Maybe Up To 6000 Dead, Tidal Waves Slams Thailand

[joebuzzard]

Also - apparently, the earthquake was so strong that it slowed Earth's rotation by a few milliseconds, and actually changed the angle of Earth by an inch.  Of course, I'm listening to a Thai report - but I heard this second hand from someone in the US, so I'm about to go searching for the source of this report.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

From the Chicago Tribune:

Tom Skilling, WGN-TV chief meteorologist

Aftermath of the earthquake: Shorter days

Published December 28, 2004

Incredibly, the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck off Sumatra on Sunday morning caused a vertical displacement of so much material that the rotation period of the Earth has been permanently altered. By a tiny but measurable amount, the Earth is now rotating more quickly on its axis, and the 24-hour day is now one ten-thousandth second shorter.That's the result of calculations based on preliminary data made by Oak Park astronomer Dr. Leslie M. Golden. It's analogous to the increase in rotational speed that a twirling ice skater experiences when he or she draws in their arms. It is estimated that during the Sumatran quake, a block of material roughly 600 miles in length and 100 miles in width fell 30 feet closer to the Earth's axis of rotation. The planet has responded by rotating more rapidly, albeit ever so slightly, and our 24-hour days are now one ten-thousandth second shorter.

------------

http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/37319.htm

The gargantuan earthquake that unleashed deadly tsunami waves in Asia was so powerful that it was nearly equal to the force of 1 million atomic bombs, scientists estimate.

The quake, which measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, is being described as a "megathrust," a grade reserved for the most powerful shifts in the Earth's crust.

Such quakes can shift enough mass, causing the Earth to wobble a bit. But experts say the planet's rotation speed, which determines the length of our days, remains relatively unchanged, so there's no need to adjust your watch.

U.S. Geological Survey expert Ken Hudnut said the jolt of the quake may have moved some small islands as much as 12.5 miles. "That earthquake has changed the map," he said.

The tsunamis were so strong that they even caused the sea to fluctuate about a foot in San Diego and nearly nine feet on Mexico's west coat, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Most tsunamis occur in the Pacific basin because the "Ring of Fire," the necklace of the world's most tectonically active spots, encircles it.

Sunday's tsunami in the Indian Ocean was the region's first since 1883, when the Krakatoa volcano exploded.

But rogue waves can rise in any ocean, and Sunday's disaster renewed attention to the vulnerability of major coastal cities such as New York.

Insurance claims related to the tsunamis are not expected to be significant and total less than $5 billion, because, some economists say, the areas hardest hit were not insured.

------------------------

And from Agence France Presse

Asian sea quake has given globe a jolt

Wednesday, 29 December , 2004, 04:05

Paris: The gigantic Asian sea quake, the most dramatic seismic shock in more than 40 years, made the earth wobble on its axis and permanently changed the geology of the surrounding area, scientists said on Tuesday.

It was like "flicking a top," said Paul Tapponnier, head of the tectonics laboratory at the Institut de Physique du Globe (IPG), France’s leading center for the earth sciences. Tapponnier said the quake deep beneath the Pacific Ocean lasted a "colossal" 200 seconds, building up huge amounts of energy in the sea that drove towering waves onto beaches throughout south Asia. Killer wave hits Asia

"That earthquake has changed the map," US Geological Survey expert Ken Hudnut told AFP in Los Angeles. The quake, which had an epicenter magnitude of 9.0, struck 250 km southeast of Sumatra island. One of the four biggest in the last century, it sent gigantic tsunami waves crashing around the Indian Ocean causing 55,000 deaths and leaving thousands of other people missing.

Hudnut said seismic modelling suggested the quake might have moved small islands by as much as 20 meters, and the northwestern tip of the Indonesian territory of Sumatra may also have shifted to the southwest by around 36 meters. "That is a lot of slip," he said.

The north-western tip of the Indonesian territory of Sumatra may also have shifted to the southwest by around 36 metres, Hudnut said. In addition, the energy released as the two sides of the undersea fault slipped against each other made the Earth wobble on its axis, Hudnut said.

"We can detect very slight motions of the Earth and I would expect that the Earth wobbled in its orbit when the earthquake occurred due the massive amount of energy exerted and the sudden shift in mass," Hudnut said.

However, Stuart Sipkin, of the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Golden Colorado, said it was more likely that the islands off Sumatra had risen higher out of the sea than they had moved laterally.

"In this case, the Indian plate dived below the Burma plate, causing uplift, so most of the motion to the islands would have been vertical, not horizontal."

