.

The epicenter of the earthquake was located near the island of Sumatra; at 7:58 a.m. local time, two tectonic plates – Indian and Burmese – collided, resulting in a displacement of one of them by 18 meters.

A sharp change in the position of the 1200-kilometer platform caused a huge drop in the huge volume of water masses. In just a few minutes, there was a critical rise in the water level to the western part of the plate fault, which led to tragic consequences and caused the 2004 tsunami in Thailand.

Catastrophe

Despite the powerful underwater tremors, the earthquake was practically not felt on land. Only an hour later the first signs of trouble began to appear: birds flew away screaming, animals hid and also strove away from the shore, the sound of the surf began to subside, and the water began to quickly recede from the beaches, revealing the seabed.

Instead of being wary, many vacationers rushed to the vacated areas to replenish their collections of shells and collect fish. No one even noticed the high wave that appeared on the horizon, since, without a white cap, it was practically invisible against the background of the sea surface.

A tsunami generated by vertical shocks of the ocean floor has one peculiarity. Passing through deep-sea areas, this wave looks like harmless small tubercles, which at the same time rush at very high speed. Approaching the shore, it begins to slow down sharply, forming a huge wall of water with powerful energy potential.

1100 km continental plate has moved forward by as much as 18 meters

A similar tsunami occurred in Phuket in 2004 and on the coast of Thailand. With a wild howl and growl of a wounded predator, thousands of tons of water suddenly fell on the coastal land and rushed with crazy speed to destroy and break everything in their path.

The energy of the water was so great that in some places the ocean deepened into the land up to several kilometers. In Patong, at the moment of impact of a relatively “small” wave of 3-5 meters, a speed of about 500 km per hour was recorded.

When the forces of the elements were exhausted, the water stopped, but after a short period of time, with no less swiftness, it rushed back. And now, for the people who were escaping, in addition to the frenzied water currents, the danger was posed by everything that the wave carried back to the sea. Trees, pieces of metal structures, concrete, vehicles, furniture - all of these presented deadly traps for the few survivors.

Today on the Internet you can find eyewitness videos about the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, the footage of which shows all the horror and hopelessness of the rampant natural disaster.

Consequences

After the deadly wave subsided, a sad and depressing picture appeared before the eyes of the survivors. It seemed that nuclear military tests had taken place on the site of the recently prosperous resort, which wiped out almost all buildings near the shore from the face of the earth. Large coastal hotels were dilapidated skeletons of iron structures, furniture and interior items turned into heaps of small splinters. The streets were filled with piles of rubbish made up of wood and concrete debris, broken glass, mangled vehicles, poles with downed wires and, worst of all, human and animal bodies.

Shock and horror did not allow the survivors to come to their senses, comprehend the disaster that had happened, and leave the terrible place after the first water left. Perhaps then there would have been fewer victims, since the rogue wave returned two more times. As a result of this triple blow, the death toll from the tsunami in Thailand alone numbered in the tens of thousands, and in all of Indonesia in the hundreds.

Mitigation measures

When the water finally receded, local authorities quickly joined the fight to eliminate the destructive effects of the tsunami. Special camps were quickly organized for victims of the disaster, where psychological and material assistance, drinking water and food were provided. Hundreds of mobilized military personnel, volunteers and local police kept order, helped search for survivors and clear away the rubble.

The hot climate and destroyed sewage system could provoke outbreaks of various infections, so the first priority was to locate the dead, possible identification and burial. Many countries contributed to solving this problem by sending everything necessary to eliminate the consequences: people, equipment, materials and humanitarian aid.

Thailand recovered relatively quickly and recovered from the devastating disaster. It has now joined an international system designed to detect deadly waves early and mitigate their effects in the Indian Ocean. It was successfully tested during a tsunami threat in 2012, then all warning systems were activated and a complete evacuation of tourists and the population was carried out.

Now tourism in Thailand is thriving, tourists from all over the world, forgetting about fears of a tsunami, go on vacation to this amazing country; only posters with rules of conduct in case of natural disasters remind of the 2004 tragedy.

