Tsunami From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The tsunami that struck Mal¨¦ in the Maldives on December 26, 2004. A tsunami (pronounced tsoo-NAA-mee) or tidal wave is a series of waves (called a "wave train") generated in a body of water by a pulsating or abrupt disturbance that vertically displaces the water column. Earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, explosions, and the impact of extraterrestrial bodies such as meteorites, can generate tsunamis. Tsunamis can savagely attack coastlines, causing devastating property damage and loss of life. Contents 1 Name 2 Causes 3 Characteristics 4 Megatsunamis and seiches 5 Warning systems 6 History 6.1 Santorini 6.2 The Krakatoa incident 6.3 22 May 1960 Chilean tsunami 6.4 26 Dec 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami 6.5 Other historical tsunamis 7 Future threats 8 See also 9 External links The term "tsunami" comes from the Japanese ½ò²¨ meaning tsu (harbor) and nami (wave). The term was created by fishermen who came from fishing and found everything devastated in the harbor though they didn't see or notice the wave in the open water. They are also mistakenly referred to as tidal waves as they often resemble a tide that keeps rising, rather than cresting waves when they reach shore. However, as they are not actually related to tides the term may be misleading, and its use is discouraged by oceanographers. Causes Schema of a Tsunami A tsunami can be generated by any disturbance that displaces a large mass of water, such as an earthquake, landslide or meteor impact. Tsunamis can be generated when the sea floor abruptly deforms and vertically displaces the overlying water. Tectonic earthquakes are a particular kind of earthquake that are associated with the earth's crust deformation; when these earthquakes occur beneath the sea, the water above the deformed area is displaced from its equilibrium position. Waves are formed as the displaced water mass, which acts under the influence of gravity, attempts to regain its equilibrium. When large areas of the sea floor elevate or subside, a tsunami can be created. Large vertical movements of the earth's crust can occur at plate boundaries. Plates interact along these boundaries called "faults". Around the margins of the Pacific Ocean, for example, denser oceanic plates slip under continental plates in a process known as subduction. Subduction earthquakes are particularly effective in generating tsunamis. Submarine landslides, which often accompany large earthquakes, as well as collapses of volcanic edifices, can also disturb the overlying water column as sediment and rock slump downslope and are redistributed across the sea floor. Similarly, a violent submarine volcanic eruption can uplift a water column and generate a tsunami. Large landslides and cosmic-body impacts can disturb the water from above, as momentum from falling debris is transferred to the water into which the debris falls. Generally speaking, tsunamis generated from these mechanisms, unlike the Pacific-wide tsunamis caused by some earthquakes, dissipate quickly and rarely affect coastlines distant from the source area. Characteristics Tsunamis act very differently from typical surf swells; they propagate at high speeds and can travel great transoceanic distances with little energy loss. A tsunami can cause damage thousands of miles from its origin, so there may be several hours between its creation and its impact on the coast, more time than it takes for seismic waves to arrive. Typically, tens of minutes before a tsunami, the sea will recede from the coast, exposing part of the seabed. If the slope is shallow, this recession can exceed 800 m. People unaware of the danger may stay at the shore, due to curiosity, but this may be a warning sign of a coming tsunami. There can be several waves, at intervals of 2-45 minutes. These characteristics occur because tsunamis have extremely long periods and long wavelengths. A typical wind-generated swell one sees at a surf beach might be spawned by a faraway storm and rhythmically roll in, one wave after another, with a period of about 10 seconds and a wavelength of 150 m. A tsunami, on the other hand, can have a period on the order of one hour or more and a wavelength in excess of 100 km. A wave becomes a shallow-water wave when the ratio between the water depth and its wavelength gets very small. Since a tsunami has a large wavelength, tsunamis act as a shallow-water wave even in deep oceanic water. Shallow-water waves move at a speed that is equal to the square root of the product of the acceleration of gravity (9.8 m/s2) and the water depth. For example, in the Pacific Ocean, where the typical water depth is about 4000 m, a tsunami travels at about 200 m/s (about 712 km/hr or 442 mi/hr) with little energy loss even for far distances, while at a water depth of 40 m, the speed is 20 m/s (about 71 km/hr or 44 mi/hr), much slower, but still very fast to run away from. In deep water, the energy of a tsunami is constant, a function of its height and speed. Thus, as the wave approaches land, its height increases while its speed decreases. While in deep water a person at the surface of the water would probably not even notice the tsunami, the wave can increase to a height of 30 m and more as it approaches the coastline and compresses. Tsunamis can cause severe destruction on coasts and islands, even at locations remote to the source event, where that event itself is not even noticable without instruments. Tsunamis propagate outward from their source, so coasts in the "shadow" of affected land masses are fairly safe. Megatsunamis