Edited December 29, 2004 by joebuzzard

[Darknight]

just got back from helping out at hospitals in Phangna and Takuapa - went to Khao Lak - absolutely destroyed. Trucks on top of buildings, all low-lying resorts seem to be gone. The height of the water was incredible - it really is unbelieveable. We saw THOUSANDS of bodies at the temples today - don't believe this crap on BBC and CNN.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

An updated thread on Khao Lak is started here..

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=23549

[joebuzzard]

Some links:

The USGS breakdown on the quake. Contains more helpful links, plus animation of the wave.

An earlier thread mentioned a 8.1-magnitude quake near New Zealand. It provides quite a contrast. There were no victims. Even the penguins survived.

[onethailand]

Follow-up on earlier report of signs of life:

According to reports on Jor Sor 100, 60-70 workers using heavy equipment are trying to get to the source of sounds detected at the nearly-completed Bamboo Orchid Resort in Laem Pakarang (Coral Cape), Takua Pa, Phangnga.

More to come.

Live pictures now on ITV.

Edited December 29, 2004 by onethailand

[onethailand]

German search team withdraws after three dogs (which seemed to have conflicting actions) apparently do not detect any sign of life. Thai team takes over and continues.

Not good

[RDN]

German search team withdraws after three dogs (which seemed to have conflicting actions) apparently do not detect any sign of life.  Thai team takes over and continues.

Not good

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I watched it too - hope to God they don't subsequently find someone dead or dying.

[Darknight]

Web posting reunites quake family

From BBc News

Posters of missing and injured people cover Thai hospital walls

Rob Delissen had no idea whether his brother Theo, his wife and their two-year-old daughter were still alive after the tsunami hit Thailand.

The Dutchman was one among thousands of people trying to trace family and friends after a disaster which claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Shattered communications only added to the difficulty of getting news.

But a posting by a stranger on the BBC News website led Mr Delissen to his relatives, who had all survived.

Thank you Voi-Ping. Your message on this site got me in contact with your daughter on Koh Racha Yai. My brother Theo and his wife and daughter seem to be ok, with everybody else on the island. Thank you BBC, thank you internet

Rob Delissen, the Netherlands

Mr Delissen, from Nieuwegein, knew the three were holidaying in Thailand on their way to start a new life in New Zealand, but he did not know where.

He turned detective, working out what resort they were staying at by examining pictures saved in his computer's memory cache, but was unable to get through by phone.

Then he spotted a message on the BBC News website from a Swedish man who had contacted his daughter on the same island, Koh Racha Yai, about 30 miles south of Phuket.

Having tracked down the man's phone number in Stockholm, Mr Delissen called him.

"He gave me his daughter's mobile number and I spoke to her," he said.

"Apparently they had been fleeing from the water uphill and everybody was gathered there because there wasn't much high ground."

Mr Delissen said Theo had urged his wife Uta to take their child Lisa to high ground after the first giant wave crashed on to shore, while he went out in a boat to help divers and snorkellers to safety.

"A few hours later my brother phoned me - he had been busy trying to save people," he said. "I was quite relieved to speak to him."

[Darknight]

Wave toll 'could exceed 100,000'

From all news agencies

The true scale of the disaster may never be known

The number of dead from Sunday's Indian Ocean killer waves is likely to spiral above 100,000, the Red Cross has said.

Senior agency official Peter Rees said he thought the toll would rise sharply when victims are counted on India's remote Andaman and Nicobar islands.

About 77,000 people have been confirmed killed in the earthquake and waves.

US President George W Bush pledged to set up an international coalition, with Australia, India and Japan, to co-ordinate the relief effort.

The US earlier said it was more than doubling its pledge of funds to the region to $35m.

The 9.0 magnitude quake happened just off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra early on Sunday, setting off waves that smashed into coastlines as far away as Africa.

Plane loads of supplies have started arriving across the region, as aid agencies strive to bring relief as quickly as possible.

The UN says disease could double the number killed by the waves.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said the death toll from the actual disaster could reach six figures once more remote areas are checked for victims.

More than 500,000 have been reported injured across the region.

"We're facing a disaster of unprecedented proportion in nature," said the federation's Asia-Pacific chief, Simon Missiri.

Many thousands of people are still unaccounted for, notably in the Indian-administered Andaman and Nicobar Islands near the earthquake's epicentre.

Three aftershocks have also hit the islands, which have a total population of 350,000.

Some parts are still said to be cut off from the outside world.

At least 4,000 are known to have died on the islands, but a police chief who has flown over the stricken areas said one in five of the islanders was either dead, missing or injured.

Officials said roads had been washed away and bridges destroyed making it harder for rescuers to move around.

In Tamil Nadu state on the Indian mainland, officials have given up trying to count victims and are concentrating instead on burying the dead and helping survivors.