On December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean with a magnitude of about 9.0 (the third most powerful ever recorded) caused a catastrophic tsunami. The quake released energy comparable to the 23,000 atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima, according to the US Geological Survey. It had the greatest power in the last 40 years. The effects of the 2004 tsunami on Phuket were devastating.
A tsunami is actually a series of waves that rush forward at the speed of a jet plane, with some waves being up to 30 meters high. The 2004 tsunami came to Phuket very quickly. Indonesia was hit the hardest, but high waves reached the shores of Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. As a result, more than 230 thousand people died, and millions of survivors were left homeless. The tsunami even reached the coast of East Africa, where it also killed several people and caused significant damage to property.
In Thailand, the 2004 tsunami affected the entire Andaman coast, including Phuket and Khao Lak, which were the worst hit. The death toll in Khao Lak is estimated at more than 4,000 people, but some estimates put the death toll in the area as high as 10,000. The fact is that due to an inaccurate census and confusion in the days after the tsunami, the true numbers remained unknown.
How many people died in the 2004 tsunami in Phuket? The death toll in Phuket is estimated at around 1,000 people, although various sources give figures ranging from 900 to 2,000 people. Why did such a popular resort area have a lower death toll during the 2004 tsunami than the less popular Khao Lak? Most likely, this is explained by the presence of multi-storey hotels in Phuket, in which many people escaped. In Khao Lak, hotels at that time consisted mainly of low bungalows that could not withstand the angry waters.

Which beaches were affected by the tsunami in Phuket

Wave height of the 2004 tsunami in Phuket

How those killed during the tsunami in Phuket were buried

Phuket after the 2004 tsunami

As the waters receded, Phuket and Phang Nga province used almost all of the region's elephants to move heavy loads and clear roads. These animals were of great help in finding survivors and dead.
The economic impact of the 2004 tsunami on Phuket was significant. Tourism, which was one of the main sources of income for the island, was hit the hardest, as most hotels were destroyed or seriously damaged. The fishing industry was also hit hard by the loss of fishing vessels, trawlers, and gear, most of which fishermen could not afford to replace. In addition, many fishermen lost their homes. But it was not all troubles for the fishing industry, as the tsunami destroyed many piers and fish processing facilities. The fishermen who were able to start working again were faced with the following problem - local traders refused to buy fish, because the local population believed that the caught fish fed on the human flesh of the victims who were swept out to sea by the tsunami. For local residents it was a spiritual issue, although possible health problems were also a concern. Since local residents stopped consuming fish caught near Phuket, many traders began to buy fish caught in the Gulf of Thailand or imported from Vietnam, Malaysia or other countries.
Although Phuket was one of the worst hit areas in 2004, the island recovered quite quickly from the disaster. According to initial estimates, the restoration of this popular tourist area was supposed to take ten years, but after a year there were almost no traces of the tsunami left on the island. For example, in Patong, 6 months after the disaster, only a few “scars” could be noticed.
Today, being in Phuket, you can hardly imagine that just a few years ago this island experienced a devastating tsunami. Only the Evacuation Route signs remind of the 2004 tragedy.

Monument to Tsunami Victims in Phuket

Another reminder of this tragedy is the monument to the victims of the tsunami, which is installed on Kamala Beach. This monument was built to commemorate the Tsunami Day that devastated the western coast of Phuket in 2004. The Phuket Tsunami Monument is located opposite the Print Kamala Resort, near the center of Kamala Beach. The monument is a metal sculpture called "The Heart of the Universe". Every year on the anniversary of the tsunami, ceremonies are held here with prayers and wreath-laying.

Probability of a tsunami in Phuket

Where in Phuket to escape the tsunami

Films about the tsunami in Phuket

Could a tsunami hit Pattaya?

A considerable number of tourists are concerned about the question: is it possible to become a victim of a tsunami off the coast of Thailand and specifically in their beloved Pattaya? The annual news from the Philippines and other paradises about the destructive power of the elements is upsetting and forces you to keep your ears open. The “Foreign” portal decided to play it safe: we went to a meeting with Pattaya meteorologists who monitor the state of the sea day and night

Geography lesson

First, let's remember the school geography course and look carefully at the map of Thailand. What do we see? From the west, its coast is washed by the Andaman Sea, which is part of the Indian Ocean, and from the east by the waters of the Gulf of Thailand, which belongs to the Pacific Ocean. The main source of underwater earthquakes that lead to tsunamis is located in the Indian Ocean. Thus, a destructive wave can only affect the western coast of Thailand, where the resorts of Phuket and Phi Phi are located, and will not affect the eastern coast, on which Pattaya is located, at all. This means that Pattaya is definitely not threatened by a tsunami: it is reliably protected from sea disasters by the Gulf of Thailand. In addition, it is not very deep, so you can forget about high waves. Their maximum height at the resort is one to two meters.

Weather forecast

The risk of a tsunami in Pattaya is minimal, say meteorologists Pupa and Blue, who work at the local weather station. Weather conditions are monitored around the clock. True, the main attention is paid to the amount of precipitation, wind direction and temperature indicators. Nobody worries about a tsunami here: according to station workers, Pattaya is located far from seismically dangerous areas.

