I interrupt my blog to put up an appeal for donations to charities for the Asian Tsunami victims. Unless you’ve been living underneath a rock with no electricity and running water, you would already know about the devastating Tsunami that swept through the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day, killing thousands on the shores of 7 countries. The damage caused is enormous – the rising death toll says it all, which at the time of me typing, stands at 40,000. This may make it the worst Tsunami attack in recorded history. Not only did this one ravage Asia, but went all the way to Somalia and Kenya, all striking the poorer, underdeveloped areas where people are likely to suffer most. The humanitarian cost of this is going to be STAGGERING, with India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka being the worst hit. Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, Maldives were better off, but not all that much. The Thai tourist resort of Phuket has literally been flattened.

If you want to donate through credit card, here are some sites:

http://www.worldvision.org.au/
http://www.oxfam.org.au/
http://www.careaustralia.org.au/
http://www.redcross.org.au/

 

Information about Tsunamis
Tsunamis are caused by underwater earthquakes, in areas where the earth’s tectonic plates are liable to shift and grate against each other. If there is enough friction between the plates, the movement will puncture the earth’s crust, causing the water above to swell and ripple like a pebble in a pond. When this happens in the ocean, the waves can travel extremely far, and up to speeds ot 800 kms (500 miles) per hour. This makes it comparable to the speed of an airplane. Up until it reaches the shoreline the waves are very low, typically half a metre in height, but when they hit the shoreline, the crest of the wave can swell. This forms a massive wall of water, unstoppable in its force, which can reach up to heights of 10 metres. This then sweeps through anything in its path, usually throwing anything infront of it up into the air, and dragging anything in its path back with it when it recedes back into the sea.

While earthquakes are difficult to predict, there are warning systems in place around the Pacific Ocean for approaching Tsunamis. Unfortunately, this system doesn’t exist in the Indian Ocean, largely because of poor infrastructure, and because underwater earthquakes aren’t common there. The one on Boxing Day was quite devastating – scoring 8.9 on the Richter scale, and is the 4th largest earthquake ever in recorded history.

 

Tsunamis in history
There has only been 2 other Tsunami attacks in recorded history which killed over 10,000 people. As you can see, both happened before last century. They are:

Indonesia – August 27, 1883: The volcano Krakotoa in the Sunda Straits exploded, in an explosion heard 3,000 miles away. 37,000 were killed in Sumatra and Java.
Japan – 1896: Japan has had a long history of dealing with Tsunamis. The Sanriku Tsunami struck in the middle of a religious festival, killing 27,000.

The first sign of a Tsunami (besides earthquake tremors) is a receding sea. Before the onset of a giant tidal wave, the sea will suddenly retract, almost ask if sucked out by a vacuum of sorts. This happen so quickly that fish will sometimes be left flapping on the beach. Then as quickly as it is sucked out, it will blast back in, as a forceful wall of water. If you’re unprepared, you’re likely to be swept away, pulled underwater and drowned. The best thing to do in an Tsunami is to get to higher ground and STAY there, as there can sometimes be more than 1 wave.