Earthquake Generated Waves Sweep Thousands to Their Deaths

JAKARTA, Indonesia, December 28, 2004 (ENS) - A massive earthquake of magnitude 9.0 off the northwest coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Sunday morning triggered enormous waves that have claimed at least 58,000 lives and caused unprecedented destruction in seven countries. The fourth largest earthquake in the world since 1900 has left some one million people across the region displaced and homeless.

Another severe earthquake of magnitude 7.5 struck the Nicobar Islands several hours after the first quake about 310 kilometers (195 miles) to the west northwest. These two earthquakes set tidal waves called tsunami rolling across the Indian Ocean wreaking havoc as huge walls of water lashed the shore, crashing as much as three kilometers inland in some places.

A series of 40 smaller earthquakes in the 5.4 to 6.4 magnitude range have been recorded in the region since the first large quake on Sunday.

The devastating quake occurred on the interface of the India and Burma plates and was caused by the release of stresses that develop as the India plate subducts beneath the overriding Burma plate, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Scientists at the National Weather Service Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii knew an earthquake struck under the Indian Ocean within minutes. But the lack of a warning system in Indian Ocean countries, rarely subject to tsunamis, prevented the information from reaching these countries in time to save thousands of lives.

Seven year old Kasturi and her brother Jithu in the rehabilitation camp opened by the Indian government in Kerala. (Photo courtesy UNICEF)

Indonesia's Separatist Area Hardest Hit

Indonesian emergency personnel have found 10,000 dead in the Indonesia city of Meulaboh in the Aceh province on the northwestern tip of Sumatra, just 149 kilometers (90 miles) north of the quake’s center beneath the sea floor.

Relief supplies are pouring in from around the world, but the Indonesian government is reportedly making it difficult for foreign aid workers and journalists to reach the separatist province of Aceh - the closest populated area to the center of the quake.

The government of Indonesia has declared a national disaster and has mobilized civilian and military assistance to the affected areas. Communications infrastructure, roads, medical care and tourist facilities on the western and northern coasts of Sumatra, and on coastal islands off Sumatra, have been damaged and in some cases completely destroyed.

The government now says that as many as 32,000 people may have perished in the disaster and more lives are jeopardized by the possibility of disease outbreaks from polluted water and starvation.

Rotting corpses lie about in piles and grim survivors struggle to dig graves for them with the held of military personnel and volunteers.

There will be little help from foreign aid agencies, which are facing red tape put in place by the government of Indonesia, according to an Indonesian online news service, Laksamana.net. Before they can enter the area, forms must be filled out that could take up to two weeks to process.

Aceh province has been under military rule for the past year in a government campaign to defeat a separatist rebellion.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono today surveyed the damage in Aceh, visiting the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, leading prayers for the dead and survivors, and meeting with provincial officials.

The Ministry of Social Affairs tonight revised its estimation of the death toll in Banda Aceh from 3,000 to 9,000.

The earthquakes generated enormous tidal waves that destroyed lives and property across southern Asia, the Indian Ocean islands and the east coast of Africa.

Former President Megawati Sukarnoputri will visit Banda Aceh Wednesday with relief supplies.

Police from police headquarters in Jakarta and North Sumatra police arrived in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam on Tuesday on board two police aircraft to evacuate victims of the tsunami, the Antara News Agency of Indonesia reported.

The Indonesian Ulema Council has called on owners of entertainment centers to cancel their New Year's Eve parties in favor of holding fundraisers for disaster victims, a Council spokesman said Tuesday.

Sri Lankan Land Mines Uncovered by Tsunami

The island nation of Sri Lanka has lost more than 10,000 people to the quakes and resulting tidal waves. Hundreds of thousands of others are now homeless.

On Monday, UNICEF personnel in Sri Lanka reported that landmines are posing a risk to relief efforts, as the mines have floated and washed out of known mine fields and the warning signs on mined areas have been destroyed. The mines were placed as part of a continuing civil war between north and south Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga rushed back to the island Monday, cutting short a private visit to Britain to take control of her country. The President flew over the affected areas to view the devastation. She ordered the immediate release of 90 million rupees for relief work in nine districts. The government estimates that over 350,000 people will need assistance and food for at least the next 15 days.

Friday, December 31 has been declared a National Day of Mourning in Sri Lanka with multi-religious services planned.

UNICEF workers report disruption of water supplies and contamination of drinking water sources in the affected areas of Sri Lanka. Water treatment plants in the coastal areas have been destroyed and water delivery facilities swept away.

People are forced to drink unboiled water and consume uncooked foods due to a shortage of fuel. Malnutrition among children in the districts of the north and east of Sri Lanka is higher than in the rest of the country with over 40 percent of children under the age of five years being underweight, the children's aid agency reports. These children are at greatest risk when exposed to uncooked food and unboiled water, UNICEF warns.

