Disaster database

Disaster database

26 December 2004

At 06.45, local time, today, an earthquake of minor intensity hit the Chennai City. Around 09.00 tsunami waves hit the shores of Chennai and surroundings. An estimated 1,400 people, including 1,000 in Tamil Nadu alone, were feared killed and hundreds more were missing when high tsunami tidal waves lashed homes along the coast in south-eastern India after a massive earthquake hit the Sumatra Island in Indonesia this morning. The casualties are more in Nagapatinam and Cuddalore. Tamil Nadu bore the brunt of the attack while neighbouring Andhra Pradesh also reported about 200 deaths mostly in Guntur, Prakasam and Krishna districts. In Pondicherry about 100 people lost their lives. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, whose Car Nicobar Islands are just 115 nautical miles from Sumatra, the epicentre of the quake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale, were also hit by the tidal waves that claimed 20 lives and damaged property including the airport in Car Nicobar. Campbell Bay, just about 25 nautical miles off the Indonesian coast, suffered extensive damage. In the southern tip, Kerala accounted for a toll of 29 people while one person lost his life in West Bengal. The Chennai Port was cordoned off. Understand that three vessels inside the port were damaged. Extent of damage not known.

26 December 2004

One of the most powerful earthquakes in history hit southern Asia today, unleashing a tsunami on Sri Lanka and India and swamping tourist isles in Thailand and the Maldives to kill more than 7,100 people. The tsunami, up to 30 ft high, caused death, chaos and devastation across southern Asia. It was triggered by an 8.9 magnitude underwater earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. “This is one of the largest earthquakes ever on record”, Peter Rees, of the International Federation of the Red Cross in Geneva, said, adding: “The situation in Sri Lanka … is extremely serious”. Emergency services were stretched throughout the region. Some areas were totally unprepared. In Sri Lanka, where the death toll was nearly 2,500, corpses floated in floodwaters, while thousands fled their homes and cars floated out to sea. Idyllic beaches were turned into fields of debris and destruction. The worst hit area appeared to be the tourist region of the south and east where beach hotels were inundated or swept away. In Indonesia, where 2,437 people were listed as killed, raging waters dragged villagers out to sea. An updated Indonesian death toll brought the total killed in southern Asia to 7,125. Relatives gathered around bodies in the south of India, where the death toll was more than 1,870. Beaches were littered with submerged cars and wrecked boats. Shanties on the coast of Chennai, where 100 died, were under water. “Nothing like this has ever happened in our country before”, said Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand where the death toll was 257. The earthquake of magnitude 8.9 as measured by the US Geological Survey struck at 07.59 hrs off Sumatra and swung north with multiple tremors into the Andaman islands. Sri Lanka appealed to the world for aid, saying that one million people, or 5 per cent of its population, were affected. “I think this is the worst-ever natural disaster in Sri Lanka”, said N.D. Hettiarachchi, director of the National Disaster Management Centre. India feared a devastating toll along its south-eastern coast. In the state of Tamil Nadu alone, a government official said at least 1,625 had been killed. Rescuers were searching for hundreds of missing fishermen and thousands were homeless. Television footage showed bodies being thrown into trucks in Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state. Hundreds fled to higher ground. People carried bodies in hessian sacks to hospitals where dozens of dead already lined the corridors. In Andhra Pradesh, about 400 fishermen were feared missing and 200 Hindu devotees who had gone to the beach for a holy dip in the morning were feared dead. Almost 500 tourists were stranded on a rock in the sea off India’s southernmost tip, witnesses said. Two-thirds of the Maldives capital, Male, was flooded and the international airport, itself lying just a few feet above sea level on an island of its own, was unusable. In popular holiday islands off southern Thailand, emergency workers rescued about 70 Thai and foreign divers from the Emeral Cave and several dozen were found and evacuated from around other islands, officials said. Two Thais were killed at the cave. Officials said that more than 600 tourists and residents were being evacuated by air and sea from the island of Ko Phi Phi. The Thai government ordered the evacuation of stricken coastal areas, which included popular beach resorts on the islands of Phuket and Krabi. Thousands were injured in Thailand. In Indonesia, the worst affected area was Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, where 1,400 people had been killed. More than 200 prisoners escaped from a jail when the tsunami knocked down its walls. The earthquake was the world’s biggest since 1964, said Julie Martinez, geophysicist at the US Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado

26 December 2005

A local Chennai press report states: “The lines showing the height of the tides on the graph just went out of the paper”, said K. Suresh, chairman of the Chennai Port Trust, about the tsunami that damaged at least four ships. Estimating the loss due to the huge sea waves, which took away at least six empty containers and brought in tonnes of sediments that might hamper vessel navigation, at Rs10 crores, he said the graph sheet could accommodate up to 3 m, whereas the tides rose over 5 m. The height of the tide at the port under normal circumstances is between one and 1.5 m. Although the Chennai Port Trust administration said five employees sustained injuries that too because they fell while running to safety, sources in the Coast Guard said one person working on a merchant ship was killed. The tsunami resulted in many parts of the port getting inundated, including the wharf on which cars meant for exports were parked and its privatised container terminal. The rising water level inside the harbour and the repeated bouts of the high tides led to some of the ships rocking violently. The sparking point for the havoc was the snapping of the mooring ropes holding unknown ABG Kesava, a vessel undergoing repairs, which drifted for 200 m. It reached the inner harbour where a few more vessels were also floating after their moorings came off.

27 December 2004

Chennai Port has been seriously affected by the tidal waves that lashed the east coast this morning, with some damage to port installations in Tuticorin and Port Blair as well. Operations at Chennai Port have been suspended for the next two days, as the port trust authorities assess damage to installations. The Surface Transport Ministry has set up a special team to monitor the situation in the affected ports, according to Mr D.T. Joseph, Secretary of the Surface Transport Ministry. The director general of Shipping is also monitoring the movement of vessels in the Bay of Bengal. According to Chennai Port Trust chairman, Mr K. Suresh, three vessels were involved in a collision, a quay crane was damaged and water inundated the wharf, the bay area, the quarters and a hospital. The area has been heavily silted, he said. While the damage is being assessed, initial estimates fix the losses at about rupees 100 million, according to Mr Suresh. Port operations have been suspended for about 40 hours, as more ripples are expected. The authorities have also decided to let vessels move out into open seas. According to them, five or six vessels have moved out and 12 more are in the port and will leave as soon as possible.

Captain N.M. Saggi, nautical adviser to the Government of India, is monitoring the situation across the country. The worst affected is Chennai Port, where a “minor” oil spill from a tanker has been reported. According to Captain Saggi some port installations at Tuticorin have been damaged, while a vessel loaded with coal lost its moorings.

