2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami Archives

On December 26, 2004 one of the most devastating disasters of modern history took place. At 7:58 local time, a 9.3 earthquake hit off the coast of Meulaboh, Aceh, Indonesia. This spawned a massive tsunami which killed over 230,000 people across the Indian Ocean ocean. Many videos from that day were immortalized in infamy. Others were not. I'm here to save the less well known videos

Account run by:
Past Pictures (Owner)
brickyguy

View channel on YouTube

Switch Invidious Instance

Videos

Shorts

Playlists

Posts

2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami Archives

Exactly 20 years ago today, at 7:58:53 AM local time, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake hit off Northwestern coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Its epicenter was located offshore of the city of Meulaboh and propagated northwards for almost 1,300 kilometers lasting 10 minutes long. This earthquake likely would've killed between 1-2,000 people, mainly in the city of Banda Aceh where it reached a Mercalli intensity of ix (9). Other large cities with high intensities were Meulaboh, Indonesia (VIII) and Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India (VIII). The quake was felt from India to Singapore. 30 minutes after the earthquake, the ocean began receding. A huge tsunami was about to hit but there was no tsunami education in Aceh at the time. A huge wave struck. In Meulaboh it reached 15 meters (50 feet) and killed almost 40,000. Some towns like Leupung, Calang, and Lhoknga lost over 90% of their population. Waves up to 51 meters (167 feet) hit Leupung killing 98% of the inhabitants. There were no houses or even foundations left. In Lhoknga, the tsunami also reached a 51 meter run up leaving only 1 building, a mosque, standing in the main Lampuuk areas. The area had quite literally disappeared. Calang lies on a peninsula where the tsunami surged in from two sides at once killing almost all inhabitants. The tsunami then hit the capital, Banda Aceh. Waves up to 13 meters (45 feet) flooded half the city, killing 61,000 (around 30% of the city's population). As the water hit citizens panicked yelling "The sea was coming" people ran instead of seeing high ground. Almost every building within 2 KM of the ocean was washed away and water reached up to 5 km inland. The waves were so powerful, they didn't just sweep buildings away, the land along the coast was eroded away, especially by the largest second and third waves. In Indonesia almost 170,000 people were left dead or missing. It also hit towns on the east coast of Sumatra with waves up to 7 meters, killing several thousand in Krueng-Raya. The waves completely erased dozens of smaller towns along the Northern and Western Acehnese coasts. These included Gleebruk and Teunom which lost over half of its inhabitants. Aceh at the time had already been ravaged by civil war for 20 years at that point. It was extremely poor and none of the inhabitants, besides those on Simeulue (because of oral tradition) knew a tsunami was coming. Citizens stood no chance from such a monster wave. After devastating Indonesia, the tsunami hit Sri Lanka. waves up to 13 meters (45 feet) hit the island country leaving almost 40,000 dead or missing. Worst hit were Hambantota, Galle, and Batticoloa with 4,000-6,000 dead recorded into each. The large bays along parts of the coast amplified the tsunami waves. Most of the casualties were on the Southern and Eastern Coasts of Sri Lanka. One of the more interesting elements of the tsunami is how it refracted around the Southern Coast of Sri Lanka and amplified into certain towns on the Eastern Coast. This includes Galle with around 4,000 casualties from 6 meter waves. 600 died when the tsunami hit a bus station in Galle drowning those inside. A overloaded train in Peraliya overturned after being hit by a 9 meter tsunami killing almost all of the 1,700 people inside. There was no warning besides in Colombo which was not damaged in the tsunami. India was also heavily affected with almost 20,000 dead or missing, More than half of these were on the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands, some of which were wiped completely away by the tsunami which reached up to 18 meters and subsidence from the earthquake. On mainland India, 6,000 people died in the city of Nagapattinam after a tsunami up to 9 meters flooded through the city. Other towns were heavily damaged including Kanyakumari which is famous for its offshore statures. Ther densely packed coast, large waves, poor infrastructure, and no warning resulted in heavily casualties. Waves also devastated Thailand with 8,000 casualties and 22 meter waves (the highest recorded outside Indonesia). By far the worst hit town was Khao Lak with 4,000 dead or missing, but that number could be much higher because of the undocumented and uncounted Burmese Migrants working in Khao Lak at the time. Around 2,000 tourists were among the dead. The tsunami in Khao Lak reached 15 meters, multiple waves piled on top of each other to form one huge wave. Neighboring Khao Lak, the fishing village of Ban Nam Khem was equally devastated by waves up to 18 meters. 1,500 were killed in Ban Nam Khem with almost all victims being Thai nationals. Koh Phi Phi wave heavily affected because the tsunami struck from both sides, submerging the densely packed flat Isthmus in 6 meters of water, eventually pushing most of the town into Tonsai Bay. Around 60 people were confirmed killed by waves up to 5 meters in Myanmar but it's thought the government downplayed the damage and the true number could be in the hundreds. Somalia, across the Indian Ocean from Sumatra was struck 9 hours after the tsunami by waves almost 11 meters. Worst hit was Xaafun village with waves up to 9 meters. 300 died in Somalia. The resort paradise of the Maldives were struck by waves up to 4 meters, but with a maximum land elevation of 2 meters, the tsunami was devastating. Over 100 people were left dead or missing in the Maldives. Malaysia was hit hard with waves over 4 meters. Around 70 were killed on popular beaches in Kedah and Penang. Other countries with fatalities were Tanzania (12), the Seychelles (3), Bangladesh (2), Yemen (2), South Africa (2 almost 8,500 Kilometers from the earthquake), and Kenya (1). It is the deadliest natural disaster in the history of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Sweden (over 500 Swedes were killed, most in Khao Lak making it the deadliest in Swedish history). It is the deadliest earthquake, tsunami, and natural disaster of the 21st century so far and the deadliest tsunami in recorded history. Waves up to 2 meters were recorded in Mexico from the tsunami and 1 meter waves were recorded in Antarctica. Surges were also observed on the Brazilian coast.

