Hospitals & Asylums
US Congress and Treasury
$250 million Tsunami HA-26-12-04
Record 9.0 Earthquake and Tsunami
with 114,000 mortalities
1. "I felt that this
disaster was God's warning to Acehnese and Indonesians that we should get our
acts together and learn the message behind this calamity," said Imran
Hamid, 55, searching for his missing sister.
Survivors saw the catastrophe as a divine message to end the province's
long-running conflict.
2. The earthquake and tsunamis
of Sunday 26 December 2004 were the first Ocean wide tsunami in history and
attributed with over 114,000 deaths and over 1 million refugees is the most devastating tsunami -- a seismically-generated ocean wave
-- triggered by an earthquake in history. With the contribution of $250
million for the first month health and welfare costs the US Congress shall
indicate to the International Court of Justice the General Assembly must also
contribute $750 million for a $1 billion total humanitarian assistance to be
administrated before 28 June 2005 6 months from the printing of this Bill on 28
December 2004, day of seismic peace. To
provide security for private contribution the US is recommended to take out a
$250 million loan and pay it back with private donations and agency contributions. This is excellent opportunity for USAID to
spend the $33 billion in private donations they have hoarded in 2004. To foster speedy tsunami settlement the IMF
is recommended to grant full international debt relief credit for timely full
payment December 2004, 75% in January 2005 or 50% anytime thereafter. It is therefore imperative that the US secure
full payment of this $250 million amount with the IMF.
3. The US Geologic Survey
reports, “A great earthquake occurred at 00:58:49 (UTC) on Sunday, 26 December 2004.
The magnitude 9.0 event has been located OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN
SUMATRA”. The devastating megathrust earthquake of December 26th, 2004 occurred
on the interface of the India and Burma plates and was caused by the release of
stresses that develop as the India plate subducts beneath the overriding Burma
plate. It is the largest earthquake
since the invention of the Richter scale and has been accompanied with numerous
smaller quakes. The second largest stuck the Nicobar Islands, India Region with
a magnitude 7.5 quake that occurred Sunday, 26 December 2004 at 04:21:25
UTC. Regional early warning systems in
Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India could have saved many lives by ordering the
evacuation of areas within 5 meters of sea level when regional and global
seismic activity become apparent.
The earthquakes and resulting tsunami killed 48,924 people by 28 December 2004
that number was raised to 114,000 by 30 December 2004. In 1755, a tsunami originating with an
earthquake in the Atlantic Ocean obliterated Lisbon and surrounding areas,
killing 60,000 people. The 1883 tsunami triggered by the eruption of the
Krakatoa volcano on an island off Indonesia killed an estimated 36,000
people. Although tsunamis from Krakatoa
reached as far as Australia and Hawaii, the waves were not very tall and
therefore did very little damage. Almost all the devastation was confined to
Indonesia's Java and Sumatra. The most recent catastrophic tsunami, in 1998 off
Papua New Guinea, killed an estimated 2,200 people. The earthquake and tsunamis
of 26 December 2004 is the first Ocean wide tsunami in history and attributed
with over 114,000 deaths is the most devastating
tsunami -- a seismically-generated ocean wave -- in history.
4. Cost is estimated on 28
December 2004 for 50,000 dead and 1 million refugees at $250 million the first
month and $75 million every month thereafter until full employment has been
achieved;
50,000 dead x $1,000 survivor benefits
= $50 million
1 million refuges x $100 a month
= $100 million
Emergency Health: $100 million
Reconstruction loans up to $1
billion
7. Deadly diseases stalk the
survivors of the massive South East Asian tsunami that has claimed nearly
50,000 lives by Tuesday 28, December 2004.
"In the coming days, additional threats to human life
such as diarrhoeal diseases and acute respiratory infections can be expected to
arise from contaminated water sources," the World Health Organization
(WHO) said of the disaster which struck nine nations around the Indian Ocean on
Sunday. Medicine,
water, body bags, power and communications still in short supply, the threat of
widespread sickness was growing while foreign aid agencies must distribute
relief to the areas with the assistance of national governments.
