10/08/ · On December 26, the world experienced the most devastating natural disaster to hit the Indian Ocean. It was classified as a tsunami, a tsunami holding immense power + Words Essay on Tsunami Tsunami is a phenomenon where a series of strong waves that are responsible for the surge in water sometimes reach the heights in many meters. This is a Deaths and damage caused by the Boxing Day Tsunami on December 26, Despite there being many hours between the earthquake and the impact of the tsunami, nearly all the
The Tsunami in Sri Lanka - Words | Essay Example
On 26th Decemberthe Indian Ocean was hit by tsunamis which are considered to be the most catastrophic in the living memory of the inhabitants of the coastal areas of this ocean. It was caused by a severe earthquake which measured 8. Image Courtesy : essay on tsunami 2004. Seismologists at Northwestern University in Illinois later upgraded the earthquake to magnitude 9. This is perhaps the highest magnitude for any earthquake ever recorded anywhere in the world. This earthquake had its epicentre off the coast of Sumatra Indonesia at 3. This place happens to be at the tri-junction of the Indian, Australian and Burmese Myanmarese plates. The following description gives a brief account of sequence of events about tsunamis which affected most countries to bordering the Indian Ocean.
The earthquake was triggered by the collision of the Indian plate with Burmese plate. It occurred at the point where the Indian plate subducts below the Burmese plate due to the northward movement of the Indian plate Fig. Seismologists have noted a 15 metre slip in the vertical direction along the crack that is about km long extending upto Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the northern direction. This tsunami had been the most damaging in the world history. It had wrecked havoc to as many as 11 countries of south and Southeast Asia and East Africa extending from Indonesia to Somalia.
Hence it is rightly called the tragedy of international dimensions. Various types of damages done by the tsunami of 26th December are briefly described as under. The tsunamis that hit the Indian Ocean on 26th Dec. The soaring waves killed people of at least 40 nationalities including tourists from various countries of the essay on tsunami 2004. Table 8. Sri Lanka, India and Thailand also suffered heavy tolls. The other countries which suffered loss of life include Myanmar, Bangladesh, essay on tsunami 2004, Maldives and the distant African countries of Somalia, Kenya, Seychelles and Tanzania. Surprisingly Malaysia suffered essay on tsunami 2004 a fraction of destruction despite its being located so near to the epicentre of the earthquake, essay on tsunami 2004.
This is because of the location of Sumatra which acted as buffer for Malaysia. In India, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were the closest to the epicentre of the earthquake and hence the origin of tsunamis, and was the worst sufferer. Areas like Car Nicobar, Katchal, Nancowry, Campbell Bay, Champion Island, essay on tsunami 2004, Chowra and Teresa Island have been badly affected. In Car Nicobar, half of the total population of about 20 thousand was reportedly missing, essay on tsunami 2004. On the main land of India, the main attack of tsunamis was on the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala and the union territory of Pondicherry.
Of these three states, Tamil Nadu suffered the most. The largest number of deaths was reported from Nagapattinam, Kanniyakumari, Cuddalore and Chennai districts. Out of a total population of about 15 lakhs in Nagapattinam district essay on tsunami 2004 five thousand persons were killed, 2 lakh injured and 1, essay on tsunami 2004. As many essay on tsunami 2004 80 villages were completely swept away by waves. Fishing boats were wrested ashore to a distance of one kilometre with many landing on rail tracks near Nagapattinam railway station. The story was almost the same in Kanniyakumari, Cuddalore and Chennai districts.
After Nagapattinam, essay on tsunami 2004, Kanniyakumari district reported the heaviest toll. Kanniyakumari itself looked like a ghost town. The toll has been heightened because across the Tamil Nadu coast, villages of fishermen are situated between the low tide and high tide areas. In the pilgrim town of Tiruchander, sea water entered inland as far as 2 km. Like Kanniyakumari, Cuddalore looked like a ghost city. In Andhra Pradesh, all the nine districts on the coast were badly affected by tsunamis though four south coastal districts were the worst affected. Most victims met their watery grave as they were taken unawared. The fishing community which lived in makeshift houses near the head was totally washed away. A large number of deaths had been reported from Krishna, Prakasam, Nellore, West Godawari and East Godawari districts.
In Kerala, essay on tsunami 2004, the highest toll was reported from Kollam district followed by Alappuzha and Ernakulam essay on tsunami 2004. In north Kerala, damage by waves was reported from Kozhikode and Kannur districts. The countries which reported death toll higher than India were Indonesia and Sri Lanka. In Essay on tsunami 2004, Sumatra and Java including Aceh Province were the worst sufferers. In Sri Lanka, Matara, Galle, Weligma, Hambantota, essay on tsunami 2004, Batticaloa and Colombo reported heavy casualties. The Jaffna peninsula also suffered heavy casualties. High death toll was also reported from Phuket island of Thailand.
Besides a large number of tourists from Europe, North America, South America and Australia who had come to the tsunami affected countries to essay on tsunami 2004 Christmas and New year also lost their lives. Property worth crores of rupees has been damaged as a result of attack by tsunamis. Infrastructural elements like houses, public buildings, transport and communication system etc. had been damaged almost beyond repair. Sea water even entered the nuclear power plant at Kalpakkam which was closed for a number of days.