CONFIRMED DEATH TOLL

Indonesia: 45,268

Sri Lanka: 22,493

India: 6,974

Thailand: 1,829

Somalia: 100

Burma: 90

Maldives: 67

Malaysia: 65

Tanzania: 10

Seychelles: 3

Bangladesh: 2

Kenya: 1

Aceh damage 'catastrophic'

Also, naturalists on the island said large-scale animal deaths appear to have been avoided, with many sensing the approach of the wave and fleeing to high ground.

And there have been some individual happy endings, such as the rescue of a Sri Lankan fisherman spotted at sea by an air force helicopter.

AP news agency quoted Sini Mohammed Sarfudeen as saying he had clung to his capsized ship for three days after the tsunami.

Thousands of tourists are still unaccounted for on Thailand's Andaman Sea coast.

[Darknight]

U.N. Wants Asia Tsunami Warning System by End 2005

From Reuters

By Richard Waddington

GENEVA (Reuters) - A tsunami early alert system, which could have saved thousands of lives around the Indian Ocean this week, should be in place in South and Southeast Asia within a year, a U.N. official said on Wednesday.

The technology to detect undersea earthquakes, such as the one off Indonesia that unleashed Sunday's devastating waves, is used elsewhere and could be shared with vulnerable coastal communities in the region, said Salvano Briceno, head of a United Nations' disaster agency.

"I want to see that every coastal country around South Asia and Southeast Asia has at least a basic but effective tsunami warning system in place by this time next year," the director of the U.N.'s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said in a statement.

What was needed was an international system for countries to share knowledge of seismic events together with an efficient domestic communication network allowing governments to transmit warnings quickly to communities at risk, he said.

"There is no reason why this cannot be done ... there is a strong basis of knowledge, technology and collaboration, and a real readiness to act.

"The problem is not so much the technical system, but the (communication) network ... There is a great deal of work to be done in raising awareness of coastal communities," he told a news conference.

LONG ENOUGH

The huge waves, which killed at least 70,000 people, with Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand the worst hit, took between one and six hours to reach their shores.

This would have been enough for preventive action had the earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, by far the most seismically active of the world's seas, because both the United States and Japan were well prepared, Briceno said.

Japan has already offered to make its technology and experience available to other Asian countries, he said.

The Indian Ocean, with no major tsunami in over 100 years, was not the only vulnerable area. The Caribbean and the Mediterranean, both on fault lines, were also at risk

"Immediately after the tragedy we received concerns from the Caribbean, and even the Mediterranean and Europe and Northern Africa have the same threat," said Briceno, a Colombian.

A U.N. conference on disaster reduction next month in the Japanese city of Kobe, where some 6,400 were killed in a quake in 1995, was an opportunity to start preparations.

In the past it has been difficult to interest politicians in issues relating to risk reduction, Briceno said.

The conference is to be attended by officials and experts rather than decision-taking ministers. But Briceno said he hoped the Indian Ocean disaster and other recent catastrophes could encourage governments to pay more attention.

"I hope that given the tragedies that have happened, not just this, but the many throughout the year, it could motivate a higher level of participation," he said.

"Governments need to give more attention to reducing risk rather than (just) responding (to it)."

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?t...53&pageNumber=1

[cdnvic]

The tsunami wave just hit western Canada, and they're still 6-7 cm high after almost 4 days. The energy thats behind these things is unreal.

Does anyone know about Christmas Island or any of Australia's Indian Ocean islands, and how they fared?

cv

[laughing4life]

Pornthip Rojanasunant told Reuters at a Khao Lak Buddhist temple acting as a temporary morgue for 300 bodies — about a fifth of them foreigners — that she was collecting DNA samples of all the corpses by swabbing mouths or taking hair.

The samples could be matched to relatives later, she said.

But Pornthip said she suspected such meticulous procedures were not being followed at three other temples in the area, each housing 100-200 bodies.

"I don't think they understand the forensic way of managing these cases, how to deal with the dead," she said. The government was not helping much, she added.

There was no coordination between the four Khao Lak temples, the only equipment available was what she had borrowed and what little the government was supplying was the wrong stuff.

"The government has sent us cloth bags instead of plastic bags" for wrapping the bodies in, she said. "Cloth is useless in preventing disease.

"I would like to tell the prime minister we have to set up a coordination center here, not in Phuket," the island just to the south which is one of Asia's premier resorts and where 233 people are known to have been killed.

"This is where most of the people are coming from." from abc.com article

My Girlfriend in the US emailed this to me today here in Thailand.

[pmugghc]

WHat's the story of the number of dead persons ? Thailand still claims around 1,800 in all of Thailand, but then a CNN reporter claimed 600 in aone place in Khao Lak and at least 3 other places there had similar number of dead bodies. The post above claims each of the temples has "just" 100-300. Another local official claimed Khao Lak had 3,000 dead persons. This seem to be reflected in an earler post above I understand the difference between missing and reported dead, but a dead body should surely count ?