Well, what if suddenly? For this “suddenly” the weather station has a special seismic system. Now it is closed with an impressive castle and carefully fenced. However, meteorologists themselves have never seen it in action.We won't burden you with technical details. Just know that there is some sort of transmitter located under the sturdy cover. If a tsunami occurs, it will report it to the central office in Bangkok and then transmit orders from there to local services. And they, in turn, will carry out a quick evacuation of the population and meet the elements fully armed.

To find out more, you can visit the weather station yourself and ask local weather forecasters. Who, by the way, wear skirts and run a mini-kennel for animals at work. Weather station p located on a hill Pratamnak Andopen to visitors daily from 8:00 to 16:00.

Alert system

The devastating tsunami of 2004 opened the eyes of the Thai authorities to the fact that there was no disaster warning system in the country. This gap was quickly corrected by creating a special tsunami detection system in the Indian Ocean in 2006. In the event of underwater disturbances, it will instantly transmit information to a tower located on

This year will be 15 years since the tragedy that occurred on December 26. 230,000 dead in fourteen countries, one of the deadliest natural disasters ever to occur.
The 2004 Thailand tsunami will never be forgotten, but there is so much misrepresentation and fiction surrounding this tragedy that it is worth sorting out what is true and what is an outright lie. How many people died and why did the tsunami occur in Thailand? Could this happen again? How dangerous is it to go on holiday to Thailand?

What caused the 2004 Thailand tsunami?

The 20014 tsunami in Thailand was indeed caused by the largest and deadliest earthquake in history.
The power of the earthquake was estimated at 9.3 on the Richter scale. The cause of the earthquake, which caused a tsunami in several countries, was the collision of two tectonic plates: the Burmese and Indian plates off the coast of Sumatra.
The underwater-mega-prospective-earthquake caused the rupture of plates and the emergence of waves as high as a 5-10 storey building.

Was it possible to predict it? It is possible, but in those parts there was no warning equipment yet and it is quite possible to assume that the number of deaths if the rules were followed could be reduced several times.

Tectonic plates have been resting against each other for many years and one should have passed over the other, but instead it moved head-on and a plate shift of 19 meters occurred, which caused a fault and the displacement of millions of tons of water, which caused the tsunami.

Tsunami of “Christmas gifts”

“Tsunami at Christmas” is how the public called the tragedy that happened exactly on the Catholic Christmas holidays.

Within a few hours from the start of the earthquake, a series of waves up to 30 meters high caused a tsunami, which seriously affected residents of 7 countries: India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Malaysia, Thailand.

Death toll from the 2004 tsunami:

India - 730,000 people
Indonesia - 572,926 people
Sri Lanka - 516,150 people
Maldives - 11,231 people
Malaysia - 8,000 people
Thailand - 8000 people
Myanmar - 3200 people

And this is not counting the people who are still listed as missing. Due to the fact that the dead spent a long time in the water, many simply could not be identified.

In the scientific community, the event that we know as the tsunami in Thailand was called the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake.

Tsunami in Thailand 2004 - how it happened

December 26, 2004 in Thailand began as an ordinary morning. Some were in a hurry to go to work, others were going to the beach, there were no signs of trouble. According to eyewitnesses of that day, at about 7 a.m. people felt tremors, and it became clear that an earthquake had occurred. But since it was short-lived, no one paid much attention to it.

The most powerful waves in history took about two hours to reach the shores of Thailand and hit the country's west coast.

The first were the Similan Islands. A famous diving site where diving enthusiasts from all over the world gather. Eyewitness divers were the first to know about the tsunami, since at depth the waves behaved in such a way that the person was as if inside a huge washing centrifuge.

The island of Khao Lak took the biggest hit. It suffered the largest wave impact, which literally swept away all the bungalows and hotels standing on the shore. Due to the topography of the seabed, coastline and coastal reefs, the tsunami waves created the infamous "disappearing sea effect" that lured many tourists to their deaths.

The tsunami looked like this: the water suddenly went far into the depths and exposed the seabed. Many tourists ran to look at fish, sea creatures and collect strange shells.
By the time the waves became visible, it was already too late. There were only 1-3 minutes left before they fell; it was impossible to escape.

Among those killed on Khao Lak was the grandson of the King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadette, which once again confirms the fact that even the Thai authorities were not aware of the impending tragedy. Hundreds of people were simply washed away into the sea, and then thrown onto nearby houses, hotels, and barriers with a powerful blow.

Photos and videos of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand

Video dedicated to the tsunami in Thailand 2004

Photos of eyewitnesses of the tsunami in Thailand:

People flee as a tsunami wave hits the shore of Koh Raya island, part of Thailand's Andaman Islands, 23 kilometers from Phuket island, southern Thailand, December 26, 2004. The photographer who took this photo escaped without injury, but fell back into the first wave and watched as the second wave tore through wooden buildings while the third and largest wave came forward and "teared apart cement buildings as if they were made of balsa wood."