In Sri Lanka, rail tracks were twisted near Colombo and a train was derailed in which about 1, persons were killed, essay on tsunami 2004. According to preliminary findings of the government of India, the coastal areas of India, which include large coastal tracts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry and Kerala, have suffered financial losses of billions of rupees. The financial loss in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands was pegged at Rs. Tsunamis of 26th December were so strong that they could bring about drastic physiographic changes in different parts of the world. Satellite pictures of the tsunami essay on tsunami 2004 areas show conspicuous changes in Chennai particularly Adyar river course as well as Trinket Katchall and Camorta Islands of the Andaman and Nicobar.
Water level in many islands had risen, number of beaches in many islands like Campbell Bay had vanished and Trinket Island was split into two. Car Nicobar, which was worst affected sank to some extent. Indira Point, the southern-most tip of the Indian Union, was almost completely washed out, shrinking the coastline inland. These islands are hardly to km from the origin of tsunamis and had to face the worst fury of the killing waves. In Maldives, of the islands were substantially damaged and 19 inhabited islands were swept away. Many of the smaller islands near the coast of Sumatra have either disappeared or they have been deformed by the force of the earthquake.
According to the U. Geological Survey many of the small islands of the southwest coast of Sumatra might have moved to the southwest by as much as 20 metres. Geological Survey expert Ken Herdnut, the northwestern tip of Sumatra may also have shifted to the southwest by about 36 metres. However, Stuart Sipkin of the USGS National Earthquake Information Centre in Golden Colorado said it was more likely that the islands of Sumatra had risen higher out of sea than they had moved laterally, essay on tsunami 2004.
Collision essay on tsunami 2004 the Indian and the Burmese plate created a fault 1, km long and km wide in the Indian Ocean. The latest data available through the Global Positioning System GPS has shown that under impact of the earthquake, almost whole of south-east Asia moved eastward by a few centimetres. On an average Thiruvananthapuram moved by 26 mm, Bangalore by 15 mm, Singapore westward by 14 mm, Diego Garcia by 12 mm, Kunming in China south-westward by 9 mm, Lhasa in Tibet southeastward by 4 mm and Dehradun by 2 mm. The US Geological Survey also expressed the opinion as essay on tsunami 2004 by Ken Herdnut that tremendous energy released by the earthquake made the earth wobble on its axis.
This had caused the planet to spin 3 microseconds or one millionth of a second faster and to tilt about 2. In other words, day is shortened by about 3 microseconds and the North Pole has shifted towards east Siberia by 2. Vast low lying coastal areas were submerged under sea water which increased the salinity of the soil and reduced agricultural production. Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts in Tamil Nadu were the worst affected. Tests conducted on soil samples from these districts showed that sea water had seeped to a depth of about 90 cm of soil, essay on tsunami 2004, thereby totally affecting the root zone cm below ground.
Soil profile tests showed high salinity varying from 6. This is highly saline condition in which no paddy crop could be cultivated. In Nagapattinam district alone, more than 9, hectares of land had been rendered unfit for cultivation by increased salinity. Horticulture also suffered heavy losses. The total loss in Nagapattinam district was estimated at Rs. This land could be reclaimed by flushing the soil with fresh water from the Cauvery River and by administering about two metric tonnes of gypsum per hectare. This process normally takes about 3 to 4 years to show the desired results. Farmers had been advised essay on tsunami 2004 sow plants like cashewnut which are saline-resistant.
The killer tsunamis had badly affected the marine life of the Indian Ocean. A large section of the coral reefs of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands archipelago had been destroyed, while others suffered extensive damages. According to marine biologists, satellite pictures showed that 45 per cent of the fragile coral reefs had been destroyed. The surviving reefs were damaged by the debris washed into the sea from the islands. Experts say it would take at least essay on tsunami 2004 years for reefs to re-form, essay on tsunami 2004. The coral reefs around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are of fringing type i. Hence they have suffers extensive damage. There were an estimated species of corals around the islands of the archipelago.
Some of the species that were unique to the archipelago could have become extinct. Fishing also suffered heavy losses at the hands of the powerful tsunamis. Sea beaches along the coasts of the Indian Ocean became graveyards of the dead fishes after the tsunami swept across the ocean. Mangrove areas that acted as nursery habitats to fish and shrimp were also damaged. The breeding, feeding and other activities of large sea mammals such as whales, dolphins etc. were also adversely affected.
Essay on Tsunami
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9/07/ · The Tsunami in Sri Lanka Analytical Essay Introduction. The stay of mankind on planet earth has often witnessed moments of helplessness when natural disasters 28/04/ · The tsunami was the most tragic event occurring in Indonesia from the Sumatra earthquake that generated a tsunami that not only affected Nangroe Aceh 20/06/ · The tsunami and earthquake sent reverberations across the oceans that reached as far as East Africa, yet Asian countries were hit the most. “Indonesia was by far the
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