[EIDXA] Could Impact VU4 Operation

[Jim Spencer]

12pm
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South-east Asian tsunami kills thousands

Agencies
Sunday December 26, 2004

Guardian Unlimited

The most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that
hit coastlines across Asia today, killing approximately 3,400 people in Sri
Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Tourists, fishermen, hotels, homes and cars were swept away by walls of
water unleashed by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake, centered off the west coast
of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where at least 408 people were killed
by floods and collapsing buildings, officials said.

But the scope of the disaster became apparent only after waves as high as
six metres (20 feet) crashed into coastal areas throughout the Indian Ocean
and Andaman Sea.

In Sri Lanka - some 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) west of the epicentre -
1,677 had been killed, police spokesman Rienzie Perera said. One million
more have been affected by the surging wall of water, the government said.

Indian officials said as many as 1,130 had been killed along the southern
coast. Another 168 were confirmed dead in Thailand, and 28 in Malaysia.
Thousands of people were missing, many of them fishermen at sea, and rescue
workers struggled against floodwaters to find and evacuate stranded victims.

The death toll continues to climb, and is expected to grow even higher as
more bodies are discovered. Hundreds of bodies were found on various beaches
along India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, and more are expected to be
washed in by the sea, officials said.

"I saw innumerable fishing boats flying on the shoulder of the waves, going
back and forth into the sea, as if made of paper," said P. Ramanamurthy, 40,
a resident of the neighbouring Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. "Many boats
were upturned, but fishermen were still holding on to them," Ramanamurthy
said. "They also were pushed into the sea. It was shocking."

The U.S. Geological Survey's Web site recorded the magnitude 8.9 earthquake
off the west coast of northern Sumatra, 1,620 kilometres (1,000 miles)
north-west of Jakarta. It was centred 40 kilometres (25 miles) below the
seabed. Aftershocks struck in the magnitude 7 range.

The earthquake was the world's fifth most powerful since 1900 and the
strongest since a 9.2-magnitude quake hit Alaska in 1964, U.S. earthquake
experts said.

The force of it shook unusually far afield, causing buildings to sway
hundreds of miles away, from Singapore to the city of Chiang Mai in northern
Thailand.

Initial damage centred on the Indonesian province of Aceh on northern
Sumatra. Dozens of buildings were destroyed, but as elsewhere, much of the
death toll appeared to come from onrushing floodwaters.

Towns nearest the epicentre were levelled by tidal waves, which killed at
least 408 people and left bodies wedged in trees as the waters receded,
Indonesian officials and witnesses said.

"I saw nine people killed by flooding, including four children," a witness
who gave his name as Mustafa told el-Shinta radio station from Banda Aceh.

A spokesman for Indonesian state-owned Garuda Airlines said Banda Aceh's
airport was flooded and planes were unable to land.

In Sri Lanka, the government called Sunday's events a national disaster and
appealed for emergency relief.

"It is a very tragic situation," said police spokesman Rienzie Perera,
adding that some hospitals were unable to treat the injured.

Holidays turned to disaster in southern Thailand, which welcomes hundreds of
thousands of tourists to its southern beaches during the Christmas season.
At least 168 people died, 1,900 others were injured and many more -
reportedly including foreign tourists on diving excursions - were missing,
authorities said.

"Just out of nowhere, suddenly the streets (were) awash and people just
running and screaming from the beach," John Hyde, a vacationing Australian
state lawmaker, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television.

"People were getting swept along still on their motorbikes," Simon Morse,
another Australian tourist, told the ABC. "There were cars that had been
picked up by the storm surge and they were getting pushed down the road,
taking things out as they went."

The owner of two resorts on Phi Phi island - where the Hollywood blockbuster
"The Beach", starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was filmed - said that 200 of his
bungalows were swept out to sea, along with some of his employees and
customers.

"I am afraid that there will be a high figure of foreigners missing in the
sea, and also my staff," said Chan Marongtaechar, who was in the Thai
capital of Bangkok at the time. He estimated that 700 people could have been
on the beach.

In India, the worst affected area was Tamil Nadu state, where 700-800 people
are reported to have died, followed by Andhra Pradesh state where the toll
was about 200.

At least 102 people were killed in the federally administered territory of
Pondicherry near Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy said.
At least 14 people were killed in Kerala state and 14 in Andaman and Nicobar
Islands, Patil said.

Among those killed in Andhra Pradesh were 32 people - 15 of them children -
who had gone into the sea for a Hindu religious bath.

High waves inundated the Maldives, a string of 1,192 coral atolls off the
south-western coast of India, injuring one Italian tourist and forcing the
airport to close, an official said. A British man died from a heart attack
minutes before the waves hit.

In Malaysia, authorities closed some beaches to the public after 28 people
were swept away near the northern city of Penang. The victims were believed
to be mainly tourists and included some foreigners, a police spokesman said.
Their identities were not immediately known.

Officials received reports that some vessels capsized at sea, but there were
no further details, said Low Kong Chiew, director of the state government's
Seismological Division.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004