On December 26, 2004, waves hit Maddampegham, 60 kilometers (38 miles) south of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Tsunami waves caused by earthquakes hit villages along Sri Lanka's wide coastline, killing more than 35,300 people

An aerial view of Marina Beach after the tsunami caused by the Indian Ocean earthquake struck the southern Indian city of Madras on December 26, 2004.

File photo taken on January 5, 2005 in the devastated area of ​​Banda Aceh in Aceh Province, located on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia after the powerful tsunami on December 26, 2004

Thailand Tsunami 2004 in Phuket

Contrary to popular rumors, Phuket was the least affected of all the provinces in Thailand. Less destruction, fewer deaths. There were seaside villages in Thailand where 80% of the inhabitants died, but Phuket was not one of them.

About 250 people, according to official data, died from the tsunami in Phuket, including foreign tourists. Of course there were many more casualties. Many received lacerated wounds filled with dirt and branches. Residents suffered from a lack of water, medicine and timely medical assistance.

Approximately east of Phuket, 80 km, the consequences were much more serious: 3,950 deaths were confirmed, and on Khao Lak more than 4,500. This is due to the fact that, unlike the highlands of Phuket, in the resort of Khao Lak there are almost no hills where one could shelter from the elements.

Why didn’t many people have time to evacuate?

The fact is that a tsunami of this magnitude has never happened in Thailand in modern history. 30-meter waves that came ashore at speeds of up to 1000 km/h merged with the horizon and were simply not visible, since they had no white crest.

People simply did not understand what happened, and only a few managed to escape during the wave’s impact.

There were several wave impacts, and enormous damage was caused by the low tide, which dragged everything into the sea: concrete structures, reinforcement, cars and houses. All this mixed together created a mortal threat to people caught in this mess.

The waves that caused the most damage were slow, steep and dense. This is because the sea around Thailand's west coast is relatively shallow, which has slowed down the waves significantly.

The tsunami hit six provinces of Thailand. The final death toll was 5,395, of whom 1,953 were considered foreigners. Another 2,929 people were listed as missing. An estimated 2,000 people were killed in the fishing village of Ban Nam Khem. The village lost half of its inhabitants.

Thailand was in the middle of the tourist season. There were hundreds of thousands of foreigners in the country. The hotels were filled with foreigners. In many places the sea receded a great distance before the largest waves struck. When the water came out, many thought it had something to do with the moon.

Bill O'Leary, an employee at the Amanuri resort, knew this was a sign of a tsunami. He is credited with saving dozens of lives by warning people to flee inland before the waves arrived. But others were killed because they had no idea what was happening.

Here's what the New York Times reported in those days: “Once crowded beach resorts are littered with bodies. Near the devastated beach and spa resort of Similan, where mostly German tourists stayed, a naked corpse is suspended from a tree, as if crucified."

Many coral reefs were destroyed by the tsunami. Powerful waves hit hundreds of sea reefs. Tsunami debris littered natural areas. The green turtle washed up nearly a mile offshore and deposited in a pond north of Phuket. Some people in boats rescued survivors thrown out to sea.

What happened after?

In Thailand, the entire country came to the aid of the victims by clearing away garbage, evacuating those left homeless and helping the wounded.

Royal elephants were brought in to clear large debris, 6 of which starred in the Hollywood film “Alexander.”
An interesting fact: during a tsunami, an elephant saved the life of a girl who was riding on it on the shore. The animal sensed danger and rushed towards the mountains, which saved the tourist’s life.

There was also some looting.

Inhumans (they cannot be called otherwise), taking advantage of the general panic and confusion, stole children who were disoriented and could not find loved ones. There are known facts of the sale of babies abroad and the recruitment of children into sexual slavery.

They stole houses, inns, hotels and whatever else they could steal using the opportunity. Unfortunately, tragedy not only unites, but also divides people. “Nobody’s” property makes your head go crazy.

Consequences of the tsunami in Thailand

The consequences of the tsunami were simply catastrophic not only for Indonesia, India, Myanmar and Malaysia, but also for Thailand.

Tourists abandoned their things and took off on the first flight, trust in Thai resorts was completely undermined, and given that the tsunami happened at the height of the tourist season, in December, Thailand suffered billions in losses.

It took years to restore trust and many actions to bring tourists back to the islands.

The first thing the authorities did was install the most powerful deep-sea tsunami warning system. The siren begins to howl and notify about the approach of waves 1-2 hours before the incident. It was already tested on April 11, 2012, when in just an hour it was possible to evacuate absolutely all the residents of Phuket to the mountains.
Residents of smaller islands such as Phi Phi also have nothing to worry about. And there everything is prepared for evacuation, fortunately the mountains are of such a size that no waves are scary.