and seiches Evidence shows that megatsunamis, a tsunami more than 100 meters (325ft) high, are possible. These rare events are typically caused by significant chunks of an island collapsing into the ocean, and can be extraordinarily devastating to faraway coastal regions. Related to a tsunami is a seiche, an underwater, irregular fluctuation or rhythmic rocking of the water level of a lake. Often large earthquakes produce both tsunamis and seiches at the same time and there is evidence that some seiches have been caused by tsunamis. Warning systems Many cities around the Pacific, notably in Japan but also in Hawaii, have warning systems and evacuation procedures in the event of a serious tsunami. Tsunamis are predicted by various seismologic institutes around the world and their progress monitored by satellites. Bottom pressure recorders with buoys as communication link are used to detect waves which would not be noticed by a human observer on deep water. The first rudimentary system to alert communities of an impending tsunami was attempted in Hawaii in the 1920s. More advanced systems were developed in the wake of the April 1, 1946 and May 23, 1960 tsunamis which caused massive devastation in Hilo, Hawaii. The United States created the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (http://www.prh.noaa.gov/pr/ptwc/) in 1949, and linked it to an international data and warning network in 1965. One system for providing tsunami warning is the CREST Project (Consolidated Reporting of Earthquakes and Tsunamis) implemented on the West coast (Cascadia), Alaska, and Hawaii of the United States by the USGS, NOAA, the Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network, and three other university seismic networks. Tsunami prediction remains an imperfect science. Although the epicenter of a large underwater quake and the probable tsunami arrival times can be quickly calculated, it is almost always impossible to know whether massive underwater ground shifts have occurred, resulting in tsunami waves. As a result, false alarms are common. No system can protect against a sudden tsunami. A devastating tsunami occurred off the coast of Hokkaido in Japan as a result of an earthquake on July 12, 1993. As a result, 202 people on the small island of Okushiri lost their lives, and hundreds more were missing or injured. This tsunami struck just three to five minutes after the quake and most victims were caught while fleeing for higher ground and secure places after surviving the earthquake. While there remains the potential for sudden devastation from a tsunami, warning systems can be effective. For example if there were a very large subduction zone earthquake (magnitude 9.0) off the west coast of the United States, people in Japan, for example, would have a little more than 12 hours (and likely warnings from warning systems in Hawaii and elsewhere) before any tsunami arrived, giving them some time to evacuate areas likely to be affected. History Although tsunamis occur most frequently in the Pacific Ocean, they are known to occur anywhere. Many ancient descriptions of sudden and catastrophic waves exist, particularly in and around the Mediterranean. Thousands of Portuguese who survived the great 1755 Lisbon earthquake were killed by a tsunami which followed a few minutes later. Before the great wave hit, the harbor waters retreated, revealing lost cargo and forgotten shipwrecks. In the North Atlantic, the Storegga Slide is a major incident. Santorini At some time between 1650 and 1600 BC (still debated), the volcanic Greek island Santorini blew up in a violent eruption, causing a 100 to 150m high tsunami that devastated the north coast of Crete, 70km (45 miles) away, and would certainly have eliminated every timber of the Minoan fleet along Crete's northern shore. The Krakatoa incident The island volcano of Krakatoa in Indonesia, exploded with devastating fury in 1883. A series of large tsunami waves was generated from the explosion, some reaching a height of over 40 meters above sea level. Tsunami waves were observed throughout the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the American West Coast, South America, and even as far away as the English Channel. On the facing coasts of Java and Sumatra the sea flood went many miles inland and caused such vast loss of life that one area was never resettled but went back to the jungle and is now the Ujung Kulon nature reserve. 22 May 1960 Chilean tsunami The Great Chilean Earthquake, the largest earthquake ever recorded, off the coast of South Central Chile, generated one of the most destructive tsunamis of the 20th century. It spread across the entire Pacific Ocean, with waves measuring up to 25 meters high. When the tsunami hit Onagawa Japan almost 22 hours after the quake, a tide guage recorded a wave height of 10 feet above high tide. 26 Dec 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami Animation of the 2004 Indonesian Tsunami The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake triggered a series of lethal tsunamis on December 26, 2004, with fatalities last reported at 120,000, ranging from those in the immediate vicinity of the quake in Indonesia and Thailand to people thousands of kilometres away in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and even as far as Somalia in eastern Africa. The death toll from this event makes it the deadliest tsunami in recorded history. Unlike the Pacific Ocean, there is no organised alert service covering the Indian Ocean. This is in part due to the absence of major tsunami events since 1883 and an emphasis on developing a tropical cyclone warning