Thanks, Roland

[onethailand]

WHat's the story of the number of dead persons ?  Thailand still claims around 1,800 in all of Thailand, but then a CNN reporter claimed 600 in aone place in Khao Lak and at least 3 other places there had similar number of dead bodies.  The post above claims each of the temples has "just" 100-300.  Another local official claimed Khao Lak had 3,000 dead persons. This seem to be reflected in an earler post above I understand the difference between missing and reported dead, but a dead body should surely count ?

Thanks, Roland

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think what the local official is claiming is that they will have recovered 3,000 bodies by the time the operations end - at present the official death figures only show bodies which have already been recovered.

[lingling]

WHat's the story of the number of dead persons ?  Thailand still claims around 1,800 in all of Thailand, but then a CNN reporter claimed 600 in aone place in Khao Lak and at least 3 other places there had similar number of dead bodies.  The post above claims each of the temples has "just" 100-300.  Another local official claimed Khao Lak had 3,000 dead persons. This seem to be reflected in an earler post above I understand the difference between missing and reported dead, but a dead body should surely count ?

Thanks, Roland

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

One would hope so, but maybe it is another attempt to "not hurt tourism".

A local (farang-run) travel agent in BKK even had the guts to send out a "business as usual" mass mail poorly disguised as a "new years greeting" this morning.

Sure, I understand that the affected areas need tourists to return so they can rebuild what was damaged but I think it is a bit early to send out that kind of things while the rescue efforts are still under way in many areas.

[RDN]

WHat's the story of the number of dead persons ?  Thailand still claims around 1,800 in all of Thailand, but then a CNN reporter claimed 600 in aone place in Khao Lak and at least 3 other places there had similar number of dead bodies.  The post above claims each of the temples has "just" 100-300.  Another local official claimed Khao Lak had 3,000 dead persons. This seem to be reflected in an earler post above I understand the difference between missing and reported dead, but a dead body should surely count ?

Thanks, Roland

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is it so important to have an up to date figure? It won't be as low as 1,800 for all of Thailand - we can all see that. Maybe it will reach 2,000 or 5,000 or 10,000. Does it - the real number - affect anything you will do? Will you do something special if the toll reaches 5,000 that you wouldn't do if it stays below 2,000? Do what you can do NOW. Worry about the final numbers later.

[PvtDick]

Death figures are not being skewed to avoid "hurting tourism". It simply takes some time for a body to be processed and counted once it is found. Many thousands of people are still listed as "missing", as well, when by this point hopes of finding them alive are surely fading.

[The_Moog]

Agreed, its as if there's a sweepstake for the person who guesses the final death toll correctly.

There's an idiom in Thai ...."Thai mung"....which is the propensity for Thais to gather round a disaster and stare at it.

.........(later pointing fingers at the empty spot when told to by photographers)

[onethailand]

Agreed, its as if there's a sweepstake for the person who guesses the final death toll correctly.

There's an idiom in Thai ...."Thai mung"....which is the propensity for Thais to gather round a disaster and stare at it.

.........(later pointing fingers at the empty spot when told to by photographers)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Fortunately, this is not the case at this point in time - but Thais do have an eerie fascination with accidents and death.

During this difficult period, most of them are pitching in and helping in any way they can - which says a lot about the real character of Thai people.

Edited December 30, 2004 by onethailand

[The_Moog]

I agree. They're doing a pukka job.

Right now, it is more 'Farang Mung'.

I feel compelled to observe this tragedy, yet strangely disconnected from it. It makes me feel uneasy about myself.

...anyway, enough about my insecurities.(before DarkNight tells me to be quiet!)

[Darknight]

you can always open a topic about yourself in the general forum moog

We WILL discuss it

[Darknight]

Millions Hunt for Food as Tsunami Toll Over 80,000

By Tomi Soetjipto and Dean Yates

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Millions of people around the Indian Ocean scrambled for food and clean water on Thursday, with the threat of disease and hunger now stalking survivors of the most devastating tsunami on record.

The official death toll rose to 82,847 but the true scale of the disaster may not be known for days, or even weeks, as rescuers struggled to reach stricken areas and grieving survivors searched for relatives.

"Entire villages have been washed away," said Rod Volway, program manager for CARE Canada's Emergency Response Team which was one of the first aid groups into Indonesia's northern Aceh province, the worst-hit area.

"This isn't just a situation of giving out food and water. Entire towns and villages need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Everything has been destroyed."

