A look back at December 27, 2004 - Boxing Day Tsunami
Posted: Thursday, May 20, 2010
by Rose-Marie Chaperon
Chaperon Consulting, LLC
"Harbor Wave" when transliterated in Japanese is a term that roughly means Tsunami. A vertical disturbance in the ocean for example an earthquake, landslide, or volcanic eruption triggers a Tsunami. On December 27, 2004 the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia had one of the most devastating geological experiences. The scientific community referred to this disaster as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, however; the resulting tsunami itself is given various names, including the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Asian Tsunami, Indonesian Tsunami, and Boxing Day Tsunami. One may call it by many names, it is known as the most deadly and the most destructive earthquake in our history.
Up until a few years prior to 2004, the occurrence known as the tsunami was not on the minds of most of the world's population, nevertheless, all that was changed on December 26, 2004. The earthquake that generated the great Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 is estimated to have released the energy of 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). An earthquake that reached a magnitude of 9.3 struck off the Northwest coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
How did it happen? The earthquake was a result of a convoluted slip on the fault where the oceanic portion of the Indian Ocean plate slides under Sumatra, which is part of the Eurasian Plate. Some may think that only one country was affected by this disastrous storm, however; all of these countries, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand were all badly hit by the Boxing Day 2004 Tsunami whose epicenter was under the sea near Aceh, Sumatra, north Indonesia, in the Indian Ocean. I will be elaborating on lives taken by this deadly phenomenon, the inefficiency of government, the pre and post relationship between Australia and Indonesia and finally what can done to save lives in the future.
There have been many earthquakes. Such as the 1960 Chile quake which caused lethal tsunamis along the coast of South America, in Hawaii, and as far away as Japan. In addition, in 1964 there was an earthquake in Prince William Sound of Alaska, this earthquake generated waves that killed about 122 people. (Britt, 2005) . Prior to these quakes, there were many other storms; such as the January 1556 in Shansi, China who had taken nearly 830,000 lives. In retrospect a tsunami is essentially the same thing, with an earthquake or other event moving the ocean floor up or down and displacing titanic quantities of water. In comparison, the total deaths from the Dec. 26, 2004 disaster remained uncertain, however; a worldwide initial estimate put the estimate at 275,950, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The Dec. 26, 2004 earthquake was put at magnitude 9.0 initially; it is known to be the strongest earthquake ever measured (Geology.com , 2005-2009) . This tsunami-changed people's lives in Southeast Asia, because they lost family members and their countries were damaged and destroyed beyond recognition. If a warning system had been in effect in Southeast Asia not as many people would have died because they would have known to evacuate. The earthquake was located about forty kilometers down sea level with its epicenter at 3.298oN, 95.779oE and the focal depth was about ten kilometers. "Hundreds, if not thousands, of aftershocks have shaken the area since the massive tremor last December 26th that triggered (Wright, 2005) .
The pre and post relationship between Australia and Indonesia Prior to this disaster, Australia, Indonesia relationship was chaotic amongst these two neighbors. Aceh Indonesia was the closest point of land to the epicenter of the massive 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which triggered a tsunami that devastated much of the western coast of the region, including part of the capital of Banda Aceh. Prior to Boxing Day, it would be near impossible for the Indonesians to allow Australian troops into such a sensitive Indonesian area like Aceh.
Aceh has a history of political independence and fierce resistance to control by outsiders, including the former Dutch colonists and the Indonesian government. Aceh has substantial natural resources, including oil and gas - some estimates put Aceh gas reserves as being the largest in the world. Relative to most of Indonesia, it is a religiously conservative area. During the disaster 226,000 Indonesians lost their lives and countless went missing and or displaced. In my opinion, this natural disaster is what called for a peace agreement between the two countries.
Post the disaster the relationship between these two countries changed in an almost symbolic way 800-900 Australian troops were allowed to enter in Aceh. It was an improvement from the previous years. "Until Boxing Day, the mere suggestion that Australian troops would be allowed to enter was absurd".
After the disaster, when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met Prime Minister John Howard on attending a special ASEAN Leaders' meeting on the Aftermath of Tsunami and Earthquake in Jakarta on 6th January, he was quoted as saying 'You were first on the phone. You were the first to have aircraft on the ground. That is a gesture / will never forget.'.
What can do to save lives in the future It is impossible to prevent a tsunami, because once it is formed it is impossible to stop it. However; if Asia had an effective warning and evacuating system in place many lives could have been saved. A few preventive measures could be put in place such as floodgates to redirect incoming water caused by the tsunami. Additionally, it is certainly possible that government could have provided other coastal areas further away with adequate time for many people to get out of danger by moving to higher ground.Even with all these measures in place a tsunami as large as the Boxing Day Tsunami no amount of floodgates could have reduced the strength of the water.
The tsunami was a negative event; and one of the most natural disasters of our time, although the United States lands were not affected, however; many lives were. This negative event has also brought with it some positives; it made it a significant event for Australia for both reasons. This killer storm created a closer positive relationship with South-East Asia especially Indonesia the hardest hit. It is very sad that it had to take a tragedy like the Boxing Day Tsunami to force these two countries to become allies. This makes one wonder, would we ever have world peace?
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