8. Germany is to double its urgent aid to the southern Asian
countries hit by Sunday's tsunamis, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said here
on Tuesday. The government has decided to increase its medical, humanitarian
and financial aid to two million euros, Fischer said at a press conference.
Germany has sent a second team of experts from its federal disaster relief
organization to Sri Lanka, and the interior ministry said 12 experts had been
sent there to help restore water supplies. WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State
Colin Powell said Tuesday the United States "will do more" to help
the victims of a massive earthquake and tsunamis in Asia " Initially, the U.S. government
pledged $15 million and dispatched disaster specialists to help the Asian
nations devastated by the catastrophe that has claimed tens of thousands of
lives. On Monday, President Bush sent letters of condolence and Powell
exclaimed, "This is indeed an international tragedy, and we are going to
do everything we can." Appearing
Tuesday on ABC's Good Morning America, the secretary said that at least
11 Americans have died in the disaster and "hundreds" are unaccounted
for. The Network
for Good directs donations from the United States.
9. Aceh has been under military
lockdown for over a year during a government drive to crush a separatist
rebellion. A ban on foreign aid agencies has just been lifted.
10. In the first contact from the
town of Meulaboh, which would have been among the first hit by the enormous
tidal waves that wreaked devastation across Asia, an e-mail from local police
said that only 20 percent of the town still stood.
11. Chief police detective Rilo
Pambudi said what remained of the town was completely cut off and still being
battered by surging waters. He said food was running out, there was looting and
further catastrophe loomed.
"If within three to four
days relief does not arrive, there will be a starvation disaster that will
cause mass deaths," he said.
12. After returning from a
reconnaissance flight over Meulaboh and nearby islands, Vice President Yusuf
Kalla told journalists there appeared to be no sign of life in the town, which
was home to 40,000 people.
13. Other officials say the
death toll could more than double again.
14. Sri Hamdani, district
council head for Aceh Jaya district, between Meulaboh and Banda Aceh, said half
the 95,000 people living in his region may have perished.
"The prediction is that
some 50 percent of the population of Aceh Jaya are gone," Hamdani told
local radio.
15. In Banda Aceh, which is
about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) northwest of Jakarta, 2,000 bodies were
unceremoniously buried in mass graves, but without digging gear and manpower
many putrefying corpses remained on the streets.
16. Aid agencies said those who
survived the quake and tidal waves could still succumb to sickness, as the
decomposing bodies and poor sanitation in improvised tent villages were
aggravated by a shortage of medical supplies.
"We can assume after a
tidal wave of that kind that dengue fever and diarrhoea will spread," said
Hadi Kuswoyo of the International Federation of the Red Cross in Jakarta.
17. The chief of Indonesia's
military, which lost hundreds of men in the disaster, called for a temporary
ceasefire with separatist rebels so both sides could help with the relief
effort. Reports said the rebels had reciprocated.
18. The government, backed by
international aid groups, was sending plane-loads of emergency supplies into
Banda Aceh's reopened airport, while the military said it would set up two
mobile hospitals in the province.
19. Michael Enquist, a senior UN
official, said that fuel shortages and a lack of vehicles meant that despite huge
offers of foreign assistance and cash, there was no way of getting it to the
province's 20,000 homeless and others in urgent need.
"We're going to have to
build up the whole relief network from scratch," he said.
20. On a brief visit to Banda
Aceh to meet victims and inspect the damage, Indonesia's President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono described the massive disaster as a "trying moment for
my nation".
21. Other survivors in the
deeply Islamic province saw the catastrophe as a divine message to end the province's
long-running conflict
"I felt that this disaster was God's warning to Acehnese and Indonesians that we should get our acts together and learn the message behind this calamity," said Imran Hamid, 55, searching for his missing sister.
