Andaman Sumatra

Question 1

The event

Answer 1

• 26th December 2004
• 7:59 am
• magnitude 9, NW of Sumatra
• lasted 7 minutes
• vertical displacement of 20cm
• shallow focus at 10km
• Kamala beach worse affected due to sloping sea bed which amplified destruction
• +15 minutes to get Sumatra
• +2 hours to hit Sri Lanka
• +2 hours to hit India

Question 2

Economic impacts

Answer 2

• $10.6bn of damage
• 60% of Sri Lankas fishing industry destroyed
• foreign visitors to Phuket dropped by 80% in 2005

Question 3

Social impacts

Answer 3

• 245,000 deaths
• 3/4 of deaths occurred in Sumatra
• 2 million people displaced
• 700,000 homeless in Sumatra
• 376,000 homeless in India

Question 4

Environmental impacts

Answer 4

• 8 million litres of oil escaped from oil plants in Indonesia
• 85 recorded aftershocks by 1st January 2005
• coral reefs and coastal wetlands destroyed

Question 5

Responses

Answer 5

Short term:

• armed police in Galle, Sri Lanka, to stop looters
• foreign tourists evacuated by home countries
• quick burial of dead to prevent spread of disease
• British public gave £330million through charities

Long term:
- reconstruction estimated between 5-10 years

Question 6

Management

Answer 6

• tsunami warning centres for 27 countries
• $53m warning system using tidal gauges and sensors in Indian Ocean with help from UN
• The Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning & Mitigation System (IOTWS) went live in June 2006
• cost $200 million to build and $25million annually to run

Question 7

Andaman Sumatra earthquake

Answer 7

• epicentre located at a triple junction of 3 plates
• indo-Australian plate subsystem under Burma plate by 6cm a year
• fracture line 1200km long
• gdp of Sri Lanka = $6,500