Maybe Up To 6000 Dead, Tidal Waves Slams Thailand

[khunkwai]

Didn't feel a thing up in Bang na, but I was barely awake so not likely to have felt it anyway. No one around here commented and I only found out when i turned on the TV at 6pm

Any one who might know a guy called Richard Reitman in Phuket and knows he's okay please let me know.

Cheers

Chris

Edited December 26, 2004 by khunkwai

[ovenman]

I've heard nothing of Pi-Pi.  Where does this 200 dead come from?

CNN is reporting this number for Phi Phi.

[CDB]

I am not interested in pointing fingers but it is true that a lot of lives could have been saved if a warning system was set up similar to the ones in the Pacific.

Any time there is a strong earthquake near the sea there is a risk of tsunamis. And SE Asia is in a risk zone. It doesn't cost so much money or expertise. The problem is simply complacency since we haven't had such an event for over a century.

These warning systems produce a lot of false warnings but do save lives (Hawaii is an example). Simply educating people that they should run for their lives if they see water receding rapidly on the beach would have saved lives. Yes, this is a natural disaster but there IS a lot people can do to lessen the impact of such an event in the future (unlike earthquakes themselves which are largely unpredictable).

To the event itself; it has affected all segments of Thai society not just tourists or the poor. In fact a member of the Royal family has been killed but this news is being withheld until the palace announce it.

[sprq]

There is no blame to be attached to anybody for not being ready for this. But the pathetic response of Thai TV needs noting: most of the day there has been little or nothing, with the usual idiotic game shows going on regardless on most channels.. Only now after 9pm is one channel able to give extensive coverage -- ITV.

How come a major province like Phuket doesn't have TV reporters and cameras permanently in situ and able to respond to breaking news? On the evidence of today, that's not the case. All day, you got far superior coverage of what's going on in Thailand on BBC World and CNN than on any Thai channel. And the 8 o'clock news still began with all the royal trivia...

[Candyflip]

Anyone hear about Woffie? Where is he? Is he safe?

[chuchok]

I am not interested in pointing fingers but it is true that a lot of lives could have been saved if a warning system was set up similar to the ones in the Pacific.

Any time there is a strong earthquake near the sea there is a risk of tsunamis. And SE Asia is in a risk zone. It doesn't cost so much money or expertise. The problem is simply complacency since we haven't had such an event for over a century.

These warning systems produce a lot of false warnings but do save lives (Hawaii is an example). Simply educating people that they should run for their lives if they see water receding rapidly on the beach would have saved lives. Yes, this is a natural disaster but there IS a lot people can do to lessen the impact of such an event in the future (unlike earthquakes themselves which are largely unpredictable).

To the event itself; it has affected all segments of Thai society not just tourists or the poor. In fact a member of the Royal family has been killed but this news is being withheld until the palace announce it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The only near accurate warning system is in the Pacific Ocean. The reason for this is because Tsunami happen there on a regular basis. They know the speed that they travel and have warning systems in place. (not that everybody takes notice of these anyway!)

There have been bugger all Tsunami in the Indian Ocean of any significance in the last century and this is the very reason why there has been very little study done. They are extremely rare!

Please can we try not to blame anybody for this. It is NATURE.

[RDN]

There is no blame to be attached to anybody for not being ready for this. But the pathetic response of Thai TV needs noting: most of the day there has been little or nothing.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you're wrong. My g/f was watching the news on Thai TV in the early afternoon.

[Wolfie]

I havn't seen Wolfie on today, does anyone know if he is ok, and all the other TV members in the area ???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the concern...

I was some 10km from the effected areas, my last post this mornign was from a bar some 100mtrs from the nearest signs...

Dave is well and good (spoke to him) in Khrabi right now, i see RDN online as i type this... so we few are ok, many others didnt get off as nearly as lightly as we did.

God bless those who lost their lives today.

[Dawn]

Does anyone have anymore info about Lanta, in particlular Long Beach?