22. Tsunamis are often incorrectly referred to as tidal
waves, but a tsunami is actually a series of waves that can travel at speeds
averaging 450 (and up to 600) miles per hour in the open ocean. In the open
ocean, tsunamis would not be felt by ships because the wavelength would be
hundreds of miles long, with an amplitude of only a few feet. This would also
make them unnoticeable from the air. As the waves approach the coast, their
speed decreases and their amplitude increases. Unusual wave heights have been
known to be over 100 feet high. However, waves that are 10 to 20 feet high can
be very destructive and cause many deaths or injuries. Areas at greatest risk are less than 25 feet
above sea level and within one mile of the shoreline. Most deaths caused by a
tsunami are because of drowning. Associated risks include flooding,
contamination of drinking water, fires from ruptured tanks or gas lines, and
the loss of vital community infrastructure (police, fire, and medical
facilities).
23.
Sharon Begley and Gautam Naik Staff Reporters, The Wall Street Journal
, reported- Before 26 December 2004 there had never been such a devastating tsunami -- a seismically-generated ocean wave -- triggered by an earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean in recent history. Southeast Asia had nothing like the tsunami-warning system that is in place along the Pacific coast. Nor has a quake-generated tsunami started in the Indian Ocean ever crossed the entire Indian Ocean basin, as yesterday's did, reaching from Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand all the way to the east coast of Africa.
"In
records going back to 1509, There do not seem to be any tsunamis that were
Indian Ocean-wide."
24.
That largely reflects the fact that 95% of the world's earthquakes occur in the
Pacific Ocean, and tsunamis almost always are triggered by earthquakes. The
Pacific Rim is ringed with early-warning systems intended to detect an imminent
tsunami in time to allow people to flee to higher ground.
25.
The International Tsunami Information Center, for instance, established in 1965
by an agency of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization) to improve tsunami preparedness, focuses on nations that rim the
Pacific. In the U.S., tsunami research, modeling and warning programs are
limited to the Pacific coast, Hawaii and Alaska. Countries bordering the Indian
Ocean have virtually no early-warning system.
"It's
a matter of resources," says Charles McCreery, director of the Pacific
Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa, Hawaii. "We know that tsunamis can occur in
all the world's oceans, but we have the most organized warning system in the
Pacific because that's the most seismically-active region. In other places
tsunamis are much less frequent, so it's been hard to find resources for
them."
26.
The earthquakes that cause tsunamis almost all occur where tectonic plates --
shards of the earth's crust -- meet. Magma rising up from deep within the Earth
causes the plates to move. Along faults such as California's San Andreas, the plates
are slip-sliding past each other, occasionally getting stuck and then suddenly
jerking forward again -- producing an earthquake.
27.
The wall of water that devastated the coasts of Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and
Thailand on 26 December 2004 was born where two tectonic plates behave
differently, in what is called a subduction zone. About 6.2 miles beneath the
Indian Ocean, one such plate, called the India plate, is moving slightly more
than two inches a year toward the northeast, according to the National
Earthquake Information Center, Golden, Colo. Where it meets another plate,
called the Burma plate, it dives under, or subducts. Yesterday, a section of
the India plate about 620 miles long slipped under the Burma plate, says the
National Earthquake Information Center. That caused the sea floor to lift up
and then drop down again, with catastrophic results.
"A zone
where one plate is slipping under another is the most dangerous kind of plate
boundary for generating tsunamis," Dr. McCreery says. The diving plate
causes the ocean floor to deform, "pushing it up and then down
again," he says, carrying the entire water column with it. That has
occurred before in the Indian Ocean, but never with this magnitude.
"From the
historical record, it looks like there were two tsunamis originating in
subduction zones in the Indian Ocean in the 1800s, and another in the
mid-1990s, but these had purely local effect," he says.
28. A quake
that measures 9.0 on a scale of earthquake intensity brings devastation that
makes everything else in the historical record pale. "The massive vertical
rupture in the sea floor acted like a gigantic wave machine, displacing a huge
amount of water," says seismologist Brian Baptie of the British Geological
Survey.
29. In the
deep ocean, such undulations generated by the "wave machine"
typically aren't even detectable by ships. The wave crests often measure less
than three feet high and are hundreds of miles apart, so sailors sense nothing
amiss and typically don't even know that they are riding atop a growing
tsunami. Because the crests are so small and infrequent, it isn't even obvious
how fast the tsunami is traveling in the deep ocean: at the speed of a jet,
about 500 miles an hour.