Thousands of Thais dependent on tourism-related industries have lost their jobs not only in the south but also in the poorest part of Thailand, Isan in the northeast, where many tourism industry workers come from.

By January 12, some of the affected resorts in the south had reopened and the Thai government began a promotional campaign to bring tourists back to the area as soon as possible, although everyone knew it would be quite some time before Thailand was back to normal. (it took almost 5 years).

Damage and losses from the 2004 tsunami in Thailand

The fishing industry suffered from extensive destruction of fishing vessels and gear that individual fishing families could not afford to replace, especially as many also lost their homes.
According to information, more than 500 fishing vessels and ten trawlers were destroyed, as well as many piers and fish processing plants. Again, grants or loans from the government were needed to allow industry to retool itself.
Ridiculous losses

Another problem was the public aversion in Thailand to eating locally caught fish, due to fears that the fish were eating human corpses that were thrown into the sea by the tsunami.
The Thais found this possibility offensive for both health and religious reasons.
Fisheries distributors refused to buy fish and crustaceans from Andaman Sea ports and preferred to buy from Gulf of Thailand ports or even Malaysia or Vietnam so that they could reassure consumers that there was no likelihood of such contamination.
As a result, even those fishing families who could catch fish were unable to sell their catch.
Things got better after World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Lee Jong-wook appeared on Thai television to say he eats fish every day.

About a month after the tsunami, the Thai Cabinet approved a $1.79 billion tsunami relief bill.

Most of the money was in the form of soft loans to rebuild the business. Some of the money was in the form of grants to people who lost relatives and property in the disaster.

Could Thailand experience another tsunami?

Maybe. The countries closest to Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, and Malaysia, are shaking almost constantly.

Modern warning systems will not allow deaths and casualties, as people will be evacuated in time. But! If, in principle, you are not keen on the idea of ​​relaxing on a coastline with high seismic activity, then you should choose resorts located in the Gulf of Thailand, for example: Pattaya, Rayong, Samet Island, Hua Hin, Cha Am or Koh Larn Island.
They are protected from tsunamis by the Malacca Peninsula and Vietnam and Cambodia.
The maximum that can happen here is the Mekong or Chao Phraya River overflowing its banks, which does not pose a mortal danger.

How to act during a natural disaster?

1 - Collect all necessary things, documents, drinking water, keep children nearby

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3 - do not go down until the cataclysm has completely passed, since the first wave is not always the strongest

Text: Alexander Ivanov
Photo: Vladimir Smolyakov

The ocean is never completely calm. The waves roll towards the shore in an endless series, reluctantly lick the beach and dissolve in the endless expanse of water. The uniform rustling of the waves and the incomparable smell of the sea are factors that have had a philosophically calming effect on people since time immemorial... And when the FIRST WAVE appeared (it was only two times higher than the others), almost no one noticed it. Another two hours later, the SECOND WAVE arrived, flooding the beaches for about fifty meters and washing away some of the vacationers’ belongings (which caused a playful commotion). And then the sea began to recede, exposing the bottom. Over the next two and a half hours, the coastline moved seven hundred meters deeper into the ocean. Curious, but apparently not very educated people wandered through the shallows in joyful excitement, collecting shells and small fish. All this continued until the THIRD WAVE arrived...

The observable history of mankind (we naively believe that we know almost everything about this period) goes back several thousand years. By human standards this is a lot, but by cosmic or geological standards it is not even a moment. Take dinosaurs for example. According to rough estimates by scientists, these monsters died 65 million years ago! So, the human brain is simply not able to comprehend such a gap in time. Human memory in general is surprisingly short, and our children perceive the monstrous cataclysms of the 20th century as something prehistoric. But the Second World War ended only 60 years ago, and witnesses are still alive...

Retrospective

The European man in the street is spoiled. All disasters and wars have moved away in time or, at worst, in space. Well, tell me, who living today remembers the word “Krakatoa”? Yes, practically no one. In general, we are all overwhelmingly confident that there will be enough planetary comfort and tranquility for our age...

After the terrible disaster that befell South Asia, we are beginning to clearly understand: humanity in general and its specific representatives in particular are not immune from anything. Are the Indian and other oceans far away? Do you know that there are also faults in the Caspian Lake (in 1895, a wave caused by an earthquake in the Caspian Sea completely flooded the coastal village of Uzun-Ada)? And, if it shakes more violently under its serene surface, it will flood not only Iran and Azerbaijan, but also, for example, Astrakhan. It's getting closer, isn't it?