10 months ago | [YT] | 47

View 18 replies

2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami Archives

This is Mrs. Melawati, an Indonesian woman who survived the tsunami by clinging on to a palm tree in the ocean. A resident of Aceh Province, she like so many others were living normally one moment before the earthquake struck and ultimately, the tsunami.

The tsunami waves struck her home province, catching her off guard. When the water began to recede with Melawati in it, she began searching for floating debris to grab ahold of, and she luckily spotted the uprooted trunk of a palm tree. For 5 whole days Melawati clung on, shivering in the cold water and wearing only rags. She ate the tree's fruit and even its bark to survive, while at the same time being bitten by fish under the water. On day 5, she spotted a ship sailing nearby. Melawati began waving frantically to draw the attention of the crew, which worked. The crew of the ship, a Malaysian tuna vessel, eventually pulled her out of the water. Afterwards, she cried throughout the 3 days she stayed on the ship before it docked in Malaysia. Remarkably, Melawati later learned while undergoing treatment for her injuries that she was 4 and a half months pregnant with her first child. “I’m very glad, very happy,” she said.

Sources:
www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6781660
www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jan-04-fg-dri…

1 year ago | [YT] | 12

View 2 replies

2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami Archives

This is Rizal Shahputra, an Indonesian man who survived the tsunami in Banda Aceh and was swept 100 miles out to sea, surviving for 8 days before being rescued.

The story goes that on December 26th, Rizal was cleaning a mosque when suddenly a group of children rushed in to warn him about the incoming waves. However, before they could all escape, the tsunami smashed into the mosque, sweeping them all out to sea. In the water, Rizal tried to grab on to any floating debris, and eventually he found some uprooted trees to cling on to. He fashioned the trees into a makeshift raft to float on. The first day floating in the sea, Rizal saw hundreds of people struggling to stay afloat or swimming all around him, trying to find any floating debris to cling on to. On the second day, he saw six women drown, unable to cling on to the debris any longer. "They were asking me to help them but I couldn't." Rizal later recalled. As the days passed, he saw more and more of his friends and family dying one by one. "At first, there were some friends with me," Rizal said. "After a few days, they were gone... I saw bodies left and right. Everybody sank, my family members sank. There were bodies around me." Rizal survived on rain water he somehow managed to collect and floating coconuts in the water. During the 8 days, one ship had actually missed him floating on his raft, until the crew of the Japanese-owned MV Durban Bridge finally spotted him. They fished him out of the water. The ship's chief officer, Huang Wen Feng, described Rizal's survival as a miracle. "When I saw him, I was very very surprised to see someone standing," he said. "He was shouting at us. I couldn't believe it." Rizal had suffered multiple injuries from the tsunami and was sunburnt, but he had survived.

Sources:
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/survivor-clu…
www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/2005/03/05/su…
www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jan/06/tsunami2004.…