[yeti]

Have friends in Lanta, happily there were awake, saw this huge wave (told me 8 meters), and run.

Bungalow destroyed, they wouldn't have survived if they had stayed inside.

Police is evacuating everybody away from the beach.

Lots (?) of people dead, but don't know anything about precise place.

[sprq]

There is no blame to be attached to anybody for not being ready for this. But the pathetic response of Thai TV needs noting: most of the day there has been little or nothing.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you're wrong. My g/f was watching the news on Thai TV in the early afternoon.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've been checking every hour, more or less, usually on the hour, and each time there was only one channel dealing with the disaster, if any at all, either Channel 5 or 11 or itv, and usually with just a newsreader gabbing, or some official at his desk having his moment of glory, or someone on the phone talking to an anchor, and sometimes a few pictures from Patong. That is simply not good enough in a country with relatively good technology and communications, and amply shows where Thai TV's head and money is -- in the game shows and soaps carrying on regardless.

[Bizz]

Thailand’s PM orders evacuation of Phuket Sky news now

Areas hit in phuket

Edited December 26, 2004 by Bizz

[Johpa]

Just watched one hour of news here on the west coast (7:00AM PST) of the USA including CNN, MSNBC and Fox news. Reported fatalities rose by about 1,000 in past hour:

Sumatra 2,000

Sri Lanka 3,000

India 2,000

Thailand 400

No reports as yet from Aceh region in Sumatra, anywhere in Burma, Maldives & Nicobar Islands. Thai reported fatalities centered on Phuket and Phi Phi with initial reports beginning to come in from Krabi Province.

Video from Phuket shows pretty big disaster along beach areas. Hotels along the beach up to three stories high are seen heavily damaged by wave and debris. I think I saw pictures from Karon beach which looked devastated. Expect fatalties in Thailand to exceed 1,000 once smaller villages are scouted.

[Crazy Dave]

thai tv is reporting over 120 farangs dead, lets hope they are wrong as they are most of the time. 168 thais dead and 2000 injured, also 40 divers reckoned dead, i assume these would be farangs...

[Wolfie]

Thailand’s PM orders evacuation of Phuket  Sky news now

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think sky is joining the ranks of the Daily Sport...

No such order has been issued, neither is it likely to...

[Dawn]

Cheers Yeti, if you get more info and post it I'd appreciate it, Dawn

[Jockstar]

This is freaky man. i'm just watching CNN. Do we have any exact figures yet for Thailand? My thoughts go out to all thoses affected.

[Wolfie]

Sea surges kill thousands in Asia

A man picks his way through debris on Phuket, Thailand

A wall of water several metres high wrought havoc in Thailand

More than 6,000 people have been killed across southern Asia in massive sea surges triggered by the strongest earthquake in the world for 40 years.

The 8.9 magnitude quake struck under the sea near Aceh in north Indonesia, generating a wall of water that sped across thousands of kilometres of sea.

More than 2,400 died in Sri Lanka, 1,870 in Indonesia and 1,600 in India.

Casualty figures are rising over a wide area, including tourist resorts on Thailand packed with holidaymakers.

DISASTER TOLL

Sri Lanka: 2,425 dead

Indonesia: 1,873 dead

India: 1,600 dead

Thailand: 257 dead

Malaysia: 28 dead

Maldives: 10 dead

Bangladesh: 2 dead

Source: Government officials

Eyewitness: Tsunami escape

In pictures: Quake disaster

Exact numbers of people killed, injured or missing in the countries hit, are impossible to confirm.

Hundreds are still thought to be missing from coastal regions and, in Sri Lanka alone, officials say more than a million people have been forced from their homes.

Click here for map of affected area

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga declared a national disaster and the military has been deployed to help rescue efforts.

Hundreds of fishermen are missing off India's southern coast, and there are reports of scores of bodies now being washed up on beaches.