By the way, our brother journalist hastened to dub the tsunami that swept across southern Asia “the biggest disaster in the entire history of mankind.” But this, to put it mildly, is not true. Do you know what the aforementioned Krakatoa is? And this is just a small volcanic island in Indonesia. So, it smoked for centuries, smoked, and sometimes erupted. And in 1883 Krakatoa exploded. The result is terrible - an ocean wave 20 meters high and 36,000 victims! Who remembers? But not even a century and a half has passed. That's it...

Or an example of another kind. In 1931, the Yangtze River flooded. At least 3,000,000 people died from floods, famine and epidemics (no, no, you counted the zeros correctly, exactly three million)! Nobody moved: firstly, they were Chinese, and secondly, it was too far away. But you can find sad examples closer... 1201, Mediterranean Sea. The earthquake claimed more than a million human souls in Syria and Egypt. But for a planet, 800 years is not a long time, and geological processes under the Mediterranean continue.

The wave, which struck the coasts of Portugal, Spain and North Africa in 1775, killed more than 70,000 people. But these, so to speak, are our “internal” tsunamis, that is, tsunamis caused by the activities of our planet. And there are also “cosmic” tsunamis caused by collisions with meteorites. Thus, a cobblestone measuring about 10 kilometers in diameter once landed in the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), forming a funnel 30 kilometers deep. North America has burned to the ground, and we can only guess about the height of the waves. A little (on a geological scale) later, a cosmic rock hit the Pacific Ocean closer to Antarctica. Here you can guess more specifically about the height of the wave. For example, from the remains of living organisms thrown up by a tsunami to a height of several hundred meters (Andes). Can you imagine such a smell? Me not. And I don't want to. But, whatever one may say, it is still exotic. And space rocks from Earth are rare. But “home” tsunamis happen dozens of times a year. So what is this phenomenon?

Modern science says that a tsunami is a special type of wave of non-storm origin, most often caused by an underwater earthquake. The distance between the wave crest and the trough in the open sea can be hundreds of kilometers, and the height is no more than a meter. They are practically safe for navigation (a ship may simply not notice such a wave). But tsunamis in the open sea consume their energy quite slowly and can spread over very long distances. When the wave reaches shallow water, and even more so enters a narrow area (bay, bay, harbor), it turns into that very monster - a wall of water up to several tens of meters high. Actually, “tsunami” is a Japanese word and means nothing more than “a wave in the harbor.” The Japanese know what they are saying: they have water all around them, and seismically active zones are “nearby”... On June 15, 1896, in the Sanriku region, in the late afternoon, residents felt tremors. People lived by the sea and understood how this could turn out, so they rushed to the mountains. But since nothing happened, they returned after a while, and when they returned, they saw that the sea had moved away from the shore... It was too late to escape, and seven 35-meter waves leveled three provinces (800 kilometers of coastline). 27,000 victims. But note: the fishermen who were at sea at that time simply did not notice anything...

Third wave

And then came December 26, 2004... An earthquake (the strongest in forty years in this area) occurred under the waters of the Pacific Ocean along a fault line off the coast of the island of Sumatra and caused vertical (both up and down) displacements of the ocean floor. Its area was 1,200 kilometers long and approximately 100 kilometers wide.

The energy released during this process was monstrous, but only one percent was used to form the actual waves. But that was enough. Yes, in the open sea the wave height did not exceed 60 centimeters, but at the same time the water shaft had a speed of 800 kilometers per hour! And since the fault ran approximately from north to south, the tsunami waves ran in a perpendicular direction - to the west and to the east. To the east were the islands of Sumatra (Indonesia) and Thailand, to the west were India and Sri Lanka. These are the countries that suffered the most.

What do experts advise to do when a tsunami occurs? A natural signal of the possibility of a tsunami is an earthquake. Before the arrival of a wave, the water usually recedes far from the shore, exposing the seabed for hundreds of meters (and sometimes several kilometers), and this ebb can last from minutes to hours. The movement of the waves itself can be accompanied by thunderous sounds that are heard long before the tsunami approaches (as, for example, it happened in Japan in 1895). And yet, we are openly distrustful of the “anti-wave” measures recommended by some experts, including such advice as climbing onto roofs and hiding under... dining tables (this is not fiction, the author read this with his own eyes!)...

To warn people about danger, a warning system is needed. There is simply no such thing in the Indian Ocean yet. But in Quiet, on the contrary, an international warning system has existed for a long time, and it, in particular, includes the eastern coast of Thailand...

Today, the “wave” warning system is capable of notifying about danger 3-14 hours in advance. But since there were no wave sensors installed in the region (seismologists simply registered a strong earthquake), it was not possible to determine the direction of the tsunami. The only "wave" station south of the epicenter recorded a tsunami of less than two feet in height moving towards Australia.