system. Tsunamis caused by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake under the sea west of Banda Aceh on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia caused severe devastation in the form of death and loss of property on the coasts of the Indian Ocean, particularly Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India (most casualties have been reported in the state of Tamil Nadu and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands), Thailand (especially Phuket and Khao Lak, where thousands of foreigners are missing), Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Bangladesh; and also in Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania in Africa. Indonesia has faced the brunt of the devastation with over 80,000 feared dead. The number of deaths caused by this tsunami is expected to double due to wide spread illness. WHO fear that large number of corpses, if not handled properly, may cause contamination to the water, causing hasty dispersal of plague. Many foreign tourists are among the dead. Other historical tsunamis Other tsunamis that have occurred include the following: The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, along with the resulting tsunami and fires, led to near total destruction of the Portuguese capital. One of the worst tsunami disasters engulfed whole villages along Sanriku, Japan, in 1896. A wave more than seven stories tall (about 20 m) drowned some 26,000 people. More than 30,000 people died in Java_ (island) from a 1883 tsunami caused by a volcanic eruption. 1946: An earthquake in the Aleutian Islands sent a tsunami to Hawaii, killing 159 people (only five died in Alaska). 1976: August 16 (midnight) a tsunami killed more than 5000 people in the Moro Gulf region (Cotabato city) of the Philippines. 1964: An Alaskan earthquake triggered a tsunami up to 6 m tall that killed 11 people as far away as Crescent City, California and caused more than 120 deaths in all. 1983: 104 people in western Japan were killed by a tsunami spawned from a nearby earthquake. July 17, 1998: A Papua New Guinea tsunami killed roughly 3,000 people. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake 15 miles offshore was followed within 10 minutes by a tsunami about 12 m tall. The villages of Arop and Warapu were destroyed. Future threats In 2001, scientists predicted that a future eruption of the unstable Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma (an island of the Canary Islands) could cause a supergiant undersea landslide. In this potential landslide the western half of the island (weighing perhaps 500 billion tonnes) would catastrophically slide into the ocean. Such a landslide would cause a 100 m megatsunami to devastate the coast of northwest Africa, with a 30-50 m tsunami reaching the east coast of North America several hours later causing massive coastal devastation and the deaths of perhaps millions of people ([1] (http://www.100megsfree4. com/farshores/nwave.htm), [2] (http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/08/29/tidal.wave/)). Back to Front Page From Global Research www.globalresearch.ca    Centre for Research on Globalisation  Centre de recherche sur la mondialisation         Foreknowledge of A Natural Disaster: Washington was aware that a deadly Tidal Wave was building up in the Indian Ocean by Michel Chossudovsky  www.globalresearch.ca 29 December 2004  The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO412C. html   (Revised Dec 31, with the release of more information as well as satellite images of affected areas)  (See update published 14 January 2005: Discrepancies in the Tsunami Warning System, by Michel Chossudovsky     --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Magnitude 9 Cascadia Earthquake  More than three hundred years ago, at 9 PM on January 26, 1700 one of the world's largest earthquakes occurred along the west coast of North America. The undersea Cascadia thrust fault ruptured along a 1000 km length, from mid Vancouver Island to northern California in a great earthquake, producing tremendous shaking and a huge tsunami that swept across the Pacific.  These events are recorded in the oral traditions of the First Nations people on Vancouver Island. The tsunami swept across the Pacific also causing destruction along the Pacific coast of Japan. It is the accurate descriptions of the tsunami and the accurate time keeping by the Japanese that allows us to confidently know the size and exact time of this great earthquake.  The recognition of definitive signatures in the geological record tells us the January 26, 1700 event was not a unique event, but has repeated many times at irregular intervals of hundreds of years. Geological evidence indicates that 13 great earthquakes have occurred in the last 6000 years.  Natural Resources Canada http://www.pgc.nrcan.gc.ca/seismo/hist/anniv.press.htm     --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  The US Military and the State Department were given advanced warning. America's Navy base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean was notified.  Why were fishermen in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand not provided with the same warnings as the US Navy and the US State Department?  Why did the US State Department remain mum on the existence of an impending catastrophe?  With a modern communications system, why did the information not get out? By email, telephone, fax, satellite TV... ?  It could have saved the lives of thousands of people.    The earthquake was a Magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale, among the highest in recorded history. US authorities had initially recorded 8.0 on the Richter scale.     