Night has fallen in Indonesia and communications remain difficult, particularly to the strife-torn region of Aceh where the main quake was followed by nine aftershocks. Reports speak of bodies being recovered from trees.

A national disaster has also been announced in the low-lying Maldives islands, more than 2,500km (1,500 miles) from the quake's epicentre, after they were hit by severe flooding.

Waves forced out from the earthquake are even reported to have reached Somalia, on the east coast of Africa.

Resort 'wiped out'

Harrowing reports of people caught in the devastation and dramatic tales of escape from the waves are emerging from around the region.

Devastation at Madras beach

The beach in India's Madras was packed when the waves hit

A resident of Kakinada in India's southern Andhra Pradesh province, P Ramanamurthy, said he saw fishermen clinging to upturned boats being swept out to sea.

"I was shocked to see innumerable fishing boats flying on the shoulder of the waves, going back and forth into the sea, as if made of paper," he told the Associated Press news agency.

In Thailand, hundreds of holiday bungalows are reported to have been destroyed on the popular Phi Phi island.

Resort owner Chan Marongtaechar said he feared hundreds of people might have been lost.

"I am afraid that there will be a high figure of foreigners missing in the sea, and also my staff," he told AP after telephoning employees from Bangkok.

I was in the island of Vypeen near Kochi [in India] in the morning when at around 11am huge waves maybe up to 8 feet struck the coastline - panic was widespread

Krishnakumar,

Kochi, Kerala

Tell us your experiences

Indonesia's location - along the Pacific geological "Ring of Fire" - makes it prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Sunday's tremor - the fifth strongest since 1900 - had a particularly widespread effect because it seems to have taken place just below the surface of the ocean, analysts say.

Bruce Presgrave of the US Geological service told the Reuters news agency: "These big earthquakes, when they occur in shallow water... basically slosh the ocean floor... and it's as if you're rocking water in the bathtub and that wave can travel throughout the ocean."

Experts say tsunamis generated by earthquakes can travel at up to 500km/h.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4125481.stm

[gburns57au]

I am not interested in pointing fingers but it is true that a lot of lives could have been saved if a warning system was set up similar to the ones in the Pacific.

Any time there is a strong earthquake near the sea there is a risk of tsunamis. And SE Asia is in a risk zone. It doesn't cost so much money or expertise. The problem is simply complacency since we haven't had such an event for over a century.

These warning systems produce a lot of false warnings but do save lives (Hawaii is an example). Simply educating people that they should run for their lives if they see water receding rapidly on the beach would have saved lives. Yes, this is a natural disaster but there IS a lot people can do to lessen the impact of such an event in the future (unlike earthquakes themselves which are largely unpredictable).

To the event itself; it has affected all segments of Thai society not just tourists or the poor. In fact a member of the Royal family has been killed but this news is being withheld until the palace announce it.

What warning would you like, a Tsunami cant be detected on radar.....Just cos one area within X amount of miles from an epicentre gets a tsunami doesnt mean that another area a similar distance away will get one too. There is nothing to say that a tsunami will eventuate from a quake of that magnitude. By the time you see it coming it is usually too late....they move at a tremendous speed and dont usually reach their maximum intensity till close to shore. As the wave approaches it sucks in the water ahead of it....water recedes from the beach....travelling at hundreds of kilometers an hour, it is not a long time till the wave hits. Now if it was, say a 30 foot wave....you could not out run it.

First I have heard of a member of the royal family being involved but I will watch developments with interest

[Darknight]

Latest death toll from the BBC

DISASTER TOLL

Sri Lanka: 2,425 dead

Indonesia: 1,873 dead

India: 1,600 dead

Thailand: 257 dead

Malaysia: 28 dead

Maldives: 10 dead

Bangladesh: 2 dead

Source: Government officials

[Bizz]

Wolfie this is what they said

Thailand’s PM orders evacuation of tsunami hit areas.