The toll could rise to 100,000 when the dead are counted in India's remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, said Peter Rees of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Countries around the world sent rescue teams, food and millions of dollars in aid to the hardest-hit nations of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand to cope with the aftermath of the strongest earthquake in 40 years.

As the world pledged $220 million in cash and sent an international flotilla of ships and aircraft with hundreds of tonnes of supplies, history's biggest relief operation battled with the enormity of the task.

"Perhaps as many as 5 million people are not able to access what they need for living," David Nabarro, who heads the World Health Organization's health crisis team, told Reuters.

"Either they cannot get water, or their sanitation is inadequate or they cannot get food."

Many villages and resorts, now little more than mud-covered rubble blanketed with the stench of rotting corpses, remained inaccessible to heavy equipment. Thousands of bodies were tumbled into mass graves.

Contaminated water, ruptured sewage systems and mosquito-borne diseases now threaten those who survived Sunday's monster wave, triggered by a 9.0 magnitude underwater quake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra

The United Nations said it was preparing to issue what could be its largest appeal for donations in its history to cope with its biggest and costliest relief effort.

Anger began to be heard above the grief as families left with no homes or possessions wanted to know why help was taking so long.

AIRCRAFT DROPPING FOOD

"I lost my wife and my youngest child, I lost all my possessions, no one has come forward to help me," said Peter Solomon, 45, a Sri Lankan fisherman.

With a large proportion of Asia's populations under 18, U.N. officials say up to a third of the victims could be children.

Indonesian aircraft dropped food to isolated areas along the western coast of Sumatra, an island the size of Florida, where the tsunami obliterated entire towns.

"I believe the frustration will be growing in the days and the weeks ahead," said U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland in New York.

Well over a million people have been left homeless. Hospitals are overwhelmed with the injured -- an estimated 100,000 or more across the region.

The killer waves dragged family members from each other's clutches, swept trucks and buses through buildings and flipped boats onto land, catching everybody by surprise on a holiday.

The quake was so powerful, U.S. scientists said it made the Earth jolt on its axis and shifted islands.

Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand faced death tolls of catastrophic proportions. Hundreds were killed in the Maldives, Myanmar, Malaysia and East Africa.

President Bush said the U.S. pledge of $35 million in aid was just a startBush said he had spoken to the leaders of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia. "I assured those leaders that this is only the beginning of our help."

The U.S. military's 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Japan, will set up a forward command post in Thailand to coordinate U.S. efforts. The Pentagon is sending the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, a helicopter carrier and a submarine to the region.

Insurers estimated damages at $13.6 billion but that does not include the costs of lost business and productivity.

"SWEPT AWAY"

Indonesia has suffered the biggest number of victims, with 45,268 known dead, although the toll could rise to 80,000 in Aceh alone, the province closest to the quake's epicenter.

In the provincial capital Banda Aceh, two aftershocks on Wednesday night woke nervous residents. Many people preferred to sleep outside.

Indian officials estimated their death toll would reach 12,500. Rescuers were struggling to reach remote islands in the Andaman and Nicobar chain.

In Sri Lanka, where the tsunami killed 22,000 people, many said there was still no sign of aid for ruined communities.

More than 2,000 Scandinavians are missing in the tsunami-ravaged resorts and 1,000 Germans are unaccounted for.

Many of them could be among the 6,043 missing in Thailand, where the official death toll rose to 1,975.

Forensic teams from Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland flew into Thailand to help identify bodies. Police believe up to 3,000 people died in the resort of Khao Lak.

The tsunami is the world's biggest disaster since a cyclone killed 130,000 people in Bangladesh in 1991.

(Additional reporting by Darren Schuettler, David Fox, Suresh Seshadri, Patrick Lannin, Michael Perry, Muklis Ali, Nopporn Wong-Anan, Joe Ariyaratnam)

[george]

More doctors sent to tsunami-stricken areas

BANGKOK: -- The Thai government has sent more doctors and nurses to the country's six southern coastal provinces to help treat those injured from tsunami attacks on Sunday.

Doctors and nurses from Bangkok and surrounding areas have gone to the region along the Andaman coast, covering Phuket, Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang, Ranong and Satun, badly hit by the massive seismic waves.

More than 10,000 local residents and tourists have been killed and injured.

The Thai authorities are worried about the hygiene standards in the area and are trying to make sure that people in the areas receive clean drinking

water, according to Deputy Public Health Minister Dr. Suchai Charoenrattanakul.

“However, we are not worried about an epidemic in the area because our personnel and systems are good enough to deal with and control an outbreak of any kind of disease,” he said.

The latest official death toll is approaching 2,000 with more than 9,000 injured, and scors of others still missing.

Many of the patients who have come to local hospitals are suffering from broken bones after being hit by debris in the massive tides.