As confirmed by several reports, US scientists in Hawaii, had advanced knowledge regarding an impending catastrophe, but failed to contact their Asian counterparts.  Charles McCreery of the Pacific Warning Center in Hawaii confirmed that his team tried to get in touch with his counterparts in Asia.  According to McCreery, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's center in Honolulu, the team did its utmost to contact the countries. (The NOAA in Hawaii's Report at http: //www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2004/s2357.htm ).  We started thinking about who we could call. We talked to the State Department Operations Center and to the military. We called embassies. We talked to the navy in Sri Lanka, any local government official we could get hold of," Hirshorn said. "We were fairly careful about who we called. We wanted to call people who could help."  (quoted in http://the.honoluluadvertiser. com/article/2004/Dec/29/ln/ln05p.html )     TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001 [initial warning]  PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS ISSUED AT 0114Z 26 DEC 2004  THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL AREAS OF THE PACIFIC BASIN EXCEPT ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.   TSUNAMI INFORMATION BULLETIN: THIS MESSAGE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THERE IS NO TSUNAMI WARNING OR WATCH IN EFFECT.  AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS ORIGIN TIME - 0059Z 26 DEC 2004 COORDINATES - 3.4 NORTH 95.7 EAST LOCATION - OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA  MAGNITUDE - 8.0   EVALUATION: THIS EARTHQUAKE IS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE PACIFIC. NO DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS BASED ON HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI  DATA. THIS WILL BE THE ONLY BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.   http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/olderwmsg     To consult Bulletins:  http: //www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/olderwmsg      Note the tone of the first Bulletin above. It downplays an imminent catastrophe. It points to a Magnitude 8.0 Earthquake, subsequently revised to 8.5 and then 9. (See the texts of all three Bulletins in annex to this article).  The Bulletin fails to underscore the seriousness of the situation. It states in a routine fashion. "There is no Tsunami Warning or Watch in Effect" [in the Pacific]. It does not make any statement as to what might happen in the Indian Ocean. Neither does it acknowledge that the country which is worst hit, namely Indonesia, is a member of the Pacific tsunami warning system along with Thailand and Singapore.  In fact, the Bulletin is grossly misleading on the extent of the catastrophe caused by the earthquake and the tsunami which had already hit Indonesia prior to the release of the Bulletin (01.14 GMT), on the North Sumatra Coastline and in Banda, Aceh. To state that there is no tsunami or tsunami warning is mistaken. It had already happened!  We Did Not Know!  Nine (9.0) on the Richter scale: The Director of the Hawaii Warning Center stated that they did not know that the earthquake would generate a deadly seismic wave until it had hit Sri Lanka, more than one and a half hours later, at 2.30 GMT. (see Timeline below)  "Not until the deadly wave hit Sri Lanka and the scientists in Honolulu saw news reports of the damage there did they recognize what was happening...'Then we knew there was something moving across the Indian Ocean,' said Charles McCreery. (quoted in the NYT, 28 Dec 2004 ).  It is impossible that the movement of the seismic wave could have gone unnoticed following the initial devastating impact of the tidal waves in Aceh and North Sumatra immediately after 1.00 GMT on the 26th.  Moreover, according to expert opinion, known to the scientists who were monitoring seismic activity, an earthquake of more than 6.5 on the Richter scale has the potential of triggering a tsunami. In other words, there should have been no hesitation by scientists or government officials on the likely impacts of an earthquake which was initially assessed at 8.0 on the Richter scale.  Moreover, the Hawaii Center's statement is at odds with the Timeline of the seismic wave disaster (see below), which no doubt was also being monitored on a continuous basis, once it hit the Indonesian and Thai coastlines by satellite imaging using the Global Positioning System (GPS). These satellite images are available to a number of agencies including the US military and intelligence. It should be noted, however, that the energy of a tsunami is transferred through open water, it is therefore not easily detectable in the Ocean.  It is the extreme seismic activity which provides advance warning prior to the tsunami reaching the coastline. But as pointed out above, the tsunami had already hit the Indonesian coast shortly shortly after 01.00 GMT:   "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." (see http://www.redcross. org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_592_,00.html#feel )  Thailand was hit almost an hour before Sri Lanka and the news reports including photographic evidence were already out. Surely, these reports out of Thailand were known to the scientists in Hawaii, not to mention the office of Sec. Colin Powell, well before the tidal wave reached Sri Lanka.  ''We wanted to try to do something, but without a plan in place then, it was not an effective way to issue a warning, or to have it acted upon,'' Dr. McCreery said. ''There would have still been some time -- not a lot of time, but some time -- if there was something that could be done in Madagascar, or on the coast of Africa.''  The above statement by Director of the Hawaii Center is also inconsistent.  The seismic wave reached the East African coastline several hours after it reached The Maldives islands. According to news reports, Male, the capital of the Maldives was hit three hours after the earthquake, at approximately 4.00 GMT. By that time everybody around the World knew.    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  The following satellite image of the disaster was taken at approximately 05.00 GMT, about two hours after the Tsunami hit the coastline (click to download and enlarge)  Sri Lanka Coastline       Kalutara, Sri Lanka   Tsunami Hits Sri Lanka Coastline (Satellite Image)   Byline: Image collected Dec 26, 2004 at 10:20 a.m. four hours after the earthquake and shortly after the moment of tsunami impact.  click to Enlarge       Courtesy: GlobalImage     --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  It is worth noting that the US Navy was fully aware of the deadly seismic wave, because the Navy was on the Pacific Warning Center's list of contacts. The Military also has its own advanced systems including satellite images, which enables it to monitor in a very precise way the movement of the seismic wave in real time.  In other words, in all likelihood the US Military had information on an impending catastrophe.  Moreover, America's strategic Naval base on the island of Diego Garcia had also been notified. Although directly in the path of the tidal wave (see animated chart below), the Diego Garcia military base reported "no damage".    "One of the few places in the Indian Ocean that got the message of the quake was Diego Garcia, a speck of an island with a United States Navy base, because the Pacific warning center's contact list includes the Navy. Finding the appropriate people in Sri Lanka or India was harder." (NYT, 28 Dec 2004, emphasis added)  Now how hard is it to pick up the phone and call Sri Lanka?    According to Charles McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.  "We don't have contacts in our address book for anybody in that part of the world."  Only after the first waves hit Sri Lanka did workers at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre [PTWC] and others in Hawaii start making phone calls to US diplomats in Madagascar and Mauritius in an attempt to head off further disaster.  "We didn't have a contact in place where you could just pick up the phone," Dolores Clark, spokeswoman for the International Tsunami Information Centre in Hawaii said. "We were starting from scratch."  These statements on the surface are ambiguous, since several Indian Ocean Asian countries are in fact members of the Tsunami Warning System.   There are 26 member countries of the International Coordination Group for the Tsunami Warning System , including Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. All these countries would normally be in the address book of the PTWC, which works in close coordination with its sister organization the ICGTWS , which has its offices at the headquarters of the National Weather Service Pacific Region Headquarters in downtown Honolulu.  The mandate of the ICGTWS is to "assist member states in establishing national warning systems, and makes information available on current technologies for tsunami warning systems." Australia and Indonesia were notified.  The US Congress is to investigate  The US Congress is to investigate why the US government did not notify all the Indian Ocean nations in the affected area:   "Only two countries in the affected region, Indonesia and Australia, received the warning.. Yet the tsunami took as long as two hours to reach some countries, and NOAA's critics say timely even unofficial warnings might have allowed people in coastal areas to flee."  Maine Senator Olympia Snowe is "exploring and looking into why NOAA was not able to provide this valuable, life-saving information to the 11 affected nations," (quoted in Boston Globe, 29 Dec 2004):  The issue of the Ocean Sensors is a Red Herring  "Although Thailand belongs to the international tsunami-warning network, its west coast does not have the system's wave sensors mounted on ocean buoys.   The northern tip of the earthquake fault is located near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and tsunamis appear to have rushed eastward toward the Thai resort of Phuket.   "They had no tidal gauges and they had no warning," said Waverly Person, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Centre in Golden, Colorado, U.S., which monitors seismic activity worldwide. "There are no buoys in the Indian Ocean and that's where this tsunami occurred."" (Hindu, 27 Dec 2004)  The Hawaii Center was not able to warn them because they had no sensors in the Indian Ocean: That argument is a Red Herring.  We are not dealing with information based on Ocean sensors: the emergency warning was transmitted in the immediate wake of the earthquake (based on seismic data).  The earthquake took place at 00.58 GMT on the 26th of Dec. The report was transmitted to The State Department and the US Navy following the earthquake.   With modern communications, the information of an impending disaster could have been sent around the World in a matter of minutes, by email, by telephone, by fax, not to mention by live satellite Television.  Coastguards, municipalities, local governments, tourist hotels, etc. could have been warned.  