...The earthquake and the tsunami on the Indian Ocean (2004) On 26th of December 2004, the most horrible nightmare came true for the people living in the countries located on the Indian Ocean; Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. It’s one of those episodes that still are remembered today and are in the back of people’s minds. It was series of underground-earthquakes that were triggered, and the first and the most powerful earthquake at magnitude 9,3 on the Richter’s scale. It began 7:58 AM (Indonesia’s time). The earthquake was starting, and Jakarta’s geophysics institute registered it at magnitude 6.5 at the Richter’s scale. The United States Geological Survey reported the magnitude was at 8.1, but after analyses it was then increased to 8.5, afterwards 8.9, and at the end 9.0. After 16 minutes, a warning was published by Hawaii. The biggest disaster struck after 30 minutes, though, when strong waves (that were up to 10 meters high) began hitting the west coast of Sumatra. Only 1 to 2 hours later, the waves came to Thailand, south Myanmar and parts of Malaysia. In Sri Lanka, the waves came 1 to 2 hours after the earthquake. The waves that hit Maldives 4 hours later were not as strong, though… they were still stronger than the waves that hit Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania 6 to 7 hours thereafter. Like I mentioned, the earthquake was first measured at 6.5 at the Richter’s scale, but at the end (after analyses), it was measured at 9.3. The hypocenter...
Words: 514 - Pages: 3
...The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was a megathrust earthquake that occurred underneath the ocean floor. The earthquake occurred sortly after christmas at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, 26 December 2004, with an epicenter off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake and the tsunami has various names, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, South Asian tsunami, Indonesian tsunami, and the Boxing Day tsunami. The earthquake was caused by subduction and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters or 98 ft. high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. The megathrust earthquake was unusually large in geographical and geological extent. An estimated 1,600 kilometres of fault surface slipped (or ruptured) about 15 metres along the subduction zone where the India Plate slides under the overriding Burma Plate. The slip did not happen instantaneously but took place in two phases over a period of several minutes. First the seismographic and acoustic data indicate that the first phase involved a rupture about 400 kilometres long and 100 kilometres wide, located 30 kilometers beneath the sea bed—the largest rupture...
Words: 620 - Pages: 3
...extraordinary. The 2010 Indian Ocean Tsunami ranks number six on the list of deadliest natural disasters of all time. That alone proves the grim manner of these series of large waves caused by the sudden movement of the ocean. Tsunamis are fierce, dangerous natural disasters. They not only can kill plenty but also can cost considerable amounts. This essay will focus on the major, most famous tsunamis in the world’s history. Tsunamis occur mostly in the Pacific Ocean mostly around the Ring of Fire (“Tsunamis”). This is because this dangerous area is known for its production of such disasters as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, or even both trigger the Tsunami. There have been spectacular tsunamis in the past. 1707 Hoei Tsunami was for centuries the largest earthquake in Japan (“1707 Hōei earthquake”). The earthquake that caused it had magnitude of 8.6. The earthquake’s fault rupture extended to more than 700 km (“Abstract”). Back in 1771, an earthquake of a 7.4 magnitude occurred just south of the Okinawa, Japan Island. Killing nearly eight and a half thousand people, a tsunami of mass destruction took place. The population decrease to about one third and more than 2,000 houses were demolished (“1771 Great Yaeyama Tsunami”). Comparatively, on November 1, 1775 an earthquake in the Kingdom of Portugal occurred. The earthquake caused fires and a tsunami. This tsunami almost completely destroyed Lisbon, in the Kingdom of Portugal. The Lisbon earthquake had a magnitude of 8.7 on...
Words: 981 - Pages: 4
...The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was a megathrust earthquake that occurred underneath the ocean floor. The earthquake occurred sortly after christmas at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, 26 December 2004, with an epicenter off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake and the tsunami has various names, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, South Asian tsunami, Indonesian tsunami, and the Boxing Day tsunami. The earthquake was caused by subduction and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters or 98 ft. high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. The megathrust earthquake was unusually large in geographical and geological extent. An estimated 1,600 kilometres of fault surface slipped (or ruptured) about 15 metres along the subduction zone where the India Plate slides under the overriding Burma Plate. The slip did not happen instantaneously but took place in two phases over a period of several minutes. First the seismographic and acoustic data indicate that the first phase involved a rupture about 400 kilometres long and 100 kilometres wide, located 30 kilometers beneath the sea bed—the largest rupture...