27 December 2004

There was an earthquake in India during the early hours of 26 December. Due to the earthquake, there was extensive damage in Tamilnadu, Andamans, Kerala, Pandichery and Andhra Pradesh. No casualties were reported in Kolkata and in West Bengal.

27 December 2004

Three tidal waves stated to be about five to 8m high lashed the southern Thailand provinces of Phuket, Phangnga, Krabi, Trang, Satun and Ranong, on 26 December. According to newspaper reports, as at 22.00 hrs, last night, some 289 people had been killed and 3,675 injured. The death toll was mounting as bodies were washed ashore. The waves flattened small buildings on the seashore. Phuket has been declared an emergency area. It was stated that three huge waves struck Phuket island and beach-front vendors and tourists on the beaches were sucked into the sea. The Sarasin bridge, linking the Phuket Island to the mainland, was damaged and closed to traffic. Boats were swept onto the beaches. Theft and looting were also reported as home and shop-owners fled to higher ground.

27 December 2004

The tsunami hit at Chennai and surrounding areas on 26 December. There was no casualty in Ennore Port and the condition is normal there. Due to the tsunami’s attack on the east coast of India, Tuticorin port is temporarily closed from December 26 until December 28. No damage to port installations observed, except for security wall at some places.

27 December 2005

The sea surges produced by the earthquake off Indonesia have swept 6,000 km to hit east Africa and islands off its coast. Waves struck Kenya and Somalia after hitting Mauritius, Reunion and the Seychelles on the way. A number of people were reported drowned on the African coast and nine were missing in the Seychelles. Thousands of tourists and fishermen were urged to flee beaches before the storm waves hit. About 10,000 tourists were evacuated from the Kenyan port of Mombasa. A Kenyan was reported drowned in the nearby town of Malindi, where dozens of fishing boats were damaged. Kenyan Environment Minister Kalonzo Musyoka said: “We have put our navy on top alert”. Officials in Somalia reported another 16 people killed, nine in Kabaal in the north-east and seven in Elmaan, north of the capital Mogadishu. But the deaths could not be independently confirmed. Seychelles President James Michel addressed the nation on television, saying: “I am asking people to remain calm and help those in need”. A 2 m surge flooded low-lying areas and disrupted power supplies. Tourists in Mauritius were cleared from beaches, but although Cap Malheureux beach in the north was submerged for almost three hours, no casualties were reported. About 15 fishing boats were damaged in the French territory of Reunion. The British government warned its citizens in Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Kenya and Tanzania to be alert for potential danger from the sea surges.

27 December 2004

Rescuers today scoured land and sea for survivors in Asia and fears of disease grew as emergency services struggled with rotting bodies from a devastating tsunami that killed more than 23,200 people. Waves that crashed into coastal villages and tourist resorts yesterday destroyed all in their path as they surged inland. Western tourists were killed sunbathing on beaches, poor people drowned in their homes, fishermen died in flimsy boats. The 21-year-old grandson of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej was killed on a jet-ski. “We have a long way to go in collecting bodies”, said Thailand’s Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who expected the 866 death toll in his country to go much higher. One Thai official estimated up to 30 per cent of the dead were foreigners. Hundreds were buried in mass graves in India today while hospitals and morgues in Sri Lanka and Indonesia struggled to cope with the dead and injured. Jan Egeland, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the world body faced its biggest relief task. Recovery would cost “many billions of dollars”. Sri Lanka was hardest hit by the tsunami – a wall of water triggered by the world’s biggest earthquake in 40 years with a magnitude of 9.0 that erupted off the northern Indonesian coast. The death toll in Sri Lanka nearly doubled today to 10,200 with 200 foreign tourists feared dead. The final toll could be much higher, even double, officials said. Among areas badly affected were southern India, where more than 7,100 were listed dead, northern Indonesia with nearly 5,000 drowned and Thailand’s southern tourist isles and beaches. With at least seven Asian nations and one in East Africa counting the human and economic cost of the tragedy, Western nations pledged aid and geologists asked why warning systems that could have saved thousands of lives were not in place. Struggling with destroyed communications, power outages and swamped and debris-strewn roads, emergency workers were shocked by the sheer scale of the catastrophe. “We are used to dealing with disasters in one country. But I think something like this spread across many countries and islands is unprecedented”, Yvette Stevens, a UN emergency relief official, said in Geneva. The earthquake triggered a tsunami of up to 10 m high, sometimes travelling as fast as an airliner, flattening houses, hurling fishing boats onto roads, sending cars spinning through swirling waters into hotel lobbies and sucking sunbathers, babies and fishermen out to sea. In Sri Lanka alone, 1.5 million people were homeless and authorities in other countries said vast numbers of people had been displaced and had to search for shelter. Deaths were reported in Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar and Somalia where 38 people were killed by swollen seas. Smaller tremors followed yesterday’s earthquake, the world’s biggest since 1964 and the fourth-largest since 1900. Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said the death toll could reach 10,000 in Aceh province alone. As night fell, dozens of bodies were still scattered on streets along with masses of debris – mud, mangled trucks and cars and the wreckage of houses – swept up to five miles inland. Leaders of the armed separatist Free Aceh Movement, fighting for independence for the oil and gas-rich western province since 1976, declared a unilateral cease-fire, saying it did not want to add to chaos and confusion Typhoid, diarrhoea and hepatitis epidemics now pose the gravest threat to survivors, international relief agencies said. Police said at least 3,000 had died and a similar number were missing in the low-lying Andaman and Nicobar islands close to the quake’s epicentre off Sumatra. Coast guard crews reported flying over hundreds of bodies off India’s east coast. In Sri Lanka, homeless people fearing another wave sheltered in temples, schools and on high ground. Among those killed in Sri Lanka were nine Japanese tourists who were watching elephants in a park when the tsunami hit. “The scale of the tragedy is massive. This is a grave tragedy which we have not been prepared for”, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga said. Thailand evacuated injured survivors from its southern beaches. Britons, Danes, Swedes, Swiss, Australians, Italians and at least one New Zealander and an American were among the dead on Phuket, where at least 130 people were killed. On Phuket’s Patong beach, hotels and restaurants were wrecked and speed boats rammed into buildings. Many foreign tourists, some evacuated in bathing costumes, were left destitute, possessions and passports lost to the sea. French hotel group Accor said it had no news so far of about 500 tourists and staff at its Sofitel hotel on Khao Lak beach in southern Thailand. World Bank president James Wolfensohn said he was offering assistance to governments in grappling with reconstruction. “We are only beginning to grasp the magnitude of the disaster in terms of loss of life, material damage and economic impact across the region”, he said in a statement.