The government and the Red Cross Society of Thailand have sent dozens of surgeons and nurses to the areas where most severely hit, including Ta Kua Pa district in Phang-nga province.

--TNA 2004-12-30

[george]

Tidal wave victims thought terrorists, hurricane had hit

BANGKOK: -- Tourists rescued from a tiny island off the coast of Thailand thought they were under terrorist attack or that a hurricane had hit, before they saw huge waves sweep helpless victims into the Andaman Sea.

"I thought it was a terrorist attack, because I could hear 'bang, bang, bang' and all these people were screaming and I couldn't see no water," said Rita Smith, a 54-year-old jeweler from England who had been staying on Phi Phi island.

"People turned white, everyone, with fear and horror on their faces. And it sounded like gunshots. So I thought someone was on the beach shooting people," Ms. Smith said.

Traumatized survivors, some bandaged and wide-eyed, described their experiences yesterday after being rescued from Phi Phi, about 24 miles southeast of the larger Phuket island, which also was devastated by the underwater earthquake and tidal waves on Sunday.

More than 1,500 people, most of them foreigners, died on Thailand's southwestern coast and islands, but officials said the toll could climb because hundreds of people were missing.

Groups of tourists from Phi Phi, Phuket and other stricken zones were brought to Bangkok, where medical staff, diplomats and volunteers sheltered them in university campus buildings near the international airport.

"Me and my boyfriend, we were both in bed when it happened," said Laura Lynch, a 21-year-old office assistant from Wiltshire, England. "We were asleep. The fan stopped working and all the electricity went out and we heard screaming."

"At first, I actually thought it was a hurricane or something like that. Then people were screaming at us to run," she recalled.

"We looked around us, and people were being swept away in the water. Loads and loads of people," she said.

"When the first wave was over, people were going down and trying to help people out of the rubble. And then as the second wave came in, a lot of people were swept away again, people who were trying to help. It was terrible."

Her boyfriend grabbed her hand, and they began running up the mountainside when they heard a girl screaming on the other side of the road. She was injured badly.

"I think she got airlifted out," Ms. Lynch said.

Some tourists on boats or scuba-diving underwater fared better.

"We were doing a scuba dive when suddenly a very strong current caught us," said Petra Stegenier, 44, from Germany.

"We had to struggle against it. It took us down and upwards and down and upwards. We finished the dive, surfaced, and we were picked up by the boat and then we were warned that a big wave — they said a five-meter-high wave — just swept away half of Phi Phi island," she said.

Others had to witness the horror show of pain and panic.

"I saw people being washed away by the wave and then crushed by the bungalows that were being knocked over," said Daniel Aiguelles, a 25-year-old stock broker from Colombia.

Phi Phi's hills are divided by tropical beaches on both sides of a narrow strip of sand only a few hundred meters apart where most tourists stayed in scores of inexpensive hotels.

"Phi Phi island is really narrow, so the island was hit at the same time from both sides," Mr. Aiguelles said. "There were actually two waves coming onto the island."

"People who were running away from one of them ended up facing the other wave. So there was really nowhere to go," he said.

"Then the bodies just started floating."

--THE WASHINGTON TIMES 2004-12-30

[george]

Indian state issues new tsunami alert

NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) -- The state government in India's Tamil Nadu state, one of the areas hardest hit by Sunday's Indian Ocean tsunami, issued a tsunami alert on Thursday and warned people to leave coastal areas.

Police said aftershocks in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, near the centre of the huge earthquake that caused Sunday's tsunami, were "likely" to cause high waves.

Witnesses said police sirens were blaring on beaches in Tamil Nadu and residents were running away.

The death toll in India is more than 10,000, out of a total figure of more than 80,000 people, more than half of whom died in Indonesia's Aceh province.

--CNN/Reuters 2004-12-30

[Darknight]

Thai, German Rescuers Dig for Tsunami Survivors

From Reuters

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai and German rescue workers searched the wreckage of a half-built luxury hotel complex late on Wednesday after villagers said they had heard calls for help from people trapped inside.

But they suspended the search at the Bamboo Orchid Resort Hotel on Khao Lak beach in the early hours of Thursday after sniffer dogs detected no signs of life inside. The search will resume at daybreak.

Officials say up to 3,000 people, many of them foreign tourists, may have died at Khao Lak on Thailand's southern coast.

The area was one of the worst affected by the killer waves which smashed onto south Asian shores on Sunday after an undersea earthquake off the coast of Indonesia.

Around 70 builders who had been working on the hotel on Sunday are missing. There are also fears tourists could have got stranded there.

"I believe the people inside might be those who took refuge from the rushing waves, but the place just collapsed while they were inside," the hotel's architect told Thailand's ITV.