Words: 320 - Pages: 2
...‘Technology is the best way to reduce the impact of an earthquake’ to what extent do you agree with this view? (40 marks) An earthquake is a sudden violent shaking of the ground, typically causing great destruction, as a result of movements within the earth’s crust or volcanic action. Impacts of an earthquake can include short-term impacts such as fatalities, or long-term impacts such as income lost through lack of tourism. Technology can be used to predict the likelihood of an earthquake occurring in a particular area, for example by detecting plate movement, and this can reduce the impacts of an earthquake in return. This essay will discuss whether technology is the best way to reduce the impact of an earthquake or not. Technology can predict earthquakes through a seismometer. A seismometer is used to pick up the vibrations in the Earth’s crust and this can help predict earthquakes as an increase in vibrations may indicate a possible earthquake. Through the use of this technology, people living in earthquake zones are able to evacuate the area, which reduces the likelihood of fatalities from the earthquake and the falling debris caused by it. There are also other ways in which earthquakes can be predicted such as using laser beams to detect plate movement, monitoring the levels of radon gas that is being released from cracks in the crust and monitoring changes in ground levels. In February 1975 in the city of Haicheng in China, scientists identified changes in the ground...
Words: 1120 - Pages: 5
...“Discuss the view that the impact of earthquake hazards depends primarily on human factors (40)”. I agree to some extent about the statement above and that human factors can affect the impact of an earthquake hazard. A hazard is an object or process that has the potential to cause harm. Ground shaking, ground displacement and flooding are some of the hazards that are produced during an earthquake. In relation to the question above the type and severity of the impact can be affected by physical factors (such as the magnitude and frequency of the quake) as well as human factors (population density and education). I will be discussing the question using the following case studies, Sichuan, Indonesia and L’Aquila. On the 12th May 2008 an earthquake occurred at 2:28pm in Sichuan because the pressure resulting from the Indian plate colliding with the Eurasian was sent along the Longmenshan fault line that runs through Sichuan. The earthquake lasted 120 seconds and reached 7.9 on the Richter scale, one of the deadliest to strike China in recent years and its effects were felt as far away as Taiwan, Thailand and Bangladesh. Although the area has a long history of tectonic activity, it seems it was not prepared for an event of this magnitude. With a population consisting of 87.26m people the death toll stood at nearly 70 thousand along with 374,000 people injured and 5m left homeless. Making this Chinas worst earthquake since 1976 when 240,000 people were killed in Tangshan. Even...
Words: 1399 - Pages: 6
...“Discuss the view that the impact of earthquake hazards depends primarily on human factors (40)”. I agree to some extent about the statement above and that human factors can affect the impact of an earthquake hazard. A hazard is an object or process that has the potential to cause harm. Ground shaking, ground displacement and flooding are some of the hazards that are produced during an earthquake. In relation to the question above the type and severity of the impact can be affected by physical factors (such as the magnitude and frequency of the quake) as well as human factors (population density and education). I will be discussing the question using the following case studies, Sichuan, Indonesia and L’Aquila. On the 12th May 2008 an earthquake occurred at 2:28pm in Sichuan because the pressure resulting from the Indian plate colliding with the Eurasian was sent along the Longmenshan fault line that runs through Sichuan. The earthquake lasted 120 seconds and reached 7.9 on the Richter scale, one of the deadliest to strike China in recent years and its effects were felt as far away as Taiwan, Thailand and Bangladesh. Although the area has a long history of tectonic activity, it seems it was not prepared for an event of this magnitude. With a population consisting of 87.26m people the death toll stood at nearly 70 thousand along with 374,000 people injured and 5m left homeless. Making this Chinas worst earthquake since 1976 when 240,000 people were killed in Tangshan. Even...
