The day after Christmas Eve, celebrations ends the day and ready to begin their new day. The time when the two continental plates collided under the Indian Ocean and caused the biggest and most destructive cyclone which leave tears in all eyes.
On December 26, 2004, an unforgettable ditch of massive tsunami waves crushed against the shores of South Asia killing more than 2,30,000 people in fourteen different countries. The magnitude of the earthquake had been estimated at 9.1 on Richter Scale, this is perhaps the highest magnitude for any earthquake ever recorded anywhere in the world.
The following description gives a brief account of sequence of events about tsunamis which affected most countries to bordering the Indian Ocean.
06.29 IST - The Indian plate slips below the Burma plate and a severe earthquake is caused.
06.30 IST - Displacement of a part of ocean floor forces the water upwards. A series of waves rushes outwards and races across the surface towards the shore line.
6.45 – 6.50 IST - Tsunamis reach Car Nicobar.
9.00 1ST - Giant waves hit Thailand’s Phuket Island.
9.00 – 9.50 IST - Tsunamis attack coastal areas of mainland of India including Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh and Kerala after travelling more than 2,000 km in a short span of 3 hours.
10.30 IST - Hit Sri Lanka.
11.30 IST - Wrap around Sri Lanka and India.
13.00- 14.00 IST - Reach African coast after travelling the entire Indian Ocean over a distance of about five thousand km.
The countries which reported death toll higher than India were Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Besides a large number of tourists from Europe, North America, South America and Australia who had come to the tsunami affected countries to celebrate Christmas and New year also lost their lives. Property worth crores of rupees has been damaged as a result of attack by tsunamis.
Sea water even entered the nuclear power plant at Kalpakkam which was closed for a number of days. In Sri Lanka, rail tracks were twisted near Colombo and a train was derailed in which about 1,000 persons were killed.
The latest data available through the Global Positioning System (GPS) has shown that under impact of the earthquake, almost whole of south-east Asia moved eastward by a few centimetres. On an average Thiruvananthapuram moved by 26 mm, Bangalore by 15 mm, Singapore (westward) by 14 mm, Diego Garcia by 12 mm, Kunming in China (south-westward) by 9 mm, Lhasa in Tibet (southeastward) by 4 mm and Dehradun by 2 mm. The data also reveals that the quake caused deformations on the earth’s surface cross a radius of 4,500 km from the epicentre.
This had caused the planet to spin 3 microseconds or one millionth of a second faster and to tilt about 2.5 cm on its axis. In other words, day is shortened by about 3 microseconds and the North Pole has shifted towards east Siberia by 2.5 cm. Besides earth’s oblatiness (flattering at the poles and bulging at the equator) decreased by one part in 10 billion.
Soil profile tests showed high salinity varying from 6.8 to 9.10 pH value (neutral value for pH is 7). This is highly saline condition in which no paddy crop could be cultivated. In Nagapattinam district alone, more than 9,500 hectares of land had been rendered unfit for cultivation by increased salinity.
Today, many of the constructions have recovered, though painful memories and some ruined structures remain in place.
Learn about Tsunamis
People often think that tsunami waves resembles typical ocean waves but bigger. This is a misconception. A typical ocean swell at a beach will never penetrate beyond high-tide mark.But tsunami attack on a coast will look different.
A tsunami may not even form a breaking front before it reaches the beach. It may start from a seemingly slow change of the normal water level, either withdrawing water offshore or flooding beyond normal coastline. The slow change of water level may quickly become very fast flooding that can push water very fast and far beyond the beach boundary, potentially flooding vast areas of low-lying land.
A tsunami will be very persistent in pushing that water on land for tens of minutes (not seconds like during ocean swell) before withdrawing and starting the whole process again with four or more waves flooding coastlines repeatedly.
One does not have to be a tsunami expert to recognize a tsunami danger. If you feel an earthquake, with earth shaking continuing for more than 15-20 seconds, if you see unusual fast water level change, or hear unusual noise from the ocean, there may be a tsunami coming. Don't wait for an official warning. Acting decisively and immediately may save your life.
We hope it will make us all more informed about tsunamis. Education can save lives. During the Indian Ocean tsunami, a 10-year British girl who learned about tsunamis in geography class saved less-informed grown-ups at a beach in Thailand.
Source - www.mnn.com, www.theatlantic.com
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