28 December 2004

Nations on the Indian Ocean from Indonesia to Sri Lanka searched among the wreckage of a devastating tsunami for bodies to bury today as fears grew the toll would far exceed the 29,000 now reported killed. Two days after the biggest earthquake in 40 years struck the seabed off Indonesia’s Sumatera island, triggering waves up to 33 feet high, officials found more death the further they ventured into outlying areas. It was feared the final toll could rise above 55,000. The United Nations said hundreds of relief aircraft packed with emergency goods would arrive in the region from about two dozen countries within the next 48 hours. Searchers in Thailand retrieved 770 bodies, both foreign tourists and Thais, along the Khao Lak beach north of Phuket resort island, a disaster official said. Bodies littered the streets in northern Indonesia, closest to the epicentre. About 1,000 people lay where they were killed when a tsunami struck as they watched a sports event. “The cost of the devastation will be in the billions of dollars”, said Jan Egeland, head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Sri Lanka appeared to have been the worst hit with more than 12,200 dead. India reported almost 9,500 killed and Indonesia 5,700. Almost 1,500 people are now known to have died in Thailand, many hundreds of them foreign tourists. Dozens perished in Malaysia, Myanmar and the Maldives and in far-away Somalia, 3,600 miles to the west of the epicentre, 38 people were killed. At least ten people were killed in Tanzania. The death toll was expected to rise. Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the toll in his country could reach 25,000. Sri Lankan officials said 20,000 people might be dead there, and Thai officials expected their toll to reach 2,000. Indian police said 3,000 people were confirmed dead and 2,000 believed dead in the Andaman and Nicobar island chain, bordering Indonesia and Myanmar. A series of moderate aftershocks have hit the islands. No word has been heard from several of the islands that were home to thousands, including Great Nicobar. Among the dead foreigners were at least 13 Norwegians, 12 Britons, 11 Italians, ten Swedes, nine Japanese and eight Americans. Unconfirmed reports said hundreds of foreign tourists had been killed in resorts in Sri Lanka and Thailand. In Sri Lanka about 1.5 million people – or 7.5 per cent of the population – were homeless, many sheltering in Buddhist temples and schools. Throughout the region, people fearing another wave sheltered in public buildings, schools and on high ground. There was a shortage of clean water and provisions. Those who were not searching for survivors hastened to bury the dead. Survivors faced their greatest danger in coming days with the risk putrefying bodies would contaminate drinking water and spread infection. The United Nations would provide emergency aid to 500,000 people in Indonesia’s Aceh province, a UN official said. UN aid workers got the go-ahead from the government to move staff into the province of about four million people on the northern tip of Sumatera.

28 December 2004

Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) was back in operation yesterday after a short interruption due to the damage caused by the tidal wave that brought disruption to the costal areas of the island. SPLA is back to normal cargo operations in Colombo. However, ports of Galle, Trincomalee, Kankesanturai and Point Pedro will remain closed for operations until any damage is assessed and staff returns to work. Operations at India’s southern ports began picking up gradually today, 24 hours after being hit by the tsunami. Chennai port, which suffered the maximum damage, will become fully operational tomorrow. The other port in the state, Tuticorin, which had to suspend its operations for a day, commenced its activities today. The total additional expenditure that the Chennai port would have to bear would be to the tune of Rs33 crore, port chairman K Suresh said. Apart from Rs10 crore of property being damaged, the port lost Rs3 crore of business in two days. It would also have to incur Rs10-20 crore expenditure on the dredging of sediments brought in by the waves. Chennai port, in fact, became partially operational this morning itself with land-side activities like unloading of cargo and containers brought in by trains taking place. Suresh said that full operations would start only when ships that have been berthed at the deep sea to prevent them from being damaged, are brought back. He, however, added that a passenger vessel Swaraj Deep was being brought back to the shore and would leave for rescue operations at Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands tomorrow. South Indian ports, which did not suffer as much damage as the badly-hit trans-shipment terminal of Colombo, expect the traffic normally headed for the Sri Lankan capital to be diverted to Indian shores, which means more business. In Indonesia, the death toll from Sunday’s (26 December) earthquake and associated tsunamis is reported to have reached 4,341 with 378 people still missing. All of the fatalities are reported to have occurred in north and west Sumatra Island and on the associated western offshore islands. Up to 3,000 bodies are reported to have been recovered in Bandar Aceh alone. Access to and communications with the west coast of Aceh province are reported to remain very difficult. Relief efforts are being co-ordinated through the north Sumatra city of Medan. Ports in north and east Sumatra and elsewhere in Indonesia are reported to be operating normally. Oil and gas production and supply has not been affected by the disaster. A flood warning has been issued for the west coast of the island of Lombok due to higher than anticipated tides.

The sea and wreckage of coastal towns around the Indian Ocean is yielding up tens of thousands of bodies, pushing the toll from Sunday’s (26 December) tsunami close to 60,000. The apocalyptic destruction caused by the ocean surge dwarfed the efforts of governments and relief agencies as they recovered countless corpses while trying to treat survivors and take care of millions of homeless, increasingly threatened by disease amid the rotting remains. Thousands more were injured. The United Nations launched what it called an unprecedented relief effort to assist nations hit by a devastating tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.0 undersea earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. In a further threat to the region, disease could kill as many people as those killed by the wall of water, a top World Health Organisation official said. In Thailand, where thousands of tourists were enjoying a Christmas break to escape the northern winter, many of the country’s paradise resorts were turned into graveyards. In a French-run hotel at Khao Lak on the Thai mainland north of the island of Phuket, up to half the 415 guests were believed killed. A reporter from France’s Europe 1 radio said many bodies had been found in their rooms. “The army is still bringing out bodies from the rooms, because most of the tourists and staff of the hotel were trapped by the wave which completely swamped this hotel”, reporter Anthony Dufour said. “The enormity of the disaster is unbelievable”, said Bekele Geleta, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in South-east Asia. In Sri Lanka, hundreds of people were killed when a wave crashed into a train, wrecking eight carriages and uprooting the track it was travelling on. Of the overall death toll so far of 59,186, Indonesia has suffered the biggest number of victims, with its Health Ministry reporting 27,174 dead. Nearly all the deaths in Indonesia were in the north-western province of Aceh at the tip of Sumatra. Rescue crews were still trying to reach cut off areas. Separatist rebels announced a truce while people search for loved ones. The stench of decomposing corpses spread over the provincial capital Banda Aceh, where fresh water, food and fuel were in short supply. One of the worst hit cities was Meulaboh, about 150 km from the quake’s epicentre. The mayor Tengku Zulkarnaen said three-quarters of his city had been washed away. About 1,000 people lay on a sports field where they were killed when the three-storey-high wall of water struck. Sri Lanka reported around 19,000 dead. India’s toll of 11,500 included at least 7,000 on one archipelago, the Andamans and Nicobar. On one island, the surge of water killed two-thirds of the population. Hundreds of others died in the Maldives, Myanmar and Malaysia. The arc of water struck as far as Somalia and Kenya. Fishing villages, ports and resorts were devastated, power and communications cut and homes destroyed. The United Nations said the cost of the damage will reach billions of dollars. The tremor, the biggest in 40 years, ripped a chasm in the sea bed which launched the tsunami. Relief teams and rescuers flew into the region from around the globe to help in what the United Nations said will be the biggest and costliest relief effort in its history. Gerhard Berz, a top risk researcher at Munich Re, the world’s largest re-insurer, estimated the economic cost of the devastation at more than $13 billion. More than 20 countries have pledged emergency aid worth more than $60 million. Several Asian nations have sent naval vessels carrying supplies and doctors to devastated areas. In Geneva, the WHO’s Dr David Nabarro said it was vital to rush medicine and fresh water to the worst hit countries to prevent further catastrophe. “There is certainly a chance that we could have as many dying from communicable diseases as from the tsunami”, Nabarro told a news conference. There was a serious risk of an explosion of malaria and dengue fever, already endemic in south-east Asia, he said. Around the ring of devastation, Sweden reported 1,500 citizens missing, the Czech Republic almost 400, Finland 200 and Italy and Germany 100. Around Sri Lanka’s southern coasts about 1.5 million people – or one in 12 of the population – were homeless, many sheltering in Buddhist temples and schools.

