Tsunami

[M636C]

I imagine that everyone is aware of the terrible damage caused by the undesea earthquake off Banda Aceh in Sumatra and that the damage extended to countries surrounding the entire Indian Ocean. Current estimates suggest up to 75 000 deaths, including many tourists from Europe and Australia, and presumably the USA as well.

In southern Sri Lanka, a coastal passenger train on the 5'6" gauge in the area near Galle, said to be carrying 800 passengers, was swamped and derailed. The locomotive was a blue painted hood unit, and is most likely one of the Canadian GMD built G12 units in service on the Sri Lanka railways. The locomotive was on its side without its trucks. Many of the passenger cars were also on their sides. It has been suggested that there were no survivors.

Peter

[edblysard]

Lest anyone get the idea that tsunamis are something that happens elsewhere, or "over there", both Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands have been hit by tsunamis, and the Gulf Cost States have all suffered massive flooding from storm surges.

Sadly, I think this one will be the most deadly ones ever recorded...and worst, there is almost no warning systems in place in most of the Pacific Rim countries, where these occur most often.

Saw some new footage of the train...it looked like a HO model that a angry child had smashed about...

Ed

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

The tsunami which hit Hawaii in 1946 or 1948 (I'm not sure of the year) also destroyed most of the Hawaii Consolidated Railway which served the Big Island.

I also remember the tsunamis which struck the West Coast in the aftermath of the Alaska earthquake of 1964.

[Anonymous]

I have seen some news footage by computer (tv gave us the ghost and since I watch so little tv I am too cheap to buy another one right now). I am amazed by the loss of life caused by the tsunami. I am also amazed how quiet it was when happening, at least on video anyway. This is a tragedy of the highest magnitude.

[dwil89]

Unfortunately, in modern times, loss of life and damage from Hurricanes and Tsunamis is going to be much greater, as the Earth's population has exploded upward, and much development has been done along the Coastal regions of many countries. Hurricanes are causing so much more damage along coastal regions than a century ago, because many more people have chosen to live there than years ago...The lesson from this Tsunami is that Mother Nature still has the upper hand on things.....Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown

[tree68]

Some of the amateur video that's made it onto TV belies the power of the event. The sight of water gently washing into the hotel swimming pool carries with it the grim realization that there were hundreds of people between the shore and the pool.

One might also expect to see a tower wave, a hundred feet high, slamming into the shore. I haven't seen that, but the amount of water in the surge is astounding.

A part-time newswoman from Syracuse was among those who survived, with some significant injuries, according to the station where she worked. Her husband also survived. It appears their story is rare.

While a warning system would have saved lives, I imagine that the possiblity of such event was considered about the same as a tsunami hitting Kansas.

[eolafan]

Lack of education on the warning signs of such an impending event (in this case it was the water temporarily receeding from the shoreline before the wave hit) is the biggest contributor to this tragedy (other than the natural one, i.e. the earthquake). Understandable but tragic none the less.

[kenneo]

California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska and Hawaii all have warning systems in place.

With the needs of their respective populations reletive to the amount of money available, the need for a warning system that protects against something that may happen once a centery will be far down the spending list from something that needs to be done yesterday.

The last event of this nature that I am aware of is the eruption of Krakatoa, a volcano located on an island of the same name on the opposite (East) side of Sumatra which erupted in 1883 and then disintigrated in a huge explosion that threw a tidal wave through out Indonesia, SouthEast Asia and the Phillipines of much greater force than this event. The "ash" cloud from this event blanketed the world for the next two years and completely ruined at least one growing season world wide and reduced temperatures several degrees world wide for those two years.

[Modelcar]

...I imagine seeing this action of water leaving the shore line and then returning with awful force at the start of all that has happened would be mind boggling...Not realizing what in the world is happening...before reality sets in....and then it's too late to get away.
And yes saw the latest film that Peter describes...and I noted the railroad gauge seemed to be wide gauge...But didn't know how wide it really was. That engine on it's side and the passenger cars washed farther away from the tracks than the engine...Terrible.
I'm afraid the loss of life will reach 100,000....or more after everyone is found and then perhaps the disease might take many thousands more...Just awful.