According to Tsunami Society President Prof. Tad Murty of the University of Manitoba:   'there's no reason for a single individual to get killed in a tsunami,'  since most areas had anywhere from 25 minutes to four hours before a wave hit. So, once again, because of indifference and corruption thousands of innocent people have died needlessly." (Calgary Sun, 28 Dec 2004)  While the above quote is an overstatement, given the nature and magnitude of the catastrophe, it should nonetheless be taken seriously.  Key Questions   1. Why were the Indian Ocean countries' governments not informed?   Were there "guidelines" from the US military or the State Department regarding the release of an advanced warning?  According to the statement of the Hawaii based PTWC, advanced warning was released but on a selective basis. Indonesia was already hit, so the warning was in any event redundant and Australia was several thousand miles from the epicentre of the earthquake and was, therefore, under no immediate threat.   2. Did US authorities monitoring seismographic data have knowledge of the earthquake prior to its actual occurrence at 00.57 GMT on the 26th of December?    The question is whether there were indications of abnormal seismic activity prior to 01.00 GMT on the 26th of Dec.  The US Geological Survey confirmed that the earthquake which triggered the tidal wave measured 9.0 on the Richter scale and was the fourth largest quake since 1900. In such cases, one would expect evidence of abnormal seismic activity before the actual occurrence of a major earthquake.  3. Why is the US military Calling the Shots on Humanitarian Relief  Why in the wake of the disaster, is the US military (rather than civilian humanitarian/aid organizations operating under UN auspices) taking a lead role?   The US Pacific Command has been designated to coordinate the channeling of emergency relief? Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Rusty Blackman, commander of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force based in Okinawa, has been designated to lead the emergency relief program.    Lieutenant General Blackman was previously Chief of Staff for Coalition Forces Land Component Command, responsible for leading the Marines into Baghdad during "Operation Iraqi Freedom."   Three "Marine disaster relief assessment teams" under Blackman's command have been sent to Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.  US  military aircraft are conducting observation missions.  In a bitter irony, part of this operation is being coordinated out of America's Naval base in Diego Garcia, which was not struck by the tidal wave. Meanwhile, "USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, which was in Hong Kong when the earthquake and tsunamis struck, has been diverted to the Gulf of Thailand to support recovery operations" (Press Conference of Pacific Command,  http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2004/n12292004_2004122905. html ).  Two Aircraft Carriers have been sent to the region.  Why is it necessary for the US to mobilize so much military equipment? The pattern is unprecedented:   Conway said the Lincoln carrier strike group has 12 helicopters embarked that he said could be "extremely valuable" in recovery missions.  An additional 25 helicopters are aboard USS Bonhomme Richard, headed to the Bay of Bengal. Conway said the expeditionary strike group was in Guam and is forgoing port visits in Guam and Singapore and expects to arrive in the Bay of Bengal by Jan. 7.  Conway said the strike group, with its seven ships, 2,100 Marines and 1,400 sailors aboard, also has four Cobra helicopters that will be instrumented in reconnaissance efforts.  Because fresh water is one of the greatest needs in the region, Fargo has ordered seven ships — each capable of producing 90,000 gallons of fresh water a day — to the region. Conway said five of these ships are pre-positioned in Guam and two will come from Diego Garcia.  A field hospital ship pre-positioned in Guam would also be ordered to the region, depending on findings of the disaster relief assessment teams and need, Conway said. (Ibid)  Why has a senior commander involved in the invasion of Iraq been assigned to lead the US emergency relief program?     --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  The Tsunami Timeline   Sunday 26 December 2004 (GMT)  00.57 GMT: Between 00.57 GMT and 00.59 GMT, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake occurs on the seafloor near Aceh in northern Indonesia. (See http://ioc.unesco.org/itsu/ and other reports)  00.58 GMT: Saturday 25 December, 2.58 pm Hawaii Time (GMT-10)  26 Dec 00.58 GMT. US government's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center registers the earthquake on its seismic instruments. In other words at the time of its occurrence at 00.58 GMT.  shortly after 01.00 GMT: Earthquake hits several cities in Indonesia, creates panic in urban areas in peninsular Malaysia. The news of the earthquake is reported immediately.  01.3O GMT: Phuket and Coast of Thailand: The tidal wave hits to coastline shortly after 8.30 am, 01.30 GMT  02.30 GMT: Colombo Sri Lanka and Eastern Coast of Sri Lanka, the tidal wave hits the coastal regions close to the capital Colombo, according to report at 8.30 am local time,  02.30 GMT (an hour and a half after the earthquake)  02.45 GMT: India's Eastern Coastline. The tsunami hits India's eastern coast from 6:15 a.m.