29 December 2004

Shipping operations at Chennai Port returned to normal yesterday even as efforts were in full swing to restore other operations, two days after the tsunami struck here. The Chennai Port Trust chairman, Mr K. Suresh, told United News of India that the administration had assessed the total damage to the port at roughly rupees 100 million.

The Seychelles, as many countries in the Indian Ocean, has been affected by the tidal wave resulting from the Asia earthquake. The water level in the Port Victoria area and around the southern parts of the Islands of Mahe, suddenly receded to an abnormally low level and within 15 minutes, the tide rose with subsequent wave force. This caused some of the vessels that were tied up alongside to sit on dry ground. However, they were quickly towed away to deep waters. There was no substantial damage to large vessels. Many small fishing vessels and pleasure craft were, however, pushed aground. Property damage was also substantial.

29 December 2004

The train known as the Queen of the Sea had nearly reached its destination Sunday (26 December) when the tsunami struck – a wall of water some 30 ft high, enveloping the train and lifting its cars off the track into a thick marsh, killing at least 802 people. The train, which started from the capital, Colombo, Sunday morning had stopped at Telwatta, a village 15 miles from Galle, just before the wave came racing ashore. Many of the dead were local villagers who tried to escape rising waters by climbing on top of the train with the help of the passengers. A total of 1,000 tickets were sold in Colombo for the train, and rescuers recovered 802 bodies from the train’s cars, said military spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake.

Ripples of the powerful under sea tremor off Indonesia was felt in Tanzania for three hours beginning 14.00, 26 December, drowning ten pupils who were swimming, and forcing vessels to pull out of the Dar Es Salaam port. The surging sea, whose waves travelled at a speed of 1,000 km an hour from the epicentre of the tremor in Indonesia, resulted to the rupture of pipelines at a moor jetty in the harbour. The strong waves also disrupted ferry transport across the Magogoni creek. The ferries – Alina and Kigamboni, had to anchor for three hours until the sea became calm again. The unusual tidal surge pushed chem.tank High Spirit (28238 gt, built 1999) – which was discharging oil at the Kurasini Oil Jetty to the south end of Kurasini creek after the mooring ropes broke. This forced the Tanzania Harbours Authority (THA) to suspend operations at the port.

29 December 2004

Bangladesh. Port of Chittagong appears to be operating normally.

India. The killer tidal wave that struck the Chennai coast has not caused any significant damage to the Chennai Container Terminal (CCT) at the Chennai Port, according to the CCT operator, P&O Ports Ltd.

The ports of mainland Indonesia are operating normally although the island of Sumatera has been badly affected.

Kenya. No major damage reported and all ports operating normally.

Malaysia. The ports of Penang and Port Klang ports are operating normally.

To date, there has not been any damage reported to Penang port and the report received from the local Fire and Rescue Department’s deputy director-general yesterday is that the property damage in Penang is not bad compared to other areas affected by the tsunami. There seems to be no structural damage to buildings, apart from the mess brought about by water, mud and debris. The tsunami had hit at the north to north-west point of Penang Island and these are areas where the beaches, coastal residential areas and fishing villages are located. The industrial areas are located at the south-east side of island and were therefore spared. However, there were some concerns regarding the structural integrity to the Penang Bridge but we were informed that the bridge is safe and checks are being done on daily basis and, after next week, will be on a weekly basis. The General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) issued the following statement: “In view of the remoteness of earthquake and tidal wave losses in the past, it is unlikely that insurance policies in Malaysia would have been extended to cover earthquake losses. In the light of this disaster, the risk exposure to earthquake and tidal wave losses should be re-examined by everyone”. The bad news is that, because the tsunami hit a residential and tourist area, and because it struck on a Sunday afternoon, the loss of life was heavy, with the latest figure being in excess of 65 people with many unaccounted for as yet.

Myanmar. No disruption to the port of Yangon, which appears to be operating normally.

Singapore. No major damage reported and all ports operating normally.

Somalia. No major damage reported and the ports of Berbera and Mogadiscio and the open anchorage at El Maan are operating normally.

Sri Lanka. Country very badly affected. However, Colombo port operating.

Tanzania. No major damage reported and all ports operating normally.

Thailand. Very little port activity in the affected region. The port of Phuket does not get a lot of commercial activity.

The passenger vessel Swaraj Dweep, which was supposed to sail out to Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Monday (27 December) sailed out of Chennai yesterday around 20.00 hrs, with 583 passengers. The vessel also carried relief materials to the tsunami-affected people in the island. It carried 15 trucks of drinking water and 40 tonnes of essential commodities for the people there. The port of Tuticorin has resumed normal shipping operations and berthing/re-berthing of all vessels up to 10.70 m is now being undertaken.

In Indonesia, the death toll from Sunday’s earthquake and tsunamis has increased dramatically and reached 27,174 according to local news organisations. An estimated 1,164 people are reported missing. Communities on the west coast of Aceh and North Sumatra provinces and on the offshore islands have still to be reached. It is anticipated that the death toll could rise further once contact is made with these communities. Relief efforts are being co-ordinated through the north Sumatra city of Medan with flights shuttling to/from Bandar Aceh with aid cargoes. Ports in north and east Sumatra and elsewhere in Indonesia continue to operate normally. Oil and gas production and supply remains unaffected by the disaster.

