Great Earthquake and Tsunami of 26 December 2004
Tsunami of 26 December 2004

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Potential Areas Affected by Tsunami:

The map below was obtained from UNOSAT, a United Nations organization devoted to distributing timely geospatial data products in response to natural disasters. It shows areas of the Indian Ocean basin potentially inundated (red zones) by the tsunami of 26 December 2004. A full-sized version of this image is available online by clicking on the image.


Map showing areas potentially inundated by tsunami on 26 December 2004 from UNOSAT.
(http://cern.ch/unosat/freeproducts/Tsunami/JRC/Asia_Tsunami_07January_landcover.pdf)

Potential Population Affected by Tsunami:

The map below (from UNOSAT) illustrates the world population potentially affected by tsunami inundation (red zones). A full-sized version of this image is available online by clicking on the image..


Potential population affected by tsunami on 26 December 2004 from UNOSAT
(http://cern.ch/unosat/freeproducts/Tsunami/JRC/Asia_Tsunami_04January.pdf)

Tsunami Travel Times:

Map below derived from numerical simulations (computer models) showing predicted arrival time of first tsunami wave at various Indian Ocean shores. Note the tsunami makes landfall in Sri Lanka and Thailand at approximately the same time despite having traveled very different distances. Do you know why? On the next page, you will find out!


from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
(http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/spotlight/tsunami/image/pmelwavetraveltime.gif)

Tsunami Amplitude:

The image below is a map showing maximum tsunami amplitude derived from numerical simulation (computer model) of Dr. A. Piatanesi of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in Rome, Italy.


Map showing maximum tsunami amplitude derived from numerical simulation.
(http://www.ingv.it/%7eroma/reti/rms/terremoti/estero/indonesia/indonesia.htm)

Tsunami Simluations:

Animations showing output from numerical simulations (results of computer models) of the 26 December 2004 tsunami are available online from several sources. The animation below was created from numerical simulations of Dr. Kenji Satake, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan. Another animation created from numerical simulation of Dr. A. Piatanesi of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) in Rome, Italy, is available in .AVI format.


Numerical simulation of tsunami of 26 December 2004
by Dr. Kenji Satake, Geological Survey of Japan, AIST, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan

Tsunami Videos:

A remarkable circumstance of the tsunamis of 26 December 2004 is that they were witnessed by large numbers of people with digital cameras and video recording devices. Consequently, the world had an unprecedented view of the behavior of these unprecedented tsunamis. Many tsunami videos are posted on web sites, Internet news services, and web logs (blogs) and are readily accessible from Internet search engines using keywords "tsunami video". As many sites hosting tsunami videos appear to be temporary repositories, your best strategy to locate videos is to use a search engine such as Google, Alta Vista, or Yahoo.

Tsunami Impacts - Before and After Animation:

Click on the images below to play an animation that overlays these before/after images from Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The upper image will play an animation in .AVI format (Divx codec required - free download). The lower image will play an animation in .WMV format (Windows Media Player). For additional imagery showing before/after effects of tsunamis across the Indian Ocean, refer to the links page of this site.

Images above obtained from Digitial Globe
Animations produced by Dr. Stephen K. Boss at the Earth Visualization Laboratory, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, U.S.A.

Tsunami Casualties:

The list below presents information on the number of known fatalities by country as of 8 January 2005. Clicking on the links will go to the source article at www.cnn.com where updated numbers may be available.
Indonesia: At least 94,200 dead and 77,000 missing, the health ministry said Saturday.
The missing figure is almost 10 times higher than the 6,700 it reported a day earlier, but the ministry gave no explanation for the increase. The Social Affairs Ministry has put the numbers higher -- 101,318 dead; 10,070 missing. There is no explanation for the discrepancy.

Sri Lanka: More than 46,000 dead, with nearly 14,000 missing. Sri Lankan officials say 27,527 are dead and 3,858 missing in non-rebel-held areas of the island nation. Tamil Tiger rebels in conjunction with the U.N. Development Program say nearly 19,000 are dead and 10,000 missing in rebel-held territory.

India: 9,691 dead, 6,011 missing -- 5,914 on Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Thailand: 5,187 dead, 3,810 missing.

Somalia: 114, according to the United Nations.

Maldives: 82 dead, 26 missing.

Malaysia: 66 dead, 6 missing.

Myanmar: 86 dead, according to the International Federation for the Red Cross, which is coordinating with the Myanmar government and the United Nations.

Tanzania: 10 dead, according to the U.N.

Bangladesh: 2 dead, according to the U.N.

Kenya: 1 dead, according to Kenyan media.

Seychelles: Unconfirmed reports of deaths.

Tsunami Economic Impacts:

Below are links to news articles describing potential economic impacts of the tsunami:

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