If anyone is pulled out alive it will be the first such rescue in this part of Thailand.

The rescue teams suspended the search after spending several hours clearing twisted steel and debris from the ruins of one of the hotel bungalows in the complex.

The head of the German team told ITV earlier there was only a 20 percent chance of finding someone alive.

Television footage showed rescuers in orange overalls and safety helmets crowded around the site as a digging machine cleared debris.

More than 1,800 bodies have been recovered from Khao Lak beach and its luxury hotels popular with western and Asian tourists, especially Scandinavians and Germans escaping the long, dark winter back home.

[Darknight]

Rescuers in Thailand hope for 'individual miracles'

From CNN/AP

PHUKET, Thailand (AP) -- Rescuers were praying for "individual miracles" of survival as they combed the beaches and islands of southern Thailand on Wednesday for thousands of missing tourists and locals swept away by tidal waves.

But hopes were slim that many would be found alive.

While the official death toll stood at 1,830, police said that more than 1,500 bodies had been found in one district alone, which is home to the hardest-hit Khao Lak resort area, and the total death toll there could reach 3,000.

The government said 4,086 Thais and foreigners were missing. This included some 1,500 Swedes, 200 Finns, 200 Danes and hundreds of Norwegians, according to reports from Scandinavian capitals.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds said "we fear that many of (the missing) will not be found."

Two-hundred tourists are missing from one hotel alone, the Sofitel hotel in Khao Lak, just north of Phuket island. The hotel was destroyed by the waves, which were nearly three stories high.

"There is still hope for a portion of those missing, unfortunately a minority, several dozen. For the rest, we have little hope, except for individual miracles," said Jean-Marc Espalioux, chairman of the Accor hotel group which owns the Sofitel.

An international airlift began Wednesday, with jets from France and Australia carrying critical aid and medical supplies the first to arrive in Phuket. Greece, Italy, Germany and Sweden all were planning to send aircraft to take their respective nationals home.

While on the ground, a shortage of equipment, heat and the fear of aftershocks were hampering the search, said police Col. Arun Khaewwathi, chief of Takua Pa district, north of Phuket.

He said sniffer dogs were needed to help locate bodies covered by debris.

Some 30 rescue workers from Sweden, Germany and Taiwan were helping comb the worst-hit areas as bodies were still washing up on several beaches three days after the waves struck.

A number of foreign officials, forensic experts and relief workers were headed for the area to assess damage and offer assistance.

A senior Ministry of Public Health official, Dr.Pipat Yingseri, warned that cholera could break out in the Khao Lak area due to the lack of clean water. Other areas were safe from disease, he said.

A total of 473 foreigners of 36 nationalities were confirmed killed, the Interior Ministry's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said. Victims included 54 from Sweden, 49 from Germany, 43 from Britain and 20 Americans.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he expected the death toll to rise to about 2,000. Some 9,000 people were injured.

Meanwhile, police officers said 26 persons had been arrested for looting in Phuket, Phi Phi Island and the nearby province of Phang Nga.

Maj. Gen. Suwit Othong, Phuket's police chief, said 11 persons had been arrested for pilfering in damaged hotels and department stores, adding that they were refused bail for fear they would continue thieving during this time of chaos.

Other police reports said four boat drivers were arrested for stealing from souvenir shops on Phi Phi while 11 persons had been caught snatching television sets and other items from collapsed buildings in Phang Nga.

Thaksin earlier denounced the thieves as "despicable good-for-nothings" preying on people's sufferings, and authorities said any caught would face the maximum punishment.

Nationals of more than 40 countries were reported vacationing in six provinces of southern Thailand when disaster struck. They included citizens from South Korea, Japan, France, Germany, South Africa, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Australia, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, Portugal, Israel, Chile, Spain and the United States.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier arrived on Phuket Island Wednesday to deliver humanitarian supplies and meet with some of the victims. He was to visit a hospital and fly by helicopter over Khao Lak, said spokeswoman Cecile Pozzo di Borgo.

There are more than 67,000 people confirmed dead around southern Asia and as far away as Somalia on Africa's eastern coast, most of them by tidal waves from the 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Indonesia's coast on Sunday.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/2...e.ap/index.html

[cdnvic]

I saw a post way back talking about how people who heeded a false-alarm tsunami warning being laughed at. I imagine there's going to be panic the next time one happens.

Thais are famous for keeping a happy face when they're feeling markedly different inside. I wonder whats simmering benieth the surface of those smiles now? Theres gotta be alot of people out there suffering alot inside, but its not really in the nature of a Thai to show it.

cv

[Dradam]

It amazes me how the number has grown.