29 December 2004

Most buildings on the Somali island of Hafun were swept away by the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami, an emergency aid relief team has revealed. Roads washed away by the sea are hampering the delivery of food aid to some 4,500 islanders affected. Waves which swept 7,000 km from the epicentre left a trail of smashed buildings and boats along the East African coast. More than 130 people in East Africa are known to have died in the floods. Hafun’s governor asked for emergency assistance and told aid agencies that he feared up to 8,000 people across the island could be affected by the flooding. A total of 12 Hafun residents have been confirmed dead and many more are missing. Bodies can still be seen floating in the sea, the governor said. More than 30 tons of food aid is expected to arrive today on the island off the north coast of Somalia by a bridge accessible during low tide, the WFP says. Meanwhile, the UN is planning an aerial assessment of Somalia’s coastline tomorrow, where thousands of other people are reported to have lost their homes. Speaking on Kenyan television yesterday night, Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi said he feared the disaster would cause an outbreak of cholera. He and other members of the government – which is currently based in neighbouring Kenya as Mogadishu is considered too dangerous for ministers – are due to visit the most affected regions of northern Somalia on Saturday (1 January). Countries along the East African coast are still trying to assess the total loss of life and damage caused by the tsunami. Ten people drowned in Tanzania and more than 1,000 people have been made homeless in Madagascar. Three people died in the Seychelles, where a bridge linking the main airport and capital, Victoria, was destroyed while a village in northern Mauritius was submerged for almost three hours following the surges. In Kenya, beaches that were closed on Sunday (26 December) reopened, amid government warnings to tourists to take precautions. About 15 fishing boats were damaged in the French territory of Reunion.

29 December 2004

Rescuers today scoured remote coastlines around the Indian Ocean for survivors of Sunday’s (26 December) massive ocean surge triggered by an earthquake that has so far killed tens of thousands of people and may have made the world jolt on its axis. Some five million people lacked necessary food, water and sanitation to survive, world health officials said, as fears grew that cholera and diarrhoea could worsen the death toll. Countries around the world mobilised to send rescue teams, food, medicine and millions of dollars in aid in what the United Nations called the biggest relief operation in its history. “I would not be at all surprised that we will be on 100,000 deaths when we know what has happened on the Andaman and Nicobar islands”, Peter Rees of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said. The federation currently puts the death toll at 77,828, making it one of the world’s worst natural disasters.

With a large proportion of Asia’s populations under 18, UN officials have said up to one-third of the victims could be children. In many areas, health experts said the relief operation looked woefully inadequate with shortages of coffins, equipment and medicine, while emergency workers struggled with power outages, destroyed communications and badly damaged roads. In parts of India’s Tamil Nadu state, officials gave up counting the dead in their hurry to bury them in mass graves. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and south India faced death tolls of catastrophic proportions. Hundreds of people were also killed in the Maldives, Myanmar and Malaysia and more than 130 died in East Africa. Thousands of tourists enjoying their Christmas holidays at Indian Ocean resorts, principally in Thailand, could be among the victims. Some 1,500 Swedes, 1,200 Swiss, 1,000 Germans, 600 Italians and nearly 450 Norwegians were missing. Norway’s government said the tsunami threatened to become one of the worst disasters for its nation in modern times. Relatives and friends in many countries began to blame their governments for not realising the scale of the disaster sooner and for only now sending rescue teams and aid to stricken areas. US President George W. Bush responded to criticism from one senior UN official of “stinginess” from rich nations by saying the US pledge of $35 million in aid was just a start. “These past few days have brought loss and grief to the world that is beyond our comprehension”, Bush said during a break from his holiday in Crawford, Texas. He spoke to the leaders of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia to assure them of continued help.

Indonesia suffered the biggest number of victims, with 45,268 known dead, although the toll could rise to 80,000 in Aceh alone, the province closest to the quake’s epicentre. Troops and rescue crews reached the town of Meulaboh on Aceh’s west coast, about 150 km from the epicentre, to find dead bodies and rubble. “Today so far 3,400 bodies have been found in Meulaboh. Eighty per cent of the buildings are wrecked”, Chief Security Minister Widodo Adi Sutjipto said. A senior UN official in Indonesia said the toll in Meulaboh could reach 40,000. At Khao Lak beach, where officials say up to 3,000 people may have died, Thai and German rescuers searched the wreckage of a half-built luxury hotel today after villagers said they had heard calls for help from people trapped inside. In Washington, one US official said Thailand’s death toll was likely to be much higher because rescue teams had yet to reach some areas. Primitive tribes on India’s remote Andaman and Nicobar islands were running out of the coconuts they were living on, with whole communities wiped out. Buddhist monks handed out rice and curry to survivors in Sri Lanka and aircraft dropped food to isolated Indonesian towns.

30 December 2004

According to local media reports, the Sri Lanka fisheries industry is among the most severely hit industries by the tidal wave last Sunday (26 December). Nine fisheries harbours have been completely destroyed by the disastrous wave. However, only the Mutwal and Kalpitiya fisheries harbours were not damaged. A total of 3,000 fishermen in Mullaitivu and 2,100 fishermen in Jaffna have been reported killed while the government has not received any information yet from the South. Meanwhile, Director General Fisheries Department G. Piyasena said that 80 per cent of fishing boats have been completely destroyed due to the incident, but there is a stock of 100 tonnes of fish with the Fisheries Department. However, the Fisheries Ministry has decided to refrain from selling them, as there is a problem in demand and supply. The stock will be kept only for distribution among hospitals and security forces. He said that nothing can be done to restart the industry until the debris is cleared and the fishing community resettled.

Several major air carriers operating in Asia and India have confirmed that there have not been significant delays or cancellations of scheduled cargo flights operating from areas affected by the giant tsunami that struck over the weekend, Expeditors International said in a customer bulletin. However, the freight forwarder cautioned that the influx of relief supplies being shipped to the region could cause short-term delays as airports get congested with flights and cargo.

