Case Study - Indonesian Boxing Day Tsunami 2004

Question 1

Describe the type of hazard

Answer 1

earthquake that developed into a tsunami as a secondary effect

Question 2

Describe the location

Answer 2

intersection of the Indo-Australian plate and Eurasian plate. Eastern coast of Indian Ocean in Indonesia.

Question 3

how many were killed?

Answer 3

over 250,000 people

Question 4

cost of disaster

Answer 4

$15 billion - quite low compared to damages in a HIC, e.g $65 billion for Hurricane Sandy.

Question 5

causes of disaster

Answer 5

Indo-Australian plate subducting below Eurasian Plate (Destructive) causing a 9.1 magnitude earthquake under the Indonesian earthquake.

Question 6

What was the magnitude?

Answer 6

9.1 on the richter scale

Question 7

How high were the tsunami wave peaks?

Answer 7

25m

Question 8

Why were so many people killed and injured?

Answer 8

• Poor infrastructure not designed to withstand an earthquake of 9.1 magnitude.
• No history of tsunamis meant that there was no warning and people were not educated so didn’t realise a tsunami was about to occur.

Question 9

How many were injured?

Answer 9

650,000

Question 10

How many homeless?

Answer 10

2 million

Question 11

How many settlements were wiped out?

Answer 11

1500

Question 12

What long term social impacts were there?

Answer 12

• Long term psychological impacts but little help in place
• Land disputes broke out in the following months as documents were lost in the devastation.
• Up to 150,000 people died from Cholera and Dysentery in refugee camps.

Question 13

What were the economic impacts?

Answer 13

• Damage to homes (most were uninsured), towns and businesses
• Damage to tourist industry
• Damage to national infrastructure
• Damage to the fishing industry in Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Sri Lanka.

Question 14

How was the fishing industry badly affected?

Answer 14

Most fishermen did not have insurance and the government wasn’t wealth enough to replace their boats. As a result they lost their livelihoods and equipment - further infrastructure like ports and harbours was damaged.

Question 15

How was the tourism industry badly affected?

Answer 15

Many tourists would not travel to Indonesia out of fear and the infrastructure was broken so it was no longer an attractive location.

Question 16

What were the environmental impacts?

Answer 16

• Hundreds of coral reefs were damaged and coastal flooding was widespread. As a result, soils were saturated and crops failed.
• Diseases like Cholera and Dysentery spread due to the lack of clean water and sanitation in the refugee camps which killed an estimated 150,000 people.

Question 17

What were the political impacts in Indonesia?

Answer 17

In Indonesia’s Aceh province where government and rebels declared a ceasefire to allow aid to enter the region. This brought the sides closer to reconciliation and encouraged dialogue.

Question 18

What were the political impacts in Sri Lanka?

Answer 18

Rebel held territory did not receive relief supplies and both sides accused each other of failure. As such, the tsunami aggravated the conflict.

Question 19

How effectively did local services deal with the disaster?

Answer 19

• Local infrastructure like Hospitals, schools and most local government shut down
• emergency and rescue teams were overwhelmed and under equipped for the scale of the disaster.
• bodies were buried in mass graves to prevent the spread of diseases. Often, they were unidentified so many families did not get the closure they wanted.