[sting01]

And the part of your fantasy where some guy is sitting somewhere and not telephoning Thailand, etc, etc...??

This is not the time or place for such ignorant nonsense... Please don't try to pass off your clueless fantasies as facts... People here want to know REAL facts about this terrible situation, and your baseless accusations don't help at all.

I WANT to point out on such ignorant non-sense , as those stated by the so called ajarn (I always thought, folowing in that thai popular belief, then farang ajarn are mostly crossdresser + druggs addict + britt ... maybe I am wrong, someone told me recently there is also a huge amount of US tramps from Khao San Rd who use to be called ajarn ... what is your category).

Whatever, if really you are in teaching business, you should know there is several points all around the word that report earthquakes, so I don't think the tsunami have reach Thai coast in seconds, but certainly in 5 or 6 hours.... WHY NOTHING WAS MADE TO AVOID HUMAN LOOSE? That is thequestion .... it's sure 5 hours of shopping in less should have given less earning to some people , but is certainly not the reason ...

It's not a geologist who done the mistake, but widely some "political" who have done nothing ... I would like to see heads role on the ground like in 91 (1791), those who are responsible (accountant) for the life loose, the material loose MUST pay, whoever they are.

This country widely speak about democarcy, I suppose it must be time to apply it.

ANd to Ajjarn, don't think I am starting a personnal war , whatever I logg on only one time per week, but I really and deeply think the fact to refuse to speak about responsability is at least insulting for those who are dead.

Regards

[yeti]

They have evacuated in the hills, and phone is not good enough to have more news.

I guess I won't have them on the phone before tomorow...

Hope your friends/relatives are Ok...

[Wolfie]

I am not interested in pointing fingers but it is true that a lot of lives could have been saved if a warning system was set up similar to the ones in the Pacific.

Any time there is a strong earthquake near the sea there is a risk of tsunamis. And SE Asia is in a risk zone. It doesn't cost so much money or expertise. The problem is simply complacency since we haven't had such an event for over a century.

These warning systems produce a lot of false warnings but do save lives (Hawaii is an example). Simply educating people that they should run for their lives if they see water receding rapidly on the beach would have saved lives. Yes, this is a natural disaster but there IS a lot people can do to lessen the impact of such an event in the future (unlike earthquakes themselves which are largely unpredictable).

To the event itself; it has affected all segments of Thai society not just tourists or the poor. In fact a member of the Royal family has been killed but this news is being withheld until the palace announce it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What warning would you like, a Tsunami cant be detected on radar.....Just cos one area within X amount of miles from an epicentre gets a tsunami doesnt mean that another area a similar distance away will get one too. There is nothing to say that a tsunami will eventuate from a quake of that magnitude. By the time you see it coming it is usually too late....they move at a tremendous speed and dont usually reach their maximum intensity till close to shore. As the wave approaches it sucks in the water ahead of it....water recedes from the beach....travelling at hundreds of kilometers an hour, it is not a long time till the wave hits. Now if it was, say a 30 foot wave....you could not out run it.

First I have heard of a member of the royal family being involved but I will watch developments with interest

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If the ability to predict Earth Quakes with exact accuracy existed, i'm sure todays loss of life would have been minimised.

Unfortunatly, science hasnt come that far.

[Bizz]

Mabye he is right the aftershock hasent hit yet and this is usually 1 below the 8.5

mabye it is a wise decision to do so.

[gburns57au]

And the part of your fantasy where some guy is sitting somewhere and not telephoning Thailand, etc, etc...??

This is not the time or place for such ignorant nonsense... Please don't try to pass off your clueless fantasies as facts... People here want to know REAL facts about this terrible situation, and your baseless accusations don't help at all. 

I WANT to point out on such ignorant non-sense , as those stated by the so called ajarn (I always thought, folowing in that thai popular belief, then farang ajarn are mostly crossdresser + druggs addict + britt ... maybe I am wrong, someone told me recently there is also a huge amount of US tramps from Khao San Rd who use to be called ajarn ... what is your category).