30 December 2004

The following is a report on the condition of the ports at the Aceh Province area, Indonesia, post-tsunami earthquake and ocean waves. The ports which are heavily smashed and not functioning: Sabang, at We Island. Malahayati, Olele, Pertamina and Semen Andalas (Lhok Nga Island) at Banda Aceh, the capital city of Aceh Province. Idi Cut Meulaboh, which is very close to the centre of earthquake epicentre, whereas the town is 80 per cent heavily destroyed. Special/private-owned Terminal of SOCFINDO and ASTRA. Singkil, the southernmost port of Aceh Province at the same side with Meulaboh, west side coast. The ports which are still intact and in normal operational condition: Lhok Seumawe, Blang Bintang airport at Banda Aceh is considered in operational condition and still serving aircraft, but mostly for aid groups such as Hercules, etc. Banda Aceh itself is more than 50 per cent destroyed; buildings smashed down to ground level are houses, schools, hospitals, roads, bridges and other infrastructures. Loss of lives so far estimated more than 40,000, while refugee is reaching more than 100,000. Probable affected area: at the coast of Sunda Strait, at Java side, on 29 December, 1,820 houses were flooded up to 2 m high by the special high tide and high waves causing the high speed ferry boat was stopped from operation, but ordinary ro/ro ferry boat is still in operation. Communication to Aceh area was quite difficult when about 80 per cent of telephones were destroyed and many of Port Administration people affected a lot by this tragedy

Singapore, Container feeder shipping service Samudera Shipping Line Ltd said today that 15 crew on board one of its vessels, cement Sinar Andalas (4405 gt, built 1998), docked at the port of Lhoknga, in Indonesia, were missing after a tsunami capsized the vessel on Sunday (26 December). Samudera said in a statement that the vessel was anchored at Lhoknga in Aceh Province when the waves hit. “Only four crew members were rescued, and the group is still in the process of locating the rest of the 19 crew”, it said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange (SGX). Samudera said it had insured the vessel, which had a net book value of US$9.7 million at the end of November.

31 December 2004

As a fresh tsunami alert went out across areas of Tamil Nadu on 30 December, Chennai and Tuticorin Ports went on high alert mid-morning and operations were suspended with vessels being sent out to the anchorage.

“Sea levels are rising and we are on high alert”, following warnings that a tsunami may strike. Everybody from the port had been evacuated, said a senior Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) official. All 15 vessels berthed at Chennai were asked to leave the port immediately. “We issued orders and we are providing the tugs”, the official said. At Tuticorin, ten berthed vessels were ordered out. Port officials are also worried about the bulk Gem of Tuticorin, which was badly damaged during the tsunami hit on 26 December. As the water level is reportedly increasing inside the Port, they said, water might enter the vessel and sink it. According to Chennai Container Terminal (CCT) sources, operations inside the terminal had stopped and the management was evacuating everyone. As of 30 December, three container vessels were berthed at the terminal, and one vessel was to berth during the day. Inside Chennai Port, 12 vessels were berthed. Container movement to and from CCT had only resumed on Tuesday evening (28 December) after a gap of three days following the tsunami strike on the coast of Chennai. The Port and CCT authorities decided to open Gate No. 10 for trailers to carry export containers to CCT. As a temporary measure, Chennai Port decided to allow entry of export containers through Gate No. 10 since fishermen and slum residents of Royapuram affected by the tsunami had obstructed the road leading to Gate No. 1. Until an alternative place is found for these families, Chennai Port, in consultation with the port users, decided to allow the export container trailers through Gate No. 10 during the permitted time of 22.00 hrs to 06.00 hrs. Although this is an additional 3 km inside the port, there is no alternative, as people cannot be asked to move from their temporary shelter. According to reports, there were about 100 such temporary shelters on both sides of the road, and there was no way container trailers could travel in and out of the Zero Gate Road in North Chennaios Kasimedu, which is a major entry and exit point for containers.

Malaysia. The following report was received from Singapore late yesterday: “Penang: lots of damage at coastal areas mainly occupied by fisherman. Resort areas mainly free from any significant damage. Loss was to people who were swimming in the sea when the tidal waves hit. A total of 60 people have been confirmed dead so far with about 500 injured. We have 30 instructions for hotels, mainly water damage. Tanjung Bungah roads inundated with sludge mainly from sea reclamation. The Ferry and Bridge were closed for about half a day. The airport was closed for a few hours. Industrial areas currently mainly free from any significant damage, although there are reports of some production losses arising from the tremors at about 09.00 and the aftershocks about 13.00. Damage will be to production machinery and work in progress, maybe some business interruption. In summary, the loss is mainly to lives and the shock surrounding the aftermath. Some industrial losses may be possible although Earthquake as a peril is excluded under the standard fire policies. Liability will be a big issue. Miraculously, no significant damage to hotels. Kuah town OK. Some hotels near Pantai Canang, Pelangi, Sheraton, Porto Malai affected. We have been dealing with the Pelangi Hotel loss where a fishing boat was washed into the hotel lobby. Miraculously, the hotel next door was spared from any damage … More of the same as Penang, mainly loss of one or two lives. Other areas appear OK. Only the Northern states on the west coast of Malaysia like Perak, Penang, Kedah and Perlis are affected by the tidal wave Tsunami. Up till now Malaysia has about 65 deaths and the figure may be rising slightly. Most of the victims are from Penang where the beaches of Batu Ferringhi and Balik Pulau were slammed by the wave. Fishermen in Balik Pulau and coastal villages were badly affected. At Batu Ferringhi, those affected were mainly the tourists and picnickers. Perak was slightly affected with a few deaths. Kedah and Perlis were badly affected. In Langkawi we understand that some pleasure crafts and pilot boats sank. Fishermen and villagers along the coast of Kedah and Perlis were swamped by the tidal wave. There were also a considerable number of deaths and fishing boats are missing and sunk. Some landed on the road.

“Presently there is a 24 hours Tsunami watch in all states and we understand that up till now there are almost 63 aftershocks with some measuring up to 5.6 Richter scale. We understand that when the scale reaches 7.5 Richter scale, there will be a warning given the public”.

Seychelles. “The water level in the Port Victoria area and in the Southern Parts of the Islands of Mahe, receded suddenly to abnormally low levels and within fifteen minutes the tide rose with subsequent wave force. There has been no substantial damage to larger vessels but many small fishing boats and pleasure crafts were washed ashore. Property damage is also substantial”.

Sri Lanka. Authorities in Colombo have sent the following report this morning: “Currently things appear to be stable but there is speculation that further disturbances may occur. In the port of Colombo the water levels rose considerably up to the top edge of the piers and a small quantity of water went over the piers as well.

“The Port of Galle was heavily flooded causing much chaos and damage and subsequently was heavily silted and at present the condition appears stable. Due to the possibility of the draught been affected, the shipping operations have been suspended for at least a few days. It has been reported that the water levels of the port of Trincomalee rose considerably but things at present appear stable”.

Thailand. In Phuket it was only the area at or around the beaches that has suffered. The town of Phuket itself was not affected. The provinces of Phanga, Phuket, Krabi and Trang on the south-western coast have all suffered from the tidal waves which were stated to reach 8 m high. It is now stated that 1,800 persons have drowned.

30 December 2004

As a fresh tsunami alert areas flashed across of Tamil Nadu today, Chennai and Tuticorin Ports went on high alert mid-morning and operations were suspended with vessels being sent out to the anchorage today. “Sea levels are rising and we are on high alert”, said a senior official of the Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) following warnings that a tsunami may strike. Everyone from the port had been evacuated, he added. All the 15 vessels berthed at Chennai Port were asked to leave the port immediately. “We issued orders and we are providing the tugs”, he said.