Health facilities in the affected areas have become dysfunctional to a large extent and run out of basic drugs, UNICEF reports. Even before the arrival of the tidal waves, the areas in the north and east of the country had been affected by serious monsoon floods leading to displacement and infrastructure damage.

Blood has been an urgent requirement to save lives of casualties, and the government says university students and people of the area as well as Sri Lankan military and police personnel have lined up to donate blood since Sunday.

UNICEF staff have helped rescue marooned persons and ferry the dead and the wounded to area hospitals. UNICEF has also begun communication campaigns on mine risk awareness, hygiene and sanitation.

Logistical problems persist for emergency workers trying to reach the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Some of the smaller islands have reportedly been completely washed out. Search and rescue operations have not yet started in several remote islands. In addition, the large distances between islands and the lack of clean fuel for rescue helicopters are hampering relief efforts.

So far, UNICEF has provided essential supplies for 10,000 persons within the first 48 hours after the onset of the emergency and to another 20,000 persons in the 24 hours after that. Additional 65 metric tons of essential supplies that are flown in will be provided to people in need in the coming three days.

In London, Major Cedric Hills, International Emergency Services Coordinator for the Salvation Army, says an International Emergency Response Team has been dispatched from London to Sri Lanka to help coordinate the massive relief efforts there. Salvation Army personnel in the affected region (as well as those nearby) are currently working ‘round the clock’ to demonstrate practical care for hurting neighbours. In order to be able to continue and expand the work currently being done, The Salvation Army is urgently appealing for donations to support our efforts in this enormous tragedy.

The Salvation Army assessment team returning from Galle on the southern coast of Sri Lanka reported finding the entire area, including Salvation Army properties, in total disarray. Debris is scattered all over this coastal town which used to be home to thousands of residents.

Thailand Mourns Royal Death

Rescue workers recover bodies from the basement of Ocean Shopping Mall, where victims became trapped when the water surged over the beach road and flooded the underground shopping arcade. (Photo courtesy Phuket Gazette)

Cities and resort areas along Thailand's west coast were hit by the tidal wave including the center of Thai tourism, Phuket. At least 700 foreigners are among the dead, the deputy interior minister Sutham Sangprathum told reporters before a cabinet meeting on the disaster this morning. The cabinet approved a 2.8-billion-baht emergency relief budget to help cope with the disaster.

A member of the Thai royal family, Khun Poom, the son of Princess Ubolratana, was swept to his death in Phangnga a resort town where he was holidaying with his mother. He had finished an expedition on his jet-ski and was back at the hotel when the giant waves hit, the princess told the "Bangkok Post."

Wachira Phuket Hospital and other area hospitals say there is an urgent need for shoes, shorts and T-shirts, especially in sizes large enough for foreigners. Many Thais and foreigners hit by the wave lost their shoes, and now many have foot injuries from stepping on broken glass and other sharp objects.

At least five Thai commercial airlines are offering free flights to Bangkok to assist the government effort in evacuating the dead and wounded from the island.

Wood for coffins is in short supply, and boats bringing the dead from Phi Phi Island and Khao Lak arrived in Phuket through the day, so the demand for caskets is high.

Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today expressed "profound condolences at the tragic loss of life and property" caused by the terrible earthquake and tsunami in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra provinces.

The Indian Home Ministry said 4,413 deaths have been confirmed, but the toll is expected to rise. A police official said 8,000 people are missing and possibly dead in India's remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located just north of Sumatra, where 90 people are confirmed dead.

The government said the hardest hit state of Tamil Nadu had 80,000 homeless while UNICEF said the figure was 100,000.

Death Toll Still Rising

President Kalam said, "I am really saddened at the impact of the earthquake and the sufferings of people of Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh, and also parts of Kerala and other coastal areas of our country. I have seen the heartrending scenes of loss of human life, damage to the houses and habitat of the poor and disruption to the normal life experienced in different places today."

"The government of India remains ready to provide any assistance required by the Indonesian government in the aftermath of this natural calamity," President Kalam said in a letter to his Indonesian counterpart, President Yudhoyono.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa conducted an aerial survey of the affected areas and visited the Marina beach in Chennai, the world’s second largest beach, which was the worst affected. The Indian Coast Guard and Navy have been pressed into service for rescue operations and helicopters are being used to search for the bodies in sea.

UNICEF staff members in Chennai, India inspect water tanks before they are shipped to relief camps in coastal areas hard hit by the tidal waves. (Photo courtesy UNICEF)

Since it was Sunday, eye witnesses said many people had gone to the beach to jog or walk, and it was crowded with children playing cricket or football or practicing martial arts.

A witness at Tiruvottiyur in north Chennai said, "Huge ferocious sheets of sea water simply broke open into the coast and nothing else could be seen for a while."