Whatever, if really you are in teaching business, you should know there is several points all around the word that report earthquakes, so I don't think the tsunami have reach Thai coast in seconds, but certainly in 5 or 6 hours.... WHY NOTHING WAS MADE TO AVOID HUMAN LOOSE? That is thequestion .... it's sure 5 hours of shopping in less should have given less earning to some people , but is certainly not the reason ...

It's not a geologist who done the mistake, but widely some "political" who have done nothing ... I would like to see heads role on the ground like in 91 (1791), those who are responsible (accountant) for the life loose, the material loose MUST pay, whoever they are.

This country widely speak about democarcy, I suppose it must be time to apply it.

ANd to Ajjarn, don't think I am starting a personnal war , whatever I logg on only one time per week, but I really and deeply think the fact to refuse to speak about responsability is at least insulting for those who are dead.

Regards

read my last post......no one is to blame....!!!!!...get it ????

[Wolfie]

so I don't think the tsunami have reach Thai coast in seconds, but certainly in 5 or 6 hours.... WHY NOTHING WAS MADE TO AVOID HUMAN LOOSE? That is thequestion .... it's sure 5 hours of shopping in less should have given less earning to some people , but is certainly not the reason

The earthquake hit at approx 8:30am.

The tidal wave hit Phuket approx 10am.

An hour an a half it took, give or take 10mins.

Very few nations would have time to react to that kind of timescale. lets not b1tch about formalities and just send our thoughts out to those effected.

[Darknight]

Khum Bhumi Jensen, the son of Prince Ubolrattana and the grandson of His Majesty the King, is among many people still unaccounted for, according to a radio message broadcast from Phuket.

An unnamed source working for the provincial authorities confirmed the missing-person radio bulletin, which was broadcast at the order of provincial governor Udomsak Assawarangkool. Khun Bhumi was last seen in Takua Pa district in Phang Nga province.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

for thai readers

http://www.manager.co.th/Local/ViewNews.as...D=9470000102453

[gburns57au]

Mabye he is right the aftershock hasent hit yet and this is usually 1 below the 8.5

mabye it is a wise decision to do so.

There have been at least 9 aftershocks....more are expected....the highest was 7. something but no further waves resulted from it......they do expect more in the mid 6 range...but again....no more waves are expected.

[chuchok]

And the part of your fantasy where some guy is sitting somewhere and not telephoning Thailand, etc, etc...??

This is not the time or place for such ignorant nonsense... Please don't try to pass off your clueless fantasies as facts... People here want to know REAL facts about this terrible situation, and your baseless accusations don't help at all. 

I WANT to point out on such ignorant non-sense , as those stated by the so called ajarn (I always thought, folowing in that thai popular belief, then farang ajarn are mostly crossdresser + druggs addict + britt ... maybe I am wrong, someone told me recently there is also a huge amount of US tramps from Khao San Rd who use to be called ajarn ... what is your category).

Whatever, if really you are in teaching business, you should know there is several points all around the word that report earthquakes, so I don't think the tsunami have reach Thai coast in seconds, but certainly in 5 or 6 hours.... WHY NOTHING WAS MADE TO AVOID HUMAN LOOSE? That is thequestion .... it's sure 5 hours of shopping in less should have given less earning to some people , but is certainly not the reason ...

It's not a geologist who done the mistake, but widely some "political" who have done nothing ... I would like to see heads role on the ground like in 91 (1791), those who are responsible (accountant) for the life loose, the material loose MUST pay, whoever they are.

This country widely speak about democarcy, I suppose it must be time to apply it.

ANd to Ajjarn, don't think I am starting a personnal war , whatever I logg on only one time per week, but I really and deeply think the fact to refuse to speak about responsability is at least insulting for those who are dead.

Regards

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do some research mate, before you climb into people.