(2:45 GMT)  04.00 GMT: Male, Maldives: From about 9:00 am (0400 GMT), three hours after the earthquake, the capital, Male, and other parts of the country were flooded by the tsunami. (more than three hours after the earthquake)  11.00 GMT (approximate time according to news dispatches): East Coast of Africa is hit. More than ten hours after the earthquake    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For a review of the official statement by NOAA at the Hawaii Center, click  http://www.noaanews.noaa. gov/stories2004/s2358.htm    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------   The animation below indicates approximate times at which the tidal wave hits the coastal areas of Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, The Maldives.  Click on the image to see an animation (650 KB)      (Animation provided by Kenji Satake, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan)    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------       --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  TEXT OF NOAA WARNINGS Note the first message points to a Magnitude 8.0 Earthquake, subsequently revised t0 8.5 and then 9.  But it states in a routine fashion. This is not a Tsunami Warning. In fact the Bulletin is ambiguous because it in effect misleads.  It suggests that there is no danger in the Pacific. It does not make any statement as to what might happen in the Indian Ocean.    The following messages were transmitted to tsunami warning centres in the Pacific Region between 26 and 27 December 2004:  emphasis added    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001 [initial warning]  PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS  ISSUED AT 0114Z 26 DEC 2004  THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL AREAS OF THE PACIFIC BASIN EXCEPT  ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.  .................. TSUNAMI INFORMATION BULLETIN ..................  THIS MESSAGE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THERE IS NO TSUNAMI WARNING  OR WATCH IN EFFECT.  AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS  ORIGIN TIME - 0059Z 26 DEC 2004  COORDINATES - 3.4 NORTH 95.7 EAST  LOCATION - OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA  MAGNITUDE - 8.0  EVALUATION  THIS EARTHQUAKE IS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE PACIFIC. NO DESTRUCTIVE  TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS BASED ON HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI  DATA.  THIS WILL BE THE ONLY BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.  THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE BULLETINS  FOR ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  ITIC Tsunami Bulletin Board  TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 002  PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS  ISSUED AT 0204Z 26 DEC 2004   [one hour later after the earthquake. The Indonesian and Thai Coast have already been hit and they say there is a possibility of a Tsunami near the Epicentre, when in fact the Tsumai had already hit. One has the distinct impression of double standards. No danger in the Pacific]  THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL AREAS OF THE PACIFIC BASIN EXCEPT  ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.  .................. TSUNAMI INFORMATION BULLETIN ..................  ATTENTION: NOTE REVISED MAGNITUDE.  THIS MESSAGE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THERE IS NO TSUNAMI WARNING  OR WATCH IN EFFECT.  AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS  ORIGIN TIME - 0059Z 26 DEC 2004  COORDINATES - 3.4 NORTH 95.7 EAST  LOCATION - OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA  MAGNITUDE - 8.5  EVALUATION  REVISED MAGNITUDE BASED ON ANALYSIS OF MANTLE WAVES.  THIS EARTHQUAKE IS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE PACIFIC. NO DESTRUCTIVE  TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS FOR THE PACIFIC BASIN BASED ON HISTORICAL  EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DATA.  THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF A TSUNAMI NEAR THE EPICENTER.  THIS WILL BE THE ONLY BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.  THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE BULLETINS  FOR ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  ITIC Tsunami Bulletin Board  TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 003  PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS  ISSUED AT 1535Z 27 DEC 2004  THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL AREAS OF THE PACIFIC BASIN EXCEPT  ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.  .................. TSUNAMI INFORMATION BULLETIN ..................  THIS MESSAGE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THERE IS NO TSUNAMI WARNING  OR WATCH IN EFFECT.  AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS  ORIGIN TIME - 0059Z 26 DEC 2004  COORDINATES - 3.4 NORTH 95.7 EAST  LOCATION - OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA  MAGNITUDE - 9.0  EVALUATION  SOME ENERGY FROM YESTERDAYS TSUNAMI IN THE INDIAN OCEAN HAS  LEAKED INTO THE PACIFIC BASIN... PROBABLY FROM SOUTH OF THE  AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT. THIS ENERGY HAS PRODUCED MINOR  SEA LEVEL FLUCTUATIONS AT MANY PLACES IN THE PACIFIC. FOR  EXAMPLE...  50 CM CREST-TO-TROUGH AT CALLAO CHILE  19 CM CREST-TO-TROUGH AT IQUIQUE CHILE  13 CM CREST- TO-TROUGH AT PAGO PAGO AMERICAN SAMOA  11 CM CREST-TO-TROUGH AT SUVA FIJI  50 CM CREST-TO-TROUGH AT WAITANGI CHATHAM IS NEW ZEALAND  65 CM CREST-TO-TROUGH AT JACKSON BAY NEW ZEALAND  18 CM CREST-TO-TROUGH AT PORT VILA VANUATU  06 CM CREST-TO-TROUGH AT HILO HAWAII USA  22 CM CREST-TO-TROUGH AT SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA USA  HOWEVER... AT MANZANILLO MEXICO SEA LEVEL FLUCTUATIONS WERE  AS MUCH AS 2.6 METERS CREST-TO-TROUGH PROBABLY DUE TO FOCUSING  OF ENERGY BY THE EAST PACIFIC RISE AS WELL AS LOCAL RESONANCES.  