Akash Magoon's website
Tsunami disater news
Home | Baltimore Ravens | Tsunami disater news | 2nd page about Tsunami disaster news | basketball picture gallery | baseball players picture gallery | stats of athletics | football athletics picture gallery | my religion is Indian | use full links | welcome to my web page | My regional | akash pictures | car page | car page | 2nd page about Tsunami disaster news

January 2, 2005 · Thousands of European survivors of last week's Indian Ocean tsunami search for loved ones who disappeared from the popular resort area of Phuket in southern Thailand. At least one-half of the thousands killed in the area were foreign tourists. Doualy Xaykaothao reports.   one week  after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, aid workers rush to prevent disease and bury the dead. At left, U.S. helicopters loaded with supplies -- part of a massive international relief effort -- take off from the USS Abraham Lincoln en route to Aceh, Indonesia.                                                                     

 Entire towns and villages have disappeared from the coast of the Indonesian province of Aceh at the tip of Sumatra, one of the hardest-hit areas of last week's earthquake and tsunami. Estimates of the number of dead continue to rise, and countless thousands of survivors are in desperate need of food, medicine and potable water. NPR's Michael Sullivan reports. Charities helping victims of last week's Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami report receiving a huge outpouring of money from Americans. Some groups have been overwhelmed by the response, but all are heartened at the level of contributions. NPR's Libby Lewis reports. NPR's John Nielsen reports on how the work of Brian Atwater, a tsunami expert with the U.S. Geological Survey, helped to uncover the origins of a massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated much of the U.S. Pacific Northwest in the early 1700s. NPR's Sheilah Kast speaks with NPR's Jason Beaubien in Sri Lanka, where survivors of last Sunday's tsunami are struggling to clean up from the disaster. NPR's Sheilah Kast speaks with Les Roberts, a water engineer and research associate at John Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, about short-term and long-term solutions for getting clean water to communities devastated by last week's massive Indian Ocean tsunami.NPR's Sheilah Kast speaks with NPR's Phillip Reeves, reporting on tsunami devastation on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. The most urgent needs are for clean water and medical supplies as people try to recover from last Sunday's disaster. NPR's Sheilah Kast speaks with NPR's Phillip Reeves, reporting on tsunami devastation on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. The most urgent needs are for clean water and medical supplies as people try to recover from last Sunday's disaster. Fishing communities along the Indian Ocean are reeling from the devastation wrought by Sunday's tsunami, and whole fishing fleets are in ruins. Offshore, fish communities could be equally devastated -- and the impact this will have on local fishing communities could be long-lasting. Hear NPR's Jennifer Ludden and Fernanda Guerrieri, an official with the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization.  NPR's Jennifer Ludden visits a fund raiser in Bethesda, Md., where groups of professionals of Sri Lankan heritage make plans to send aid to help tsunami victims. Their main concern is for the people in the mostly Tamil northeast region of Sri Lanka, where decades of civil war have left the residents weak and malnourished. Relief workers and dazed survivors in Sri Lanka continue to uncover bodies of those who died in last week's tsunami -- and estimates of the number of dead continue to rise in Indonesia, Thailand and other nations on the Indian Ocean. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from the Sri Lankan village of Hambantota
Brigadier Gen. Ken Gluck, deputy commanding general of a U.S. military task force rushing to aid to areas hardest-hit by Sunday's earthquake and tsunami, calls the devastation along the west coasts of Indonesia and Thailand "overwhelming," and details American plans to provide relief. NPR's Phillip Reeves reports from Tricomalee, Sri Lanka, on efforts to provide aid to victims of last week's massive Indian Ocean tsunami. The Aceh region of Indonesia, at the northern tip of the island of Sumatra, was one of the hardest-hit areas of Sunday's earthquake and tsunami. The city of Bande Aceh is all but destroyed, and in smaller towns along the coast the death toll continues to grow. NPR's Michael Sullivan reports. Indonesia's Aceh province was near the epicenter of Sunday's earthquake and tsunami, which wiped entire villages off the map. As many as 80,000 people were killed there -- ports and roads were destroyed and many towns flattened. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and Christian Science Monitor correspondent Tom McCawley. The White House announces the U.S. will boost its aid contribution to tsunami victims from $35 million to $350 million. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the increase came after discussions with disaster officials made clear the size of the tragedy. Hear NPR's Larry Abramson. In Sri Lanka, the death toll from the tsunami is now above 28,000. In the village of Ahangama, volunteers delivered blankets and bags of rice to survivors. The government declares a national day of mourning, but many people didn't need an official declaration. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports. Sunday's Indian Ocean tsunami wiped many coastal villages off the map in Indonesia and India. In India's east coast, survivors are receiving medical attention, and local authorities have implemented aggressive clean-up efforts to counter disease. Hear reporter Laura Womack in India's Tamil Nadu state.The southeast Indian town of Cuddalore was not hit as hard as other communities on the coast, but the speed of its recovery is remarkable nonetheless. People from India's many diverse linguistic and ethnic groups are sending supplies and volunteers are arriving to help with the reconstruction. Laura Womack reports In Thailand, the dead and injured from the tsunami include many foreign tourists, mostly from Scandinavia and Germany, vacationing in the resort area of Phuket. Authorities believe more than 1,000 Germans in the area are unaccounted for. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and German diplomat Christian Hauswedell. Sri Lankan Governor Alavi Mowlana says both the government and International Red Cross are doing all they can to provide relief to the island's urban and costal areas, but smaller villages inland are inaccessible. Roads and bridges have been washed out, and there are no helicopters available. He speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep In Sri Lanka, the death from Sunday's tsunami stands at more than 28,000, with some 5,000 still missing. Officials there have declared New Year's Day a day of mourning, as relief workers try to help the devastated population. Hear NPR's Jason Beaubien. Direct Relief International, a medical relief agency in Santa Barbara, Calif., is working overtime to get millions of dollars in drug and health care donations to the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami as quickly as possible. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports. Aid agencies and nearby countries are trying to send in relief supplies to Indonesia's hard-hit Aceh province; but it seems that even when supplies make it to the provincial capital Banda Aceh, they don't necessarily make it to people in need. NPR's Robert Siegel talks to reporter Alan Sipress of the Washington Post. Thousands of people along the tsunami-ravaged southeastern coast of India fled for higher ground when the Indian government warned that another tsunami might be on the way. It turned out to be a false alarm. Laura Womack reports NPR's Margot Adler reports on the surge in online donations for relief efforts for tsunami victims European leaders say it seems thousands of tourists are among the casualties of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Many Europeans were vacationing in some of the worst hit areas. NPR's Emily Harris reports.
In the southern Sri Lankan city of Galle, the number of those killed by Sunday's tsunami reaches 23,000. Across much of southern Asia, contaminated drinking water and the lack of sanitary facilities threaten the lives of survivors. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and NPR's Jason Beaubien. Damage estimates from the tsunami in southern Asia continue to increase and aid efforts are being formalized. The United Nations is implementing its own disaster relief plans. And President Bush has announced a coalition of four nations to fund and coordinate relief efforts. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports With clean-up efforts underway, relief workers in southern India concentrate on removing corpses and finding potable water. Emergency workers are also trying to get drinking water to tens of thousands of survivors. Health workers worry contaminated drinking water may result in more deaths then the 7,000 the tsunami caused. Laura Womak reports. Hundreds of miles of Sumatran coast line will challenge aide workers in getting relief to the thousands of victims of Sunday's tsunami. Aid workers say the current toll of those killed could double. NPR's Michael Sullivan talks with NPR's Steve Inskeep             Relief agencies are arriving in countries affected by Sunday's earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Dozens of nations have pledged about $81 million to help the nations in need. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Jan Egeland, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which has named a special coordinator for the disaster. Relief agencies are arriving in countries affected by Sunday's earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Dozens of nations have pledged about $81 million to help the nations in need. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Jan Egeland, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which has named a special coordinator for the disaster. In the Maldives, a collection of nearly 200 inhabited coral islands in the Indian Ocean, and several islands have been completely devastated. NPR's Melissa Block talks with Dr. Mahamood Shaugee, minister of education in Maldives.
It's hard to know how many people are affected when disasters like a tsunami strike remote areas. But a new approach to population mapping called LandScan is improving the ability of relief agencies to estimate how many people need help. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports. Along the beaches and islands of southern Thailand, thousands of local residents and tourists are missing, presumably swept away in the tsunami. The resort area is popular with both Asians and Europeans. Doualy Xaykaotho reports NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Geeta Pandey of the BBC about the devastation caused by the tsunami in the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands.Satellite imaging can help construct a before-and-after picture of destruction in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami from last weekend, helping in the allocation of aid resources. Such imaging may also bolster the argument for an alert system in the region. NPR's Robert Siegel speaks with John Pike of globalsecurity.org. Technicians from the Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii knew an earthquake struck under the Indian Ocean within minutes. But scientists could only issue a warning to the surrounding countries, because their jurisdiction only covers the Pacific. NPR's Christopher Joyce reports on why the news didn't travel fast enough to save lives.  With the death toll rising, health concerns looming and clean-up efforts underway, Laura Womack talks with NPR's Steve Inskeep from Madras, India, about the aftermath of the devastating tsunami that ripped through the Indian Ocean  NPR's Melissa Block talks with Roland Buerk of the BBC, who was swept up in Sunday's tsunami wave in Sri Lanka, about surviving the harrowing experience. The Indian Ocean lacks a system of earthquake detection, though there are charts that can predict when and where tsunamis will hit after an earthquake. Many deaths might have been prevented with such a warning system. NPR's Melissa Block talks with Dr. Tad Murty of the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Manitoba Winnipeg. NPR's Alex Chadwick talks with Michael Dobbs, a Washington Post writer who was swimming off the coast of Sri Lanka when giant tsunami waves began crashing on the shore. Only four other earthquakes on record were as large as the one that hit the Indian Ocean Sunday. A rupture along an undersea fault line that runs north-south off the coast of Sumatra created the quake. NPR's Christopher Joyce explains what happened in the ocean and how it spread disaster so far.  NPR's Sheilah Kast speaks with geophysicist Julie Martinez of the United States Geological Survey about Sunday morning's earthquake. It was the strongest quake in more than 40 years, and is estimated to have killed thousands as it spawned tsunamis in Southeast Asia.