30. Ships and
sturdy boats sailing in deep waters can usually ride out a tsunami, Dr. Baptie
says. In shallower waters, though, the tsunami usually wins, he says, adding
that in the past, tsunamis have been known to deposit ships located in coastal
waters hundreds of meters inland.
31. Once the
tsunami reaches a coastline it slows down and begins traveling at about the
speed of a regular wind-generated wave, perhaps 20 to 30 miles an hour. But now
it is enormously more dangerous than it was in the open ocean. As the waves
slow down near land, all the energy of the wave gets compressed into much less
depth. That causes the wave height to increase.
"The
tsunami looks less like a regular wave than like a flash flood or a fast-rising
tide, with the ocean rising," Dr. McCreery says. Tsunamis rarely
"break" the way regular ocean waves do; the wall of water just
barrels onto land, petering out only as it reaches far inland.
32. Scientists
have developed a precise formula to predict how a wave will behave once it
reaches the coast. The speed of the tsunami is proportional to the depth of the
ocean through which it travels; specifically, it equals the square root of the
gravitational constant (9.8 meters a second) times the depth of the ocean in
meters. That formula allows scientists to warn coastal residents when a tsunami
is to strike.
33. Because
the Pacific Ocean is so well instrumented, with seismic detectors scattered
throughout the basin, "tsunami warning centers can locate an undersea
earthquake within three to 15 minutes after it occurs and assess the tsunami
threat within minutes," Dr. McCreery says.
34. A tsunami
that has traversed an entire ocean basin, called a deep-water tsunami, also
slams into the coast like a very strong, very fast tide, as if the whole ocean
is rising. Tsunamis typically hit in a group of three to 10 waves, separated by
troughs, Dr. Bernard says.
35. Because
the triggering mechanism -- be it an undersea earthquake, volcano or landslide
-- moves such an immense volume of water up and down, tsunamis can propagate
across entire ocean basins: they have been known to travel across the entire
Pacific Ocean in less than 24 hours. Although a single quake produces only one
tsunami, aftershocks can cause smaller ones.
36. In the
worst tsunamis, a wall of rushing water called a bore forms. It arrives onshore
packing huge destructive power. Right behind it is a deep, fast-moving flood
that can sweep away almost anything in its path. In 1755, a tsunami originating
with an earthquake in the Atlantic Ocean obliterated Lisbon and surrounding
areas, killing 60,000 people. The 1883 tsunami triggered by the eruption of the
Krakatoa volcano on an island off Indonesia killed an estimated 36,000 people.
Although tsunamis from Krakatoa reached as far as Australia and Hawaii, the
waves were not very tall and therefore did very little damage. Almost all the
devastation was confined to Indonesia's Java and Sumatra. The most recent
catastrophic tsunami, in 1998 off Papua New Guinea, killed an estimated 2,200
people.
37. Although
nothing can be done to damp, let alone stop, a tsunami once it has been
triggered deep under the ocean, coastal residents can watch for signs that one
is imminent. The earthquake that caused the tsunami also can cause nearby
ground to shake, Dr. Bernard notes (although many of the regions struck yesterday
were too far from the quake's epicenter to feel that). Also, "an
approaching tsunami will drain the coastline as water rushes out," he
says.
38. People in
its path can hear a tsunami's approach, he says: it sounds as loud as a jet
plane or a locomotive. When they see the rushing water or hear the approaching
tsunami, he says, they have about five minutes to flee to higher ground.
40. Jeannine Aversa, AP, Washington on December 28, 2004 wrote Economies of Asian Nations Should Survive. The devastating earthquake and tsunamis that hit Asian countries will deal a fresh blow to the tourism industry there but aren't expected to produce crippling economic problems in the region or in the United States, economists say.
41. Private economists were scrambling Monday to assess the
economic toll of Sunday's deadly natural disaster. For now, they foresee a
limited economic impact - largely affecting tourism - because the disaster hit
coastal towns and not big manufacturing centers, analysts said.