The waves also hit the beaches of resorts on the west coast of Thailand. Yes, Thailand is part of the international tsunami warning system, but there are no wave sensors on its west coast (they are installed on buoys in the ocean). The northern tip of the earthquake was localized near the Andaman Islands, and the waves went east, towards the Thai resort of Phuket. It happened on Sunday morning, when people were just waking up. The magnitude 9 quake sent walls of water as tall as a two-story house moving west across the Bay of Bengal, hitting coastal communities. A few hours after the earthquake, a series of strong tremors also occurred in Sumatra. Scientists say the earthquake began on a fault line in the deep ocean off the coast of Sumatra and then spread north and south, reaching the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the north between India and Myanmar. Apparently, the seafloor was deformed along the entire length of this fault.

And when the water went away...

Even if we remember that exactly a year before the current disaster (December 26, 2003), an earthquake in the province of Kerman (Iran) claimed more than 40,000 human lives, all the same, what happened in the Indian Ocean basin is truly monstrous. 230,000 deaths almost simultaneously - humanity has not encountered anything like this for a long time. But never from a tsunami. In this sense, this is truly the greatest disaster in history.

The fighters of the airmobile rescue squad of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations had to fly into this nightmare. It must be said that Tsentrospas employs people who have traveled all over the continents. They were in Turkey and Taiwan, Colombia and India. But they had never seen anything like this either. 12 hours after receiving news of the disaster, the detachment was transferred by transport Il-76 to Sri Lanka to an airfield near the capital of the island, Colombo. The squad members were ready to begin rescue work immediately, but then the notorious “human factor” intervened. It's no secret that on our planet, in addition to natural factors, unfortunately, there are also political factors at work. And South Asia is not a paradise at all (separatism is in full bloom there). Thus, in the Indonesian province of Aceh, rescue efforts were hampered by the actions of rebels demanding... of course, independence. Moreover, they were difficult to such an extent that the authorities initially refused to let anyone in at all. It's the same in Sri Lanka.

With civil war raging across the country, the Sri Lankan government could not guarantee the safety of our people. For this reason, our leadership, in turn, did not give permission to move into the emergency zone, as a result of which only a few days later our rescuers were able to move to the north of the island in the direction of the cities of Lavinia and Moratura. The so-called Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) operate in the north and northeast of the country. And the authorities for a long time did not dare to let our rescuers into these territories. Well, when permission was finally received, the detachment moved further north towards the city of Halle. Along the way, we had to dismantle destroyed roads, work on rubble, and cut concrete blocks. But since by this time there was practically no one to save, the main burden fell on the doctors. There were four of them, and each provided assistance to about fifty victims a day. The danger of epidemics still exists today - tropical heat, humidity almost 100%. Now the squad doctors have been replaced by a mobile hospital of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

What about search dogs? “Our dogs are looking for the living,” one of those who was there told us. “The corpses are a shock to them.” And for us? Those who lost their homes were taken in by Buddhist monasteries and Catholic churches, and it was there that our doctors went in a specially equipped Land Rover Defender. At this time, two other “defs” with rescue crews were working in the destruction zone. They saw everything: swept away houses, washed-up ships, an overturned train in which a thousand people died, and the ruins of a Sunday school where 390 children remained... But due to bureaucratic delays, the detachment was practically not involved in actually saving people participation. When the cars reached the wave zone, all the bodies had already been removed - it’s not difficult to dismantle a village house. As a result, doctors were most in demand. The affected people also need food, water, medicine and blankets. All this needs to be bought, brought and distributed. This means we need people, cars, ships and planes. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Egeland of Norway is responsible for UN humanitarian operations. But as it turned out, his organization is so bureaucratic, works so slowly and ineffectively that by definition it cannot cope with a task of this magnitude. Apparently, this is another reason why our guys spent several of the hottest days outside the disaster zone.

Forecast for the day after tomorrow

What might the future hold for us? American scientists who constantly monitor seismic activity in the Pacific Ocean warn: geological activity is increasing. And if an event similar to the current one occurs, but with a different vector, a significant area of ​​California and other western US states may be in the flood zone. The Atlantic Ocean is also not asleep... Recently it was hypothesized that the explosion of a volcano located in the Canary Islands could cause a wave one kilometer high! The end of old Europe? So are we completely defenseless? Not really. A tsunami warning system exists in the Pacific Ocean. Now a decision has been made to create a similar service on the Indian Ocean.

Forewarned is forearmed.