Words: 1399 - Pages: 6
...an ocean or a vast lake. The awareness for tsunamis has risen tremendously as they have become less rare in the current and previous century. As this destructive force has made a great impact in today’s talk over natural disasters, scientists all over the world, media, as well as Hollywood directors have all decided to dig deeper into tsunamis. This paper will discuss the numerous scientific principles that cause tsunamis to occur, various effects of these seismic sea waves, different methods on how they can be prevented, the impact of recent tsunamis had around the globe, and finally how the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was portrayed in Juan Antonio Bayona’s movie, “The Impossible”. There are four possible elements that cause a tsunami to form. These factors, from most likely to occur to least likely respectively include, earthquakes, submarine landslides, submarine volcanic eruptions, and large meteorites crashing in the ocean (Magnus). In order to better comprehend the causes that make a tsunami, it is important to have a better knowledge about earthquakes. Earthquakes are formed alongside certain faults, which are fractures in the Earth’s crust. As these fractured plates collide with each other, they cause an earthquake. In some cases, the energy along these faults can increase over extended period of time causing a powerful earthquake to occur. When a forceful, swift faulting clash with each other, either underneath or in proximate distance to the ocean, an earthquake is...
Words: 1992 - Pages: 8
...Earthquakes are an example of seismic activity created by plate boundaries. They can be caused by the subduction of oceanic crust which is densest at 2.9 g/cm3 under continental crust which weighs 2.7g/m3 at destructive plate boundaries. Earthquakes can also occur along conservative plate boundaries such as that shared by the Pacific and North American plates which move at 5-9 cm/year and 2-3 cm/year respectively causing the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake along the San Andreas fault alongside which lies the San Gregorio and Hayward faults. Earthquakes have different impacts dependent on the location of their foci, the point at which they originate from underground, the presence of land in the surrounding areas, but also the human factors such as land use, population density and the use of earthquake proofing technologies to limit earthquake impacts. The Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 was created due to an earthquake along the 3 plate junction where the Philippine, Pacific and Eurasian plates all meet. The 15-20 m slip along a 1600km slip plane created an earthquake measures at 9.1 on the logarithmic Richter scale making it one of the most intense earthquakes in history. It caused a tsunami wave which resulted in the deaths of 180000 people according to a UN report, though other sources suggested it reached 300000. The Kobe earthquake which devastated the port of Osaka Bay resulted in 6300 deaths and 35000 serious injuries. This earthquake measured 7.1 on the Richter scale meaning that...
Words: 1153 - Pages: 5
...Right after christmas day also known as boxing day, a huge disaster happened. On of the worlds most deadliest tsunamis hit the indian ocean. This tsunami came to a shock because there was not many if any signs that a tsunami was coming. Even though this tsunami happened around 14 years ago it still has been affecting the places they were hit at. The hardest hit and most severely affected countries were India, Indonesia, because there was not many if any signs that a tsunami was coming. Even though this tsunami happened around 14 years ago it still has been affecting the places they were hit at. The hardest hit and most severely affected countries were India, Indonesia, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Malaysia, Myanmar, Seychelles, Somalia...
Words: 306 - Pages: 2
...The Boxing Day Tsunami was enormously damaging and resulted in many deaths. The causes of the catastrophic waves wiped out complete coastal areas across south-eastern Asia, India, Sir Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, islands in the Andaman Sea and in the Indian Ocean the Maldives. The Tsunami caused large destruction and affected people more than 2000km away. Reports on how many people died vary, but as of March 1 2005, the death toll wasn’t far away from 300 000 deaths. It is said that over 5 million people were affected because of the disaster. Also well over a million people were left homeless. The tsunami had had eleven countries report deaths, most in tens of thousands. There were many economical impacts from the tsunami them being, Fishing industry devastated. Boats, and all equipment destroyed. Sri Lanka’s...
Words: 524 - Pages: 3
...damage to humans or buildings. Many volcanic and seismic events happen that cause hazards to humans. Often the world’s poorest people are hit the worst, however wealthier countries can also be adversely affected. The Kobe earthquake in Japan 1995 struck at 5.45am. Many people were asleep in bed, causing the hazard to be increased because the people were unaware. Although many Japanese buildings were of aseismic design, the roofs of their houses were designed to withstand typhoons and so were very heavy. When the earthquake struck many people were crushed in their sleep. Also every year on 1st September Japan has national earthquake preparedness day to remember the 140000 that died in the Tokyo earthquake of 1923 but this did not help many of the citizens of Kobe. The Kobe earthquake was also in December so many people had nowhere to go in the middle of the night in winter and the risk of hyperthermia was extremely high. People were not put into temporary accommodation for up to two weeks after the event because the Japanese government originally refused assistance from foreign countries to help with the aid effort. The secondary effects of the earthquake like the gas leaks and fires killed 3000 people and many businesses were lost in the port. The Kobe earthquake shows that sometimes the wealthier countries can be just as badly affected. The Icelandic volcano, Ejajjallajokall, affected many people around the world, both wealthy and poor. The airspace above much of Europe was closed...