1 January 2005

The damage bill of the tsunami could be as much as US$14 billion. Such is the impact that economists have begun to cut some growth estimates. Early indications were that the catastrophe could shave 0.7 per cent from Thailand’s economic growth and in less developed but harder-hit areas, such as The Maldives, the disaster could lop as much as 4 per cent off growth. Government leaders and economists are still struggling to determine the total damage. Munich Re, the world’s largest re-insurer, has estimated the tsunami wreaked economic damage of more than $10 billion.

2 January 2005

More than a dozen large earthquakes have been recorded in the Indian Ocean since the Boxing Day earthquake that triggered the tsunami in Asia. Geoscience Australia said it had recorded 14 quakes with magnitudes between 6.0 and 7.0 on the Richter scale. There had also been an aftershock measuring 7.1, the agency said. The most recent aftershock of magnitude 6.5 occurred off the north coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra at 17.25, AEDT, yesterday, Geoscience Australia said.

Work at the Chennai Port Trust has slowly begun after it was badly affected in last week’s tsunami that claimed thousands of lives in Tamil Nadu and damaged property worth several crores. Shipping operations in the busiest port of south India had come to a standstill soon after the tsunami attack and the estimated loss has put at approximately Rs20 crore.

3 January 2005

A 6.0-magnitude aftershock rocked the seabed near India’s remote Andaman and Nicobar islands overnight but caused no damage, seismologists said. The islands were close to the epicentre of the 26 December magnitude 9 quake that triggered the Indian Ocean’s tsunami.

Meanwhile officials fear that India’s death toll from the disaster could exceed 15,000. Rescuers were conducting an island-by-island search for thousands of missing people. Ronen Sen, India’s ambassador to the USA, said in Washington that “the likelihood of these people remaining alive is diminishing”. “Fifteen thousand is what unfortunately, that will be the number, yes”, Sen said. India’s Andaman and Nicobar islands have been jolted by 94 aftershocks since the Boxing Day quake.

Relief workers flew helicopters and cajoled elephants to find and feed survivors and shift the rubble of razed towns today, eight days after tsunamis changed the map of South Asia. Aid workers struggled to help thousands huddled in makeshift camps in Indonesia’s northern Sumatra, where two-thirds of the 145,000 killed across the region died, and to reach remote areas after roads and airstrips were washed away. US helicopters began shuttling injured refugees, many of them children, out of some of the worst hit parts of Aceh province, where many towns and villages were wiped out. Pilots described columns of refugees trudging up the coast towards the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. Some charged the helicopters to fight each other for the food. Affected nations, working with aid agencies, private relief groups and donor governments, have eased some transport bottlenecks, improving capacity to get in goods on a daily basis to serve the estimated five million requiring some form of aid.

Many airports are now bursting with emergency supplies but a logistical nightmare looms in distributing them through vast regions where roads and bridges have been washed away, and uncontaminated water is scarce. “The emergency teams are arriving to be blocked by a wall of devastation. Everything is destroyed”, Aly-Khan Rajani, CARE Canada’s programme manager for Southeast Asia, said in Jakarta. In Sri Lanka, the second worst-hit nation with more than 30,000 dead and 850,000 homeless, there was little sign of an organised government relief effort, but food distribution looked to be smoother. “It’s still very chaotic”, said Save the Children’s Irene Fraser, in Akkaraipattu. “But the situation is changing, co-ordination is happening”. Many in refugee camps were sick from a variety of ailments and deep wounds and UNICEF said it had reports of children dying of pneumonia in Aceh.

4 January 2005

The Zambian Government has assured the nation not to panic following the damage on the Tazama pipeline that leads to Indeni Petroleum Refinery in Ndola. The damage on the part of the pipeline was a result of the tsunami that has hit southern Asia and part of Africa. Energy and Water Development Minister George Mpombo said Indeni had 60,000 tonnes of crude oil while another 20,000 tonnes had just been off loaded. Mr Mpombo said Government was making arrangements through the single mooring point (SMP) to transport the other 20,000 tonnes, which remained at the harbour before the disaster. The minister explained in an interview in Ndola yesterday that Indeni Refinery had ordered another 80,000 tonnes of crude oil which was expected to arrive by the end of January. On Saturday (1 January), Energy Permanent Secretary Geoffrey Mukala announced that the devastating effects of Asia’s tsunami tidal waves would seriously affected Zambia as they had ripped off part of the crude oil pipeline that leads to Indeni in Ndola. He said the 18-inch under-sea pipeline to the Tazama tank farm would only be usable when it was either repaired or replaced and that the only option was to import feed stock through the SPM.

4 January 2005

Boats, aircraft and even elephants were drafted into service to get aid to millions of hungry and sick survivors across tsunami-hit regions yesterday as the death toll from the disaster rose above 145,000. Aid officials gave warning that absolute chaos across much of the region was hampering their efforts to prevent an outbreak of disease among the five million people left in need. The emergency teams are arriving to be blocked by a wall of devastation. Everything is destroyed, Aly-Khan Rajani, of Care International, said of the Indonesian province of Aceh. Jams at airports have delayed the delivery of food and medicine to some of the worst affected areas, but delivery by boat, one of the only alternatives, has left the aid effort vulnerable to pirates operating along the Sumatran coastline. It is feared that some isolated survivors may not be reached for weeks because of the shattered infrastructure in the worst-hit regions, despite fleets of military helicopters from around the world dropping aid. In Aceh, American military helicopters shuttled injured survivors, many of them children, out of the province as reports surfaced of trafficking in orphans from the disaster. In some areas, violent, hungry mobs have prevented helicopters from landing, forcing them to drop supplies instead. In India’s remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, one tribe, fiercely hostile to outsiders, fired arrows at a military helicopter. The UN called for further military aid from developed nations, mostly in the form of boats and helicopters, to reach starving and stranded survivors before time runs out. The British frigate HMS Chatham arrived off the western coast of Sri Lanka yesterday. The USA has sent more than 12,000 troops on board a 12-ship fleet. Around 1,500 US Marines are on their way to the devastated port of Galle in southern Sri Lanka and there is a fleet of warships already off Aceh. The volume of aid waiting to reach survivors is enormous. The UN alone has received donations of a record $1.5 billion (£0.8 billion) in the past week, equal to its annual budget. The World Bank said that it was ready to double or triple the $250 million that it had promised already. Britain pledged yesterday to use its presidency of the G8 group of industrialised nations to press for debt relief for the tsunami-stricken countries. Sandra Bullock, the film actress, donated $1 million to the American Red Cross to help relief efforts. However, there were reports of people preying on the survivors. A women’s group in Sri Lanka reported that rapists were taking advantage of lax security to target women and girls in temporary shelters. In Thailand, thieves have looted luggage and hotel safes at Khao Lak. The Indonesian government now says more than 94,000 people died in the tsunami disaster. The figure is an increase of more than 13,000 on the previous number reported dead. The health ministry says the number of dead is likely to reach more than 100,000. There are still dead bodies in the rubble. Huge graves are being dug for the thousands of victims. The government says it has enough food and medicine for survivors but it has been struggling to get aid to many areas. The UN’s relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland says a million people need aid. Attempts to distribute aid in Indonesia to survivors have been severely hampered by an accident at the airport in Banda Aceh in Sumatra. The airport was temporarily closed this morning after a plane carrying supplies hit a cow on the runway and damaged the aircraft’s landing gear Heavy rains after the tsunami in Aceh have increased the risk of cholera and other waterborne diseases. The foreign death/missing-toll currently stands at: Germany: 60 dead, 1,000 missing. Sweden: 52 dead, 2,322 missing. Britain: 40 dead, 159 missing. France: 22 dead, 99+ missing. Norway: 21 dead, 150 missing. Japan: 21 dead. Italy: 18 dead, 540+ missing. Switzerland: 16 dead, 105 missing. America: 15 dead. Australia: 12 dead, 79 missing. South Korea: 11 dead, nine missing.