Here articles on day 1:

"As of now there are four foreign tourists missing and we are conducting a search," deputy Phuket governor Pongpao Ketthong said.

At least one person was killed and several houses were destroyed as massive waves hit the resort province shortly after an earthquake rocked the southern region this morning.

Police say 10 people are feared dead after massive tidal waves struck Sri Lanka, The Associated Press reported.

In Thailand it wasn't clear how the tourists, who were on a popular Phuket beach, died, said Sorat Susaeng, of the Narenthorn Center of the Public Health Ministry, AP reported.

Here is day 5:

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Thursday that he feared his nation's death toll will soar to nearly 7,000 dead.

UNICEF said that the death toll in Indonesia could rise to as high as 80,000 with nearly a million children in need of assistance.

Sri Lanka, more than 22,000 died...

What can we expect for day 10?

Malaysia is still claiming 42 dead since the beginning.

I went to volunteer on clean-up yesterday and one of the officers reported that 500 died on a single beach alone.

I can understand the country's concern though. The financial damage of a lack of tourist dollars could be more costly to the government officials than 10,000 dead.

Thailand has done a good job of volunteering to help though. I am impressed by the caring and sympathy that has been shown.

I pray for all the survivors. Open your hearts and wallets to them.

[bartender100]

BANGKOK (AFX) - Thai seismologists said they recorded two earthquakes in Myanmar today but neither would spark a tidal wave.

The seismology department said one at 0107 GMT measured 5.4 on the Richter scale and a second at 0113 GMT was of 5.6 magnitude.

An official said no tsunami warning was issued because the quakes happened far inland.

An Indian government warning today that high waves could strike again sent thousands fleeing in panic from the southern coastline.

[Darknight]

Thailand Admits Struggling with Tsunami Disaster

Reuters

By Nopporn Wong-Anan

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand, which rarely faces natural disasters worse than floods in the annual monsoon, was ill prepared for the huge scale of the tsunami catastrophe and reacted slowly, officials admitted on Wednesday.

Even "can-do" Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra admitted the search and relief effort was below standard as German aid workers said the danger of epidemics was rising rapidly by the hour.

"We have too little equipment and foot searching is not sufficient," Thaksin told reporters before flying to the stricken southern beaches where several thousand people, including hundreds of foreign tourists, are feared dead.

"In the next two days, we will mobilize heavy equipment and bring in refrigerated containers to preserve these bodies," Thaksin said after loud complaints from his own experts.

"We are in a very difficult situation," Surasit Kantipantukul, the leader of a rescue team in Pang Nga province where police fear 3,000 people may have died on Khao Lak beach alone.

"We have only cloth to wrap the bodies in and our bare hands and machetes to retrieve the bodies. We want machinery and boats."

Senior government pathologist Pornthip Rojanasunant also castigated the government for what she called a lack of coordination and for sending her cloth to wrap bloated bodies in.

"Cloth is useless in preventing disease," she said.

German aid worker Andre Stulz said the danger of epidemics was rising hourly due to packed hospitals, a shortage of shelter and insufficient water supplies.

"Hospitals are overcrowded and local resources wholly insufficient," he said in Phuket, the island south of Khao Lak which is one of Asia's premier beach resorts and where 233 people are known to have died.

SHOVELS, HOES, HANDS

Most rescue workers are using shovels, hoes and hand saws to dig for bodies and many complained about a lack of boats to pick up bodies floating in the sea despite Thaksin's dispatch of an aircraft carrier and other navy ships to the area.

Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti told an army television station he was embarrassed to show foreign rescue teams what sort of equipment Thai disaster teams had.

"The Taiwanese and German teams who are helping us here have cable cameras to go through holes to look for bodies or sonar to search for living objects," he said.

"Our workers have only noses to smell for foul odors."

It also took rescue officials at least two days to get any heavy machinery, like back hoes and cranes, onto disaster-hit islands because of fears of aftershocks and the difficulty of moving it across land which had subsided or was sodden.

State hospital morgues are spilling over with bodies and Buddhist temples used as temporary mortuaries do not have enough space to house the constant stream of corpses.

It took Bangkok three days to send the first refrigerated containers to the region to store decomposing bodies.

Despite annual combined military and police exercises to train for airlifting natural disaster victims, disaster agencies have no comprehensive contingency plan, officials said.

Pornthip put it all down to lack of planning and cooperation.

"This is chaotic," Pornthip whose team was collecting DNA samples at a Khao Lak temple from unidentifiable corpses, told a Bangkok radio station.

"They knew corpses would decompose soon, but they never prepared for enough formalin to preserve the bodies. When formalin arrived, there weren't people to inject the bodies. When experts came, these bodies were too bloated for injection."

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?t...storyID=7199717