Words: 1043 - Pages: 5
...[Course Title] [Supervisor Name] [Date] Tsunamis Tsunamis are caused by earthquakes, landslides and sometimes by volcanic eruption. Most commonly they are caused by earthquakes that causes disturbance below the ocean floor as they occur. This further moves water up to the surface creating large waves. These large waves are hundred of feet high and are known as tsunami. In the middle of the sea these waves are not that large but as they approach the shores they get very dangerous and cause great chaos to the land and its inhabitants. A tsunami is capable of destroying anything that comes on its way including buildings, trees, homes of people, trucks and cars and even telephone lines (Bryant). As there are different causes, there are different ways how a tsunami is made. When an earthquake takes place below the ocean floor it causes tectonic plates to flow against each other causing instability on the sea levels and creating large waves as an effect. Sometimes earthquakes also create landslides that in result can cause tsunami as the remains from landslides can cause water to move. Volcanoes can also explode underneath the sea. If that happen it causes a sudden gush of wave to move upwards in form of large waves (Bryant). The World’s most devastating tsunamis are the ones that occurred in Lisbon (Portugal), Sanriku (Japan), Messina (Italy), South Chile, Izmit Bay (Turkey) and the tsunami in the Indian Ocean (Bryant). The tsunami at Lisbon took place in 1775 measuring to a magnitude...
Words: 741 - Pages: 3
...Earthquakes are an example of seismic activity created by plate boundaries. They can be caused by the subduction of oceanic crust which is densest at 2.9 g/cm3 under continental crust which weighs 2.7g/m3 at destructive plate boundaries. Earthquakes can also occur along conservative plate boundaries such as that shared by the Pacific and North American plates which move at 5-9 cm/year and 2-3 cm/year respectively causing the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake along the San Andreas fault alongside which lies the San Gregorio and Hayward faults. Earthquakes have different impacts dependent on the location of their foci, the point at which they originate from underground, the presence of land in the surrounding areas, but also the human factors such as land use, population density and the use of earthquake proofing technologies to limit earthquake impacts. The Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 was created due to an earthquake along the 3 plate junction where the Philippine, Pacific and Eurasian plates all meet. The 15-20 m slip along a 1600km slip plane created an earthquake measures at 9.1 on the logarithmic Richter scale making it one of the most intense earthquakes in history. It caused a tsunami wave which resulted in the deaths of 180000 people according to a UN report, though other sources suggested it reached 300000. The Kobe earthquake which devastated the port of Osaka Bay resulted in 6300 deaths and 35000 serious injuries. This earthquake measured 7.1 on the Richter scale meaning...
Words: 1153 - Pages: 5
...and seismic hazards include primary and secondary hazards of earthquakes. These events can affect many of the poorest people in the world but wealthier countries can also suffer as seen several times in Japan. Any management involves planning, prediction and action, all of which may cost considerable amounts of money, unavailable to the poorest people. Volcanic hazards vary from volcano to volcano due to there being many different types of volcano. In an acid dome volcano (destructive subduction boundaries) we see a viscous material with high amounts of silica. This causes rare but violent eruptions which is explosive. Other primary hazards will include pyroclastic flows and ash clouds. A basic shield volcano (constructive boundary) has a more runny lava with frequent eruptions. The hazards associated with a basic shield volcano include slow lava flows (destroy crops) and lahars when it rains. There are also the secondary hazards posed by many volcanoes around the world such as landslides and tsunamis. Earthquakes can vary in size and magnitude (scale of strength) and can happen on any type of plate margin. For the earthquake to occur there needs to be stored tension in the plates that will suddenly ‘jolt’. The longer the tension is stored the more energy it creates, this leads to stronger earthquakes. Earthquakes can destroy buildings and is how most people die (collapsing on to them), however, earthquakes can also cause floods, landslides and tsunamis The 2004 Boxing...
Words: 752 - Pages: 4