[jcavinato]

There was an interesting piece on one of the science channels about a year ago about them. They shows how they can also start with a sudden displacement of water from a large landslide. Some Swiss scientists showed how it happens. They also said the most vulnerable place in the world is the east coast of Florida and up to South Carolina. The hillsides in the Azores are deep laywers of dirt on firm rock mountains. Many days of rain could potentially cause a sudden and massive landslide into the water that would cause a wave upwards of 100' to hit the U.S. southern coast in just a few hours.

The world is really small.

[andrewjonathon]

There was a news report last night that said the train engineer survived unlike the passengers.

One journalist doing a commentary last night on the tsunami said "If when you are born, you are born in a first world country instead of the third world, you have just won the biggest lottery of your life." It is so true. Not only are these people some of the poorest in the world but it seems the worst things always happen in third world countries.

[Anonymous]

Mmmm. . . I think there's a quite a few people in Florida right now that would differ with that assessment. . . . true, the death toll is higher with the tsunami, but I hear that something like 20% of people in the affected areas of Florida are, um,' between roofs' or worse. . . which is a comparable number to Sri Lanka (10% of total population without shelter.)

Being given a warning (and paying attention to it!) makes a big difference.

Plus, think what the 1906 San Fransisco quake must have been like, or the Chicago fire, or some of the wild-fires we've had recently. . . Mount St. Helens disrupted a significant portion of the USA with ashfall; Chernobyl (manmade, but work with me) affected big chunks of Europe and Asia's Agriculture.

Seattle is sitting in an ideal place for a re-run of the ancient Mt Vesuvius scenario; and the Mountain in question is showing signs of waking up. . . . When it DOES go, it'll be a economic disaster of epic proportions. (note that I didn't say 'if it goes'; it will eventually; and probably when it's least convienient for the people near by.)

Mother Nature Bats Last. . . and she doesn't care who's in the way when she hit a line-drive.

The difference is that the first -world countries have more excess capital and a broader infrastructure base to communicate the hazard, prepare ahead of time (via building codes and planning) and to evacuate the threatened area during a disaster, and then cushion the blow afterward. In short, we're not any better at dodging; we're just better equipped to roll with the punches.

[jcavinato]

True, the U.S. has FEMA and a lot of other emergency systems in place. Too, no doubt one of the benefits of the post 9/11 security and communications systems is better linkages and responses to just about any emergencies. Once you get away from the industrialized countries the existence of these things is quite thin.

[eolafan]

I had heard that this disaster was the worst natural disaster resulting in loss of life in recorded history, but today the Chicago Tribune listed the all time worse such disasters and this one came in #7. There have been six more, mostly in China, Japan and Turkey, that claimed (each) over 200,000 lives. Interesting that we here in the US quickly forget about such things due to their being so very far away from us.

[M636C]

Much to my surprise, I saw an interview with a man who had been a passenger on the Sri Lankan train and had escaped, although some detail appears to have been lost in translation, and I didn't understand what he had done to get out, although I assume that he was good swimmer.

It is New Years Eve here, so I wish everyone a Happy (and SAFE) New Year.

I spent the earlier part of the evening watching HMAS "Kanimbla" preparing to depart for relief duty in Indonesia, probably Aceh. It was carrying two Sea King helicopters and two "Mk 8" Landing Craft. The Commander pointed out that it would carry a Company of Army Engineers with construction equipment, which could be inserted without outside help. "Kanimbla" is a heavily modified USN "Newport" class ship, and is powered by six Alco 16-251 engines (so we aren't that far off topic!). I hope it spends its career only on relief missions, rather than replicating the scenes from "Saving Private Ryan", although more minor emergencies would be better than this one!

Peter