In the wake of the tsunami the world woke to witness destruction unlike anything ever seen before. It is up to us to ensure that all is done to support those affected and reunite families.
- Student newspaper
On the 26th December in 2004 a devastating tsunami hit the east coast.
Thousands of families, homes and businesses have been devastated. It is up to us to aid in support but what happens when we try hard and things go wrong?
British volunteers travelling to Thailand to help victims of the tsunami are being tricked out of their money and identity documents in an Internet scam. Young people are being lured by fake websites, then robbed of money and passports by fraudsters posing as charity workers who meet them on arrival in Thailand. Kerry Dunstan and a Manchester University friend flew to Thailand to work on a project rebuilding a fish farm close to the coastal village of Ban Nam Khem, where up to 3,000 people are believed to have died.
“I saw the appeal for helpers on a website,” she said. “Both of us thought this project would help with our university course and so we signed up. It looked genuine. It even had testimonies from supposedly other British volunteers and a telephone and e-mail address. Lots of organisations have sprung up here and it can be hard to tell which are genuine and which are not. Although this example is one of many it is not to say that an unaccountable amount of good work has been achieved. Thousands of people internationally have come together to attempt to create a silver lining.
For students that want to volunteer try not to be discouraged by this article for there are many official organisations desperate for people that can help any way that they can. Just ensure that you have done your research!
- Sunday Times magazine
A devastating tsunami hit the east coast on the 26th December of 2004. Hundreds of thousands of people are dead or missing presumed dead. The massive wave struck with no remorse taking whole cities with it. The western tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the closest inhabited area to the epicentre of the earthquake, was devastated by the tsunami. More than 70% of the inhabitants of some coastal villages are reported to have died. The Asian Development Bank says 44% of people in the province of Aceh lost their livelihoods. Now it is up to international organisations and government to rebuild communities and effectively communicate all progress that is being made. It is essential that citizens are given positive reinforcement and hope for the future. The government estimates that reconstruction of Indonesia will cost $4.5bn (£2.4bn) over the next three years. Donors are reported to have pledged $1.7bn for this year. Controls are said to have been put in place in an attempt to prevent dishonest officials siphoning off donations
However rebuilding of residential areas is not an alone concern for government. The majority of revenue generated on the East coast is through tourism. Since the tsunami the world’s confidence has been shocked and people are un-willing to visit the region. People are turning to other destinations that are supposedly ‘safer’. The impact of the tsunami in the tourism trade has slowed the rebuilding due to the fall in the wealth of the country. Major corporations are pulling out of the region due to loss of profits and redundant locations. Some regions have been so badly hit that they have become desolate with little or no access aiding to convince organisations that it would be bad practice to continue operating there.
4. Specialist magazine- geographically orientated
An immense tsunami rocked the East coast on December the 26th of 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). Giant forces that had been building up deep in the Earth for hundreds of years were released suddenly, shaking the ground violently and unleashing a series of killer waves that sped across the Indian Ocean at the speed of a jet airliner. The epicentre was of 9.0 magnitudes on the Richter scale. The violent movement of sections of the Earth's crust, known as tectonic plates, displaced an enormous amount of water, sending powerful shock waves in every direction. The result was a rupture the USGS estimates was more than 1,000 kilometres long, displacing the seafloor above the rupture by perhaps about 10 meters horizontally and several meters vertically. That doesn't sound like much, but the trillions of tons of rock that were moved along hundreds of miles caused the planet to shudder with the largest magnitude earthquake in 40 years. Within hours killer waves radiating from the epicentre slammed into the coastline of 11 Indian Ocean countries, snatching people out to sea, drowning others in their homes or on beaches, and demolishing property from Africa to Thailand.
The Indian Ocean tsunami travelled as much as 3,000 miles to Africa, the first region to bare the brunt of the of the disaster. A tsunami may be less than a 30 centimetres in height on the surface of the open ocean, which is why they are not noticed by sailors. But the powerful pulse of energy travels rapidly through the ocean at hundreds of miles per hour. Once a tsunami reaches shallow water near the coast it is slowed down. The top of the wave moves faster than the bottom, causing the sea to rise dramatically.
The Indian Ocean tsunami caused waves as high as 15 meters in some places, according to news reports. But in many other places witnesses described a rapid surging of the ocean, more like an extremely powerful river or a flood than the advance and retreat of giant waves. Am exciting yet devastating result of the greatest earthquake in living memory.
- The Big issue
Thousands of people were left homeless due to the immense tsunami witnessed by the world on December the 26th 2004. The number of homeless is estimated at 800,000 in Indonesia alone. The East coast was rocked by 50 feet high waves causing unaccountable devastation. Hundreds of thousands of people are dead, missing, without families and homeless. Camps have been set up like the Tungkom mosque in the Darussalam district, such camps are to house the victims of the disaster, 3,800 people were supposed to be living at this camp alone where there is little or no sanitation, and it is believed to have received no aid. This camp is just one of many so it is essential international resources are generated and distributed efficiently so that people’s despair can be as short lived as possible. It is feasible that people will never over come the results of the tsunami but it would add insult to injury if disease were to spread and communities suffer further.
There are many ways that individuals can help rebuild the lives of victims of the tsunami. There are major organisations such as the Red Cross or Oxfam leading the distributions of resources. There are many ways to raise funds yourself, many people have staged benefit days and undergone physical endurance to generate funds. So it is up to you to do your bit, do what ever you can to how ever you can to help the innocent people whose lives have been torn apart.