The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004
posted by Gavin | 11:30 AM
As we played cards the evening after Christmas, we heard on the TV that there had been a horrendous earthquake in Indonesia. There were unconfirmed reports of several thousand dead. It wasn't clear if there was a tsunami threat or not. As we discovered the next morning, there had been a tremendous loss of life and destruction from the shores of Africa, India, Sri Lanka, and many places in Southeast Asia. Right now the death toll is nearing 120,000, and it will probably double if not triple due to disease by the end. There are many ways to donate to help with the relief effort. Amazon.com has already raised nearly $5 million for the Red Cross.
Jen and I have always been fascinated by geology. Volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis are all incredible displays of the sheer power of nature. I've found some very interesting photos and videos this morning that I will share links to.
Within hours of hearing of the tsunami damage, Japanese and American scientists produced a preliminary model of the propogating wave. This animation shows several waves propogating away from the fault line of the earthquake. It stops after the waves hit Sri Lanka, but we now know that the waves continued on for hours across the Indian Ocean to hit islands and the coast of Africa.
A commercial photo satellite, QuickBird, happened to catch one of the damaged areas just after one of the tsunami waves had hit. You can see the strong and turbulent currents as the water slowly drains offshore at different rates. A comparison photo from nearly a year ago is also offered. This area is on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka, which did not experience the full force of the tsunami that the east coast did. Kudos to DigitalGlobe for the photos.
This blog by Austin has several links to sobering amateur videos of the waves coming ashore. Several have been played on CNN and the other news networks over the last few days.
The Wikipedia has compiled an extensive amount of the latest information regarding the disaster. An updated video file there shows the wave impacting the Maldives and the African coast as well. I highly recommend visiting this site for details regarding the earthquake and tsunami.
There has been much reporting in the US press of whether the East Coast, which has no tsunami warning system, could suffer a similar disaster. It's possible, but unclear how likely. It may be that a tsunami from an asteroid impact in the Atlantic is more probable in a given year than from a catastrophic underwater landslide in the Canary Islands.
Jen and I have always been fascinated by geology. Volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis are all incredible displays of the sheer power of nature. I've found some very interesting photos and videos this morning that I will share links to.
Within hours of hearing of the tsunami damage, Japanese and American scientists produced a preliminary model of the propogating wave. This animation shows several waves propogating away from the fault line of the earthquake. It stops after the waves hit Sri Lanka, but we now know that the waves continued on for hours across the Indian Ocean to hit islands and the coast of Africa.
A commercial photo satellite, QuickBird, happened to catch one of the damaged areas just after one of the tsunami waves had hit. You can see the strong and turbulent currents as the water slowly drains offshore at different rates. A comparison photo from nearly a year ago is also offered. This area is on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka, which did not experience the full force of the tsunami that the east coast did. Kudos to DigitalGlobe for the photos.
This blog by Austin has several links to sobering amateur videos of the waves coming ashore. Several have been played on CNN and the other news networks over the last few days.
The Wikipedia has compiled an extensive amount of the latest information regarding the disaster. An updated video file there shows the wave impacting the Maldives and the African coast as well. I highly recommend visiting this site for details regarding the earthquake and tsunami.
There has been much reporting in the US press of whether the East Coast, which has no tsunami warning system, could suffer a similar disaster. It's possible, but unclear how likely. It may be that a tsunami from an asteroid impact in the Atlantic is more probable in a given year than from a catastrophic underwater landslide in the Canary Islands.
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