December 27, 2004 - By Dilip Ganguly/AP Writer/Sri Lanka
Rescuers scoured waterlogged coasts across Asia on Monday after an earthquake of epic power struck below the Indian Ocean and sent huge walls of water crashing onto beaches in at least nine countries, killing more than 14,000 people and leaving millions homeless.
The death toll along southern shores of Asia—and as far west as Somalia on the African coast, where nine were reported killed—increased steadily as authorities sorted out a far-flung disaster caused by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the world’s strongest in 40 years.
Worst-hit Sri Lanka and Indonesia had at least a million people each driven from their homes. Warships in Thailand steamed to tropical island resorts to search for survivors as helicopters in India rushed medicine to stricken areas and troops in Sri Lanka dealt with small-scale looting and a prison break of 200 inmates.
Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India each reported thousands dead, and Thailand—a Western tourist hotspot—said hundreds were dead and thousands missing. Deaths also were reported Malaysia, Maldives, Burma and Bangladesh.
The earthquake hit at 6:58 a.m. (0058GMT) Sunday off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The tsunami came as much as 2 1-2 hours later, without warning, on a morning of crystal blue skies.
Sunbathers and snorkelers, cars and cottages, fishing boats and even a lighthouse were swept away.
“It’s an extraordinary calamity of such colossal proportions,” said Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa of India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu, where beaches turned into open-air mortuaries.
“It all seems to have happened in the space of 20 minutes. A massive tidal wave of extreme ferocity ... smashed everything in sight to smithereens,” she said.
Sri Lanka— an island nation some 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) west of the epicenter— had a death toll of at least 6,517, with 5,017 reported killed in government-controlled areas and at least 1,500 in Tamil rebel-controlled territory. Some 1 million people were displaced.
About 25,000 troops were deployed Monday to crack down on sporadic, small-scale looting in Sri Lanka’s coastal areas and help in rescue efforts as helicopters dropped medicine and rescue teams to remote areas. About 200 inmates took advantage of the chaos, escaping from a prison in coastal Matara.
Sri Lanka’s government declared a national disaster. So did the neighboring Maldives, a low-lying string of 1,192 coral atolls where 32 people were killed and power was cut by the rushing waters.
The US Geological Survey said the quake’s magnitude was 9.0 – the strongest since a 9.2 magnitude temblor in
Traveling at nearly jetliner speeds, the first huge waves began pummeling southern Thailand an hour after the quake. In 2 1/2 hours, the torrents had traveled some 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) and slammed India and Sri Lanka. They eventually struck Somalia.
Towns in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Sumatra, the closest land to the earthquake's epicenter, were swamped by the waves. The Health Ministry said at least 4,491 people were killed in Indonesia, hundreds missing and at least a million left homeless. A reporter for The Associated Press saw bodies wedged into trees in one village, apparently left there by receding waters.
The quake occurred where several geological plates push against each other with massive force. The US Geological Survey said a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) section along the boundary of the plates shifted, triggering the sudden displacement of a huge volume of water.
Waves as high as six meters (20 feet) thundered into eight countries and swept away tourists, fishermen, hotels, homes and cars.
In Thailand, where tourist season is at its peak as Europeans escape frigid winters, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said up to 700 people were killed and more than 4,100 injured.
Thai warships steamed toward islands to rescue survivors, at least 200 of whom were evacuated by helicopter from Phi Phi island – where "The Beach" starring Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed.
Witnesses in Thailand described seeing waters disappearing away from the beaches in the minutes before the waves struck. Scientists say the effect is caused by tidal waves sucking shallow coastal waters out to sea before returning them as a massive wall of water.
“The water went back, back, back, so far away, and everyone wondered what it was – a full moon or what? Then we saw the wave come, and we ran,” said Katri Seppanen, who was on Phuket island's popular Patong beach with her family when the wave washed over their heads and separated them. They found each other two hours later.
Thailand reported 35 foreigners among its dead, and Sri Lanka reported 40.
The United States said three Americans were killed. Denmark said two of its citizens perished, and New Zealand reported one national dead.
Also among the missing, injured or dead were nationals of South Korea, Japan, Germany, South Africa, Hong Kong, Britain, Australia, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, Chile, Thai media reported.
In India, the waves swept away boats, homes and vehicles, killing at least 2,283 people—most of the victims in Tamil Nadu state, officials said. At least 20,000 people were evacuated, officials said.
In Malaysia, at least 48 people, including foreign tourists swimming or riding jetskis, were killed on the resort island of Penang, officials said. Two people were killed in Bangladesh.
In Burma, about a dozen people died when waves destroyed a bridge in Kawthaung, fishing industry officials said.
From the Vatican, Pope John Paul II led appeals for aid for victims, and the 25-nation European Union promised to quickly deliver euro3 million (US $4 million).
“The Christmas holiday has been saddened by the news that comes from Southeast Asia about the powerful earthquake,” the pontiff said.
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