"The impact on the United States is expected to be
minimal mostly because the areas that have been affected by this are primarily
rural areas and nondeveloped areas and not big industrial areas. So we don't
expect any major production facilities to be affected," said Rakesh
Shankar, an economist who focuses on Asian economic issues at Economy.com.
42. In that regard, this disaster is quite different from
the 1995 earthquake that struck the major industrial center of Kobe, Japan, and
destroyed much of its port, analysts noted.
"The strongest negative impact will be for countries
like Thailand and Sri Lanka. Both of them rely on tourism," Shankar said.
"Tourism is really the industry that is going to get hit hardest by this.
Even so, we don't expect the impact to last longer than a year at the
most." He said millions of dollars in the tourism business probably would
be lost.
43. Tourism in the region had been on the rebound after a
slump as travelers were shaken by fears about SARS - severe acute respiratory syndrome
- and terrorism, analysts said.
44. Shankar and other economists believe the economies of
the affected countries will weather the disaster and won't be thrown into a
recession or a serious economic downturn. But they may log somewhat slower
economic growth, analysts said. The
Hurricanes in the US were for instance the largest economic settlement for the
US of 2004.
"I think the human toll is severe. At the same time,
economically, I don't see it affecting the global economy very much," said
Sung Won Sohn, a chief economist at Wells Fargo, who has traveled extensively
through the region.
45. Analysts said rebuilding efforts - assisted by
international aid - will eventually help economic activity in the countries.
46. So far, experts said they are unaware of any major
disruptions in international trade.
"Right now it's business as usual at the ports,"
said Bill Anthony, a spokesman at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. However,
he said, there may be a temporary slowdown if ships are rerouted.
47. Sri Lanka is a big exporter of textiles and apparel to
the United States and other countries. India exports textiles, gems and
jewelry, among other goods. Indonesia's exports include oil, gas and electrical
appliances. Malaysia's exports include electronic equipment, petroleum and
liquefied natural gas. Thailand's exports include computers, transistors and
seafood.
"I don't see any major impact on U.S.
manufacturers," said Clifford Waldman, economist at Manufacturers
Alliance/MAPI, a research group. Waldman said the countries affected aren't
huge markets for U.S. manufacturers.
48. Waldman also didn't expect major supply disruptions to
U.S. companies. But there's the possibility of "transportation bottlenecks
and uncertainties with orders and shipping," he said.
49. The National Association of Manufacturers had no
immediate assessment.
50. From January through October of 2004, U.S. exports to
the Asian countries were far outweighed by imports from them, Commerce
Department figures show:
India: U.S. exports came to nearly $5 billion; imports
totaled $13.1 billion.
Indonesia: U.S. exports were nearly $2.2 billion; imports
came to $9.2 billion.
Malaysia: U.S. exports totaled $8.9 billion; imports totaled
$23.3 billion.
Sri Lanka: U.S. exports came to just $133.5 million; imports
totaled $1.6 billion.
Thailand: U.S. were valued at $5.2 billion; imports totaled
$14.3 billion.
In comparison, U.S. exports to Canada, a major trading
partner, totaled $157.5 billion, while imports from Canada came to $212.4
billion.
51. Treasury Department spokesman Rob Nichols said it was
too soon to assess the possible economic impact of the disaster on the region.
52. Twenty-four tsunamis have
caused damage in the United States and its territories during the last 204
years. Just since 1946, six tsunamis have killed more than 350 people and
caused a half billion dollars of property damage in Hawaii, Alaska, and the
West Coast. As a tsunami nears the coastline, it may rise to several feet or,
in rare cases, tens of feet, and can cause great loss of life and property
damage when it comes ashore. Tsunamis can travel upstream in coastal estuaries
and rivers, with damaging waves extending farther inland than the immediate
coast. A tsunami can occur during any season of the year and at any time, day
or night.
53. Investment is directed to
the Sea East Asian insurance industry covering the affected states and the
supply of products and donations via the Network for Good are tax deductible.