And one moment. Countries such as Japan or Holland have accumulated vast experience in dealing with water elements. A system of dams, embankments and other engineering structures protects them quite reliably. So from a technological point of view, a lot can be done. The main thing is to do it. And steps in this direction are already underway - an international conference is being prepared. Well, if we can’t fight poverty together, let’s try to fight natural disasters. Perhaps it is the understanding that it will not be possible to sit it out, which will force governments and the ordinary people they lead to think a little about others. For now, we can simply honor the memory of the 230,000 dead.

P.S. We have probably become a little smarter if today “airplanes” with rescuers are flying across state borders, ready to provide free assistance to everyone who needs it. And structures like the State Central Airmobile Rescue Squad of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia are ready at any moment to leave to help people from another country and another continent.

In the Maldives, the consequences of the tsunami were more like traces of a sewerage break.
Vitya Lyagushkin, journalist.

While in the Maldives, I traveled around five islands that were hit by the tsunami. The trip was organized by the Maldivian travel agency with the assistance of the Maldivian government, which is deeply concerned that its archipelago has been treated unfairly. The fact is that to restore the normal functioning of the region's economy, a constant influx of tourists is necessary. As a result, everything turned into some kind of propaganda war. They showed footage from Phuket, and at the same time talked about the Maldives, although the “post-wave” situation there is radically different. There were reports from Sri Lanka, showing the coast of India, and in the comments they added “... and the Maldives.”

A group of Russian journalists was assembled to demonstrate the real state of affairs. Indeed, there was no particular destruction in the Maldives. This is primarily due to the peculiarity of the structure of atolls. The height of the atoll trunk is about two thousand meters. The trunk rises with sheer walls to a depth of two hundred meters, and above there are islands, which are circular formations protruding above the surface of the water by a maximum of a meter. The result is that the height of the tsunami wave in the Maldives was extremely insignificant. She simply had nowhere to rise!

How are the Maldives organized? These are 26 large atolls, on the tops of which there are fifty to sixty islands. There was nothing at all on the inner atolls on the side of the epicenter. And on the “outer” islands the following happened: from hotel rooms (they were flooded), tourists were simply moved to the inner islands. The fact is that at that time there were a lot of vacationers in the Maldives. And because of the flooded rooms, for some time tourists were accommodated in two families per room. On Paradise (the outer island of the outer atoll) there was a wave that passed through the entire island, partially destroying a bungalow and causing damage to household appliances. The wave caused panic - people put on life jackets, fins and masks (the Russians quietly drank all the minibars). There were no fatalities. Also, for 24 hours after the wave, mobile phones and the airport did not work (the runway was simply dirty). The dirt was washed away and flights resumed. Then mobile communication was restored. Divers who were underwater during the wave did not feel anything at all. The only thing they paid attention to was the beeping of the computers, which reacted to the sudden change in depth.

Tsunami.

A tsunami is not a single wave, but a series of moving ocean waves generated by geological disturbances near or below the ocean floor. These waves cannot be stopped, and they rush across the ocean like a whiplash, maintaining their force for thousands of miles. Most tsunamis are caused by large earthquakes, but landslides, volcanic eruptions and meteorite impacts can also cause them. Waves occur because geological forces move water in an ocean basin. The stronger the earthquake, the greater the shifts in the earth's crust and the more water begins to move.

Most often, tsunamis are formed in the Pacific Ocean. This is due to the fact that its basin is bordered by the “Ring of Fire” - a long chain of seismically active points on the Earth.

In a tsunami, waves usually travel in directions opposite to the seismic shock. In the case of the earthquake off Sumatra, seismic waves moved along the ocean floor to the south and north, and the tsunami moved to the west and east.

A tsunami differs from an ordinary surf in its enormous length and speed. One such wave can reach 185 km in length and at the same time move across the ocean at a speed of about 1000 km/h. When it approaches the shore, its speed sharply decreases, and its height increases many times. Some tsunamis resemble a rising tide in which the water continues to rise and engulfs the coastline.

A few hours after an earthquake, a tsunami loses strength due to friction with the ocean floor and simply because the waves “dissolve” in the vast ocean surface.

International Tsunami Warning System.

The International Tsunami Warning System was created in 1965 after a tsunami associated with a 9.2 magnitude earthquake struck Alaska in 1964. The system includes all major Pacific Coast states in the Americas and Asia, as well as the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, it includes France (under whose sovereignty some islands are located) and Russia. The warning system analyzes earthquake information from several seismological centers (including the US Geological Survey). The information, in turn, is transmitted to computer programs that simulate the formation of a tsunami. The system transmits tsunami warnings, including a forecast of the speed of the waves and the expected time they will appear in certain geographic areas. As tsunami waves move through tidal stations, information is updated and a tsunami warning is issued. Other programs create “flood maps” that include areas of damage. But we must keep in mind that not all earthquakes cause tsunamis. The center does not typically issue warnings for earthquakes less than magnitude 7.