THIS IS TO ADVISE THAT SMALL SEA LEVEL CHANGES COULD CONTINUE  TO BE OBSERVED ACROSS THE PACIFIC OVER THE NEXT DAY OR TWO  UNTIL ALL ENERGY FROM THIS EVENT IS EVENTUALLY DISSIPATED.   THIS WILL BE THE FINAL BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS   ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.  THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE BULLETINS  FOR ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.      source:  http://ioc.unesco.org/itsu/contents.php?id=136     --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Satellite Images of the Disaster   Indonesia  Click to Enlarge (Courtesy GlobalImage)    Banda Aceh City Overview   Imagery collected December 28, 2004   Description: Area overview Enlarge         Banda Aceh City Overview (Before Tsunami)   Imagery collected June 23, 2004   Description: Area overview before tsunami Enlarge         Banda Aceh City Detail    Imagery collected December 28, 2004   Description: City detail after tsunami (image rotated) Enlarge            India Click to Enlarge (courtesy http://www.spaceimaging. com/           Nagappattinam, India  December 29, 2004. The port city, also called Negapattinam, is situated on the low plain of the Coromandel Coast, in central Tamil Nadu      Chennai  Side by Side comparison    Tarangambadi, India     Karaikal         --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  26 Dec 2004  Seismic Activity on Dec 26  (click http://www.pgc.nrcan.gc.ca/seisplots/long- period/200412/20041226.PGC.LHZ.24hr.gif   Note: extreme seismic activity prior to 01.00 GMT   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Global Seismic Activity in the Days prior to the Disaster Soource, The Hindu, http://www.hindu. com/2004/12/27/stories/2004122712212000.htm   December 26  The Andaman Islands, India region: 5.8, 5.7, 5.7, 6.1 6.0 5.8 and 5.8 on the Richter scale; the Nicobar Islands: 7.3 and 6.0; Off W Coast Of Northern Sumatra: 5.9, 5.8 and 8.9; and Northern Sumatra, Indonesia: 5.9.  December 24  Java, Indonesia 4.6; Vanuatu Region 5.3; Fiji Region 5.1; and North Of Macquarie Island 5.5.  December 23  North Of Macquarie Island 8.1; and Central Alaska 4.5.  December 22  Southern East Pacific Rise 6.1; Off The Coast Of Oregon 4.9; South Sandwich Islands Region 4.5; Guatemala 4.3; Rota Region, Northern Mariana Islands 4.5; and Taiwan 4.3.  December 21  Halmahera, Indonesia 5.4; Southern Alaska 5.1; and Hokkaido, Japan Region 5.6.  December 20  Western Turkey 5.3; Cayman Islands Region 4.4; Galapagos Triple Junction Region 5.4; Central Mid-Atlantic Ridge 4.9; Izu Islands, Japan Region 4.7; Valparaiso, Chile 2.8; Tonga 4.9; Libertador O Higgins, Chile 3.0; Coquimbo, Chile 3.4; and Near The Coast Of Central Peru 5.0.  December 19   Valparaiso, Chile 4.0 and 3.6; Alaska Peninsula 5.2; Fiji Region 5.2; Mindanao, Philippines 5.4; South Of Panama 4.7; Panama 5.5; Coquimbo, Chile 3.6; Near The East Coast Of Honshu, Japan 5.3; Western Australia 2.9; Vanuatu Region 5.3; and Northern Peru 4.9.       --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  The Richter Scale     US   scientists in Hawaii had initially indicated that the earthquake was of a magnitude of 8.0 (ten times weaker than in the case a 9.0 earthquake on the Richter scale).     How can an error of this nature be made, with very sophisticated measuring equipment?     According to Natural Resources Canada:  "The magnitude of an earthquake is a measure of the amount of energy released. Each earthquake has a unique magnitude assigned to it. This is based on the amplitude of seismic waves measured at a number of seismograph sites, after being corrected for distance from the earthquake. Magnitude estimates often change by up to 0.2 units, as additional data are included in the estimate.  The Richter scale is logarithmic, that is an increase of 1 magnitude unit represents a factor of ten times in amplitude. The seismic waves of a magnitude 6 earthquake are 10 times greater in amplitude than those of a magnitude 5 earthquake. However, in terms of energy release, a magnitude 6 earthquake is about 31 times greater than a magnitude 5. The intensity of an earthquake varies greatly according to distance from the earthquake, ground conditions, and other factors. The Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale is used to describe earthquake effects." ( http://www.pgc.nrcan.gc.ca/seismo/eqinfo/richter.htm )  The following criteria are given by Natural Resources, Canada:  M=8: "Great" earthquake, great destruction, loss of life over several 100 km (1906 San Francisco, 1949 Queen Charlotte Islands) .  M=9: Rare great earthquake, major damage over a large region over 1000 km (Chile 1960, Alaska 1964, and west coast of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, 1700) .  Source Natural Resources Canada: http://www.pgc.nrcan.gc.ca/seismo/eqinfo/richter.htm     --------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Email this article to a friend   To become a Member of Global Research   To express your opinion on this article, join the discussion at Global Research's News and Discussion Forum , at http: //globalresearch.ca.myforums.net/index.php   The Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at www.globalresearch.ca grants permission to cross-post original Global Research articles in their entirety, or any portions thereof, on community internet sites, as long as the text & title are not modified. 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