In the Cuddalore District of Tamil Nadu, India, the tsunami strike killed hundreds of people; whole settlements have been wiped out and many more people are missing at sea, according to Green Motherland, Pasumai Thaayagam, the largest environmental action movement in Tamil Nadu. "We have launched relief work in worst hit remote villages," said the organization's secretary, R. Arul.

The homeless in Tamil Nadu and tens of thousands in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry and Kerala are receiving survival packs of food, water, clothing and kitchen utensils, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters following a federal cabinet meeting on relief efforts.

But Arul says the government is underestimating the death toll by at least half, and by a factor of four in some places such as Cuddalore, where he estimates 1,800 people have died. The government figure is 486 dead in Cuddalore.

"Government has listed only one third of the victims, and they distribute to the listed families only," Arul says.

The total death toll in Tamil Nadu has mounted to more than 7,000 Pasumai Thaayagam estimates from reports of their relief workers who are dealing with the disaster in remote villages. Some of these villages are situated in and around the Pichavaram Mangrove Forest, India’s second largest mangrove forest area, about 250 kilometers from Chennai.

In neighboring Bangladesh, two people died in tsunami related incidents.

In Malaysia at least 65 people, including an unknown number of foreign tourists, are dead, according to official reports.

In the African coastal country of Somalia, at least 110 people died in the gian waves, said Ali Abdi Awaare, environment minister of the semiautonomous region Puntland.

The African coastal country of Tanzania counted at least 10 people, mostly swimmers among the dead, according to a police spokesperson. And in Kenya, also on Africa's east coast, one person died.

In the island nation of the Seychelles, three people were killed.

Tsunamis pounded the island coasts of Cocos Island, Mauritius, and Reunion.

Tsunamis crossed into the Pacific Ocean and sea level changes were recorded along the west coast of South and North America with sea level fluctuations of 65 centimeters (two feet) at Jackson Bay, New Zealand and 50 centimeters (19 inches) at Callao, Chile.

Water Short, Tourists Stranded in the Maldives

In the low-lying island nation of the Maldives, at least 52 people are confirmed dead. The government has declared a state of emergency and has appealed for international assistance, saying that about two thirds of the population has been affected by the tsunami, with 100,000 severely affected. Some islands were virtually washed away.

The country consists of 1,200 coral islands of a maximum elevation of one meter (39 inches) and is spread across an area of the Indian Ocean the size of Ohio. Communication with communities on the 200 inhabited islands is still extremely difficult and in some cases impossible.

The total number of casualties is not yet known, but 19 percent of the islands have no access to drinking water and half of the islands have damaged sewage systems.

UNICEF reports that water supplies on these tiny coral islands are scant under normal circumstances, but during the disaster the invading sea water destroyed or polluted the water lenses and carried rain water collection and storage tanks out to sea. One in five islands is now without potable water.

The first cases of diarrhea diseases have appeared and drinking water polluted by the sea water, rubbish and rotting animal carcasses could soon result in cholera and other epidemics. Added to this immediate crisis is the fact that food items not washed away or spoilt are dwindling fast. Maldivians are totally dependant on fishing and food imports, neither of which is currently possible.

Male International Airport on Hulhule Island was temporarily closed as the single runway was littered with debris. It has now been cleared and reopened and many of the 35,000 stranded tourists are being flown out. Still, as the sea plane terminal handling internal air travel was nearly destroyed, 17,000 guests are stuck on resort islands, some of which have been severely damaged.

The largest relief effort in history

United Nations emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland said the UN would probably make its largest ever appeal for humanitarian funding.

The United States and other international donors met with United Nations officials in Nairobi, Kenya today discuss relief efforts for East Africans affected by the earthquake provoked tsunami that struck South Asia, killing thousands in Indonesia, Thailand and other nations.

Damaged boats and cars floating in sea water at Marina beach Madras, in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu on December 28, 2004. (Photo by Ananda Vikatan courtesy TC Malhotra)

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) leader in Bangkok, Thailand, is leading a regional team comprised of public health specialists, water and sanitation experts, field officers, and an information officer.

Presently, three USAID/DART members are in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and one is in Phuket, Thailand. In addition, a military liaison officer is scheduled to join the USAID/DART in Thailand on Wednesday to coordinate relief activities with the Joint United States Military Assistance Group.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched a preliminary appeal for 7.5 million Swiss francs to assist some 500,000 people and bring immediate support to relief operations of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and other countries in the region.

The number of injured is still not known. One million Swiss francs were released earlier today from the Federation’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund. Red Cross teams in Sri Lanka and India have helped evacuate survivors, dispensed first aid and provided emergency relief materials, such as tents and blankets, as well as food.

