Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004)

Question 1

General facts

Answer 1

• no monitoring equipment in place therefore no early warning systems
• followed an earthquake in Sumatra
• tsunami happened on boxing day (26/12/04)

Question 2

What happened?

Answer 2

• 9.1 magnitude earthquake in Sumatra triggered displacement in the water column which causes a tsunami with waves up to 30m high
• 14 different countries were affected (Indonesia. Thailand, India, Sri Lanka)

Question 3

Impacts

Answer 3

-around 230,000 killed or are still missing
-whole towns destroyed
-over 1.7 million people left homeless
infrastructure severely damaged
-5-6 million people needed emergency food, water and medicine
-massive economic damage - millions of fishermen lost their livelihoods and the tourism industry suffered
-massive environmental damage - salty seawater means plants can’t grow; mangroves, coral reefs and sand dunes destroyed by the waves

Question 4

Short-term responses

Answer 4

+within days, hundreds of millions of pounds had been sent by foreign governments, NGOs and TNCs to give survivors access to food, water, shelter and medical attention
+foreign countries sent ships, planes, soldiers and teams of specialists to help rescue people, distribute food and start recovery

Question 5

Long-term responses

Answer 5

+billions of pounds pledged to help rebuild infrastructure
+programmes have also been set up to help people rebuild homes and get back to work
+a tsunami warning system has been put into place
+disaster management plans put in place so people are trained to know what to do if another tsunami occurs