4 January 2005

Another quake was recorded near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands late tonight, bringing the total number of quakes felt by the tsunami-ravaged archipelago today to seven. The latest quake, occurring at 0045, IST, measured 5.5 on the Richter scale and was classified as “moderate”. Epicentred at a point lat 10.7N, long 91.5E, to the west of Little Andaman island, it came just seven minutes after a quake, measured 5.2 on the scale was recorded south of Great Nicobar island at 0038, IST. With today’s quakes, the total number of aftershocks since 26 December has reached 103.

The damage to Sri Lanka from last week’s tsunami tragedy is a provisional $1.3 billion, the Central Bank said today as it offered cheap concessional credit to help survivors rebuild their lives. It said it will make five billion rupees ($50 million, R292.5 million) available to those who lost property at a concessionary rate of 6.0 per cent interest, compared to the current prime lending rate of 10.6 per cent. Governor Sunil Mendis told reporters the central bank expects rebuilding costs to be incurred this year to reach about 1.3 billion dollars. He said Sri Lankans overseas had contributed $15 million to a fund established by the bank to help tsunami victims. Mendis said the hotels and fisheries sectors affected by the tsunamis will likely need about three months to recover. “Growth in the first and the second quarters of this year will be affected”, the governor said without giving figures. He said the government was expecting a relief package worth about $320 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the face of the tsunami disaster that has left 30,229 people dead on the island and some 150,000 dead in the region. An IMF official here said Sri Lanka could discuss new arrangements during the upcoming Jakarta summit on the disaster which will also be attended by the IMF to discuss overall international aid to all tsunami affected nations. “What is available in emergency relief assistance is about 150 to 160 million dollars’, the IMF local representative, Jeremy Carter, said, adding that Sri Lanka’s total debt to the IMF was about $300 million.

5 January 2005

Emergency assistance to Asian communities affected by the tsunami disaster will be needed for at least six months, the United Nations (UN) has said, warning that a full recovery would take far longer. The UN children’s fund (UNICEF) East Asia director, Anupama Rao Singh, said the immediate concern was to keep victims alive and to rebuild infrastructure such as schools and health centres. “In terms of immediate recovery it will take six to nine months minimum”, Singh told reporters at a joint event with the UN’s World Food Program, which warned it could take six months to reach all two million people in need of food aid. Malnutrition and disease leading to further deaths are the biggest concern for the UN in the coming months, Singh said. Full social and economic recovery in tsunami-affected communities could take much longer, she said. “We are looking at a minimum of two to three years, if not longer depending on the scale (of destruction)”, she said, adding that at least one million children had been affected by the crisis. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan previously said the rebuilding effort could take up to ten years, while World Vision Australia chief executive Tim Costello said reconstruction would take a generation. The number of people killed in the disaster edged up towards 146,000 today, with bodies still being found on the Indian Ocean’s devastated shorelines ten days after the catastrophe. The WFP said it was focussing its immediate energies on getting emergency food aid to the estimated two million tsunami survivors who urgently need it. “The challenges are immense and unprecedented in terms of the need for a response”, the WFP’s Asia director, Anthony Banbury, told reporters. “The total expected needs for our work are 250 million dollars for the next six months”, he said adding only 65 million dollars would be spent on food with the remainder of the money needed to deliver it. Banbury said he expected the money would be pledged at a donors’ meeting to be held tomorrow in Geneva. More than 900,000 tonnes of food aid has already been distributed to almost half a million people, he said, with Indonesia topping the priority list. “The biggest operational challenge right now is in northern Sumatra and Western Sumatra”, he said. He said Banda Aceh in northern Sumatra had become the hub of an unprecedented global humanitarian mission to help survivors of the 26 December catastrophe that killed more than 94,000 Indonesians. UN operations are being coordinated out of Bangkok, but Banbury said talks were underway with an unnamed regional government to use a military base as a large-scale logistical hub, which would enable rapid aid delivery throughout the region.

6 January 2005

An intense earthquake was recorded overnight by the Hong Kong observatory in the seas near North Sumatra, Indonesia, an official release said early today. The earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale and with its epicentre about 110 km west of the provincial capital Banda Aceh, was recorded at 01.59, AEDT, today, the release said.

Two moderate intensity quakes, registering 5.7 and 5.8 on the Richter scale, were recorded early today off India’s Nicobar and Indonesia’s Sumatra islands, the Indian meteorological department said. The first tremor struck off the Car Nicobar island at 05.42, local time, while the second occurred about 0627, local time, off the northern coast of Sumatra island, a department official said.

6 January 2005

Four warships, including a frigate, and the Phangnga Naval Base were hit hard by the tidal waves on 26 December, with damage estimated at more than 600 million baht (£8.1 million).

After keeping silent about the fate of the base since the tidal waves struck the province, navy commander-in-chief Adm Samphop Amrapal admitted for the first time yesterday the extent of the damage. “The Phangnga Naval Base was severely damaged”, Adm Samphop, who visited the base two days ago, said in Phuket. Two frigates and six patrol vessels are normally stationed at the base at Tambon Thap Lamu, in Thai Muang district. It is the main base for the Royal Thai Navy on the Andaman Sea and its primary mission is to take care of territorial waters from Ranong southward to Satun. One of its frigates, HTMS Kra Buri, and three patrol vessels were damaged and washed aground on rocks.

Damage at the base itself included more than 480 sailors’ homes and part of the Air and Coastal Defence Command at the same base. Four officers were missing and 14 others were injured, he said. “About 480 sailors’ families were affected. Overall damage exceeds 600 million baht”, said Adm