The International Federation will send medical supplies for 100,000 people into Sri Lanka, the country hardest hit by the disaster, tomorrow, from Copenhagen, Denmark. Two cargo aircraft are expected to land in Colombo on Wednesday and Thursday with over 50 metric tons of emergency supplies. Medicines to treat up to 2,000 possible cases of diarrheal disease will also be part of the shipment.

"The biggest health challenges we are facing is the spread of waterborne diseases, particularly malaria and diarrhea, as well as respiratory tract infections," explains Hakan Sandbladh, senior health officer at the Federation’s secretariat in Geneva. "We are particularly concerned about initial reports of destruction of hospitals and other health infrastructures in Sri Lanka."

"Basic needs for victims of the disaster are shelter, tents, blankets, clean water, food and family utensils and mosquito nets. An important part of the operation will also be tracing lost relatives," notes Simon Missiri, head of the Federation’s Asia Pacific Department in Geneva. "This preliminary appeal will be revised as precise needs are evaluated."

The United States and Indonesia continue to work together with the international community and with local and foreign nongovernmental organizations to provide assistance to the victims of the earthquake and tsunamis in Aceh and North Sumatra.

The United States has provided $100,000 to the Indonesian Red Cross/Palang Merah Indonesia for immediate relief activities including survival kits, potable water, emergency shelter and support for rescue operations. An additional $2 million grant to the Indonesian Red Cross is in process, to be used for water, sanitation, shelter and health needs.

Further assistance from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is being provided directly by USAID or channeled through NGOs and the World Food Program.

Some 100,000 water treatment kits were provided by the United States through CARE, as well as 500 tons of rice worth $250,000, which has been donated for immediate use in Aceh and North Sumatra through the World Food Program. $1 million in funding will be provided by USAID to several NGOs for basic human needs and small generators.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered to extend immediate assistance to the countries afflicted by the huge earthquake and subsequent tidal wave.

From the bank's headquarters in Manila, Philippines, ADB President Tadao Chino has expressed deepest sympathy for this human tragedy in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

He assured the governments of affected countries of ADB's fullest support and cooperation in "alleviating the suffering brought about by the devastating earthquake and Tsunami and restoring normalcy to the affected areas."

In Cuddalore, two of the thousands of children who lost their lives in the giant waves. December 28, 2004. (Photo by Ananda Vikatan courtesy TC Malhotra)

He said ADB could help address immediate short-term requirements, repair critical basic services, and furnish essential equipment and supplies. It could also provide rapid assistance to rehabilitate priority water services, power, transport, and communication infrastructure, he said.

ADB teams from its country resident missions are in close coordination with government officials and humanitarian teams to assess needs and make plans to assist.

World Bank President Jim Wolfensohn said, "We are only beginning to grasp the magnitude of the disaster in terms of loss of life, material damage and economic impact across the region. It is clear, however, that it will take some time before the full impact of this terrible crisis is known."

Senior management from the World Bank's East Asia/Pacific and South Asia teams are in direct contact with the governments in the countries affected, Wolfensohn said. The teams are "assessing the feasibility of reallocating resources quickly within portfolios, or the provision of emergency credits, to respond to immediate humanitarian needs in the countries hit by this disaster." The crisis team is meeting daily, he said.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General and the Secretary-General of the United Nations International Meeting on Small Island Developing States, Anwarul Chowdhury, said that he was shocked and saddened to learn of the loss of life and destruction caused by a series of earthquakes and tidal waves.

"Destruction of life and property to the low lying coastal areas, once again highlights the vulnerability of the small island developing states," he said. Chowdhury will chair a UN meeting on small island developing states in Mauritius in January that will address this vulnerability.

Three Gulf states announced Tuesday that they are sending a total of $22 million to the tsunami victims. Qatar is sending 10 million dollars, as is Saudi Arabia, officials in the two countries said. The Kuwaiti government said it was sending two million dollars to help the victims.

Today the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) sent its first truckloads of relief food to 12 districts in Sri Lanka that have been devastated by the massive tidal surges sweeping the Indian Ocean region. The 168 metric tons of commodities are part of a WFP stockpile in the country of more than 4,000 tons of rice, wheat flour, lentils and sugar - enough to provide an emergency ration to 500,000 people for two weeks.

According to fresh reports from WFP in Sri Lanka, the number of people affected continues to rise, with at least one million displaced from their homes. Many have taken refuge in public buildings, schools and makeshift camps.

"We are especially concerned about people in remote coastal areas, which are difficult to reach because many roads and bridges have been destroyed," said Jeff Taft Dick, WFP country director in Sri Lanka.

Across the region, WFP has identified stockpiles of its available food in order to send it to the stricken areas. The contingency funds of US$500,000 in each of the worst affected countries will be used to purchase food close to the disaster zones for immediate distribution to the hundreds of thousands of people who have suffered.

{TC Malhotra in Delhi, India contributed to this report.}