This is awful

http://www.cnn.com/2004/W...index.html

CNN) -- The world's most powerful earthquake in more than 50 years triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into villages and seaside resorts across Asia on Sunday, killing thousands across five countries.

The initial quake, measuring 8.9 in magnitude, struck about 100 miles (160 km) off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island around 7 a.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center.

Over 1,500 people in Sri Lanka were killed after tidal waves devastated the country's eastern coast, according to Colombo police.

Officials in the eastern district of Batticaloa reported 1,032 fatalities there. In Trincomalee, there were reports of 320 deaths. Further south in popular tourist resort of Galle, there were around 200 deaths, according to police and hospital sources.

Several districts in the south have still not reported, and authorities fear the death toll could rise. The tidal waves also swept away a high security prison in Matara, in southern Sri Lanka, allowing 200 prisoners to escape.

Eyewitnesses in eastern Sri Lankan port city of Tricomalee reported waves as high as 40 feet, hitting inland as far as half a mile.

India's Interior Minister Shivraj Patil said at least 1,000 Indians were killed as a result of the massive waves. A resident of Madras in Tamil Nadu district -- one of the hardest hit areas -- said he witnessed several people being swept away by a tidal wave there.

In southern Thailand, some 200 were killed on the island of Phiphi, between Thailand's coastal area and the resort island of Phuket, where at least 48 were killed, according to the deputy governor. One witness said Phuket's Laguna Beach resort area is "completely gone."

NEIC geophysicist Don Blakeman said there was also a report that an entire coastal village in Thailand was destroyed by a tsunami.

Closer to the epicenter, some 250 people were killed in Indonesia -- most of them in Aceh, in northern Sumatra, according to journalist John Aglionby in Jakarta.

The earthquake is classified as "great" -- the strongest possible classification given by the NEIC.

Blakeman said all of the tsunamis were triggered by the initial quake, and not the nine aftershocks.

One major aftershock, measuring 7.3 in magnitude, struck about 200 miles (300 km) northwest of Banda Aceh -- on Sumatra's northernmost tip -- over four hours after the initial quake, according to the NEIC. The rest of the aftershocks measured under 6.1 in magnitude.

The NEIC expects the quake to produce hundreds of smaller aftershocks, under 4.6 magnitude, and thousands smaller than that.

"A quake of this size has some pretty serious effects," he said.

He explained the quake was the energy released from "a very large rupture in the earth's crust" over 600 miles (1,000 km) long.

It was the strongest earthquake to hit since November 1952, when a 9.0 quake struck near Russia's remote Kuril Islands.

unbelievable those amounts of dead people

A view of the damage caused by a tsunami at a beach in Phuket, about 535 miles south of Bangkok, Dec. 26, 2004. The wave was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean and it tossed cars around like toys on Thailand's southern tourist playground on Sunday and swept into luxury hotels on Phuket Island, killing at least 120 people in the region, officials said. Photo by Stringer/Thailand/Reuters

AndGodCreatedMe said:

Horrible.
Phukett is normally an awesome, beautiful place.


-----
And this isn't nearly as bad, but we just had a strange windstorm hit the Tampabay area and it's closed down 2 of our major bridges, and knocked out street lights across the city. Mass choas is happenning becuase of all the post-Christmas shoppers stuck on the roads.

I was just reading about this. This is just horrible.

I think we don't realise yet the extent of what happened overthere

An aftershock of 7.3?!!!!

Oh my God!! Living in California, it hits pretty close to home.


How terrifying.

according to the dutch news there are now over 10.000 victims and several thousand missing



number of victims edit
[Edited 12/26/04 9:17am]

Wow

Good god. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come.

Have we heard from Fauxie? He is in Thailand. I thought another orger was there, too, aside from Fauxie and his wife....


If anyone hears anything, let us all know...

Oh. My.

I shouldn't have clicked this for the same reason I don't watch the news I'm too sensitive

BabyGirl said:

It's heartbreaking, isn't it?

AndGodCreatedMe said:

I heard the death toll has risen to 13,000

i posted this in the p&r forum. it's up to 15,500 people now.

heybaby said:

HOLY SHIT are you serious??!! This is so unbelievably tragic

Fauxie should be in Bangkok, far away from the danger. I was only down at those islands last month. I've contacted one of the people there and apparently everything is okay, luckily.

may God bless and keep those who are missing and may He bring peace to the family and friends of the victims.

23.500 victims

AndGodCreatedMe said:

Actually.... world population: 6,000,000,000 (plus) - approx 25,000-30,000 = ....
Or shall we take Hiroshima 1945, death toll 100,000-180,000.

Anyway, I guess you get my point.

JoweeCoco said:

This isn't the time for mathematical comparisons.

sabaisabai said:

[snipped -Tom]

MOther nature is fierce, sometimes.

This earthquake moved Sumatra 100 miles to the northwest.

IT was so intense it disturbed the earths rotation.

Makes one ponder how much control one really has!

Let's hope this will bring the world closer. I'm sending money. That's all i can do.