 

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Soon after the earthquake shook Banda Aceh prison, wardens released the inmates into the central courtyard, fearing a second, more powerful temblor might collapse the cells.

But nobody expected what came next - a huge wave that smashed through the walls as if they were made of paper, engulfing the complex in a torrent of churning water and debris. All 280 inmates and six guards are missing and feared dead, as are 200 other prisoners in other facilities in the region.

"They didn't make the connection between an earthquake and a tsunami. Our grandparents, and their grandparents before them, have never experienced such a thing," said Teuke Darwin, head of the provincial justice ministry. "They used to think a tsunami was a Japanese television series."

By all accounts, most of the almost 100,000 people killed Dec. 26 along the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island were unaware of the monstrous waves heading their way. Unlike the Pacific region, Southeast Asia has rarely been hit by tsunami.

Darwin said he was told of the final minutes inside the prison by a warden who left soon after the earthquake but before the tsunami. Efforts to contact the warden were not successful.

A tour of the destroyed prison Wednesday found all the cells were unlocked when the waves struck, but its main door and interior gate were bolted shut, meaning the inmates would have been unable to escape.

A clock stripped from a wall stopped when the tsunami hit the prison - 8:45 a.m., about 45 minutes after the most powerful earthquake in 40 years struck off Aceh's coast on the northern tip of Sumatra Island.

Most of the corpses have been removed from the complex, but grisly finds abound: a man's leg sticks out of the ruins, and an arm protrudes from beneath a damp sofa. Inside the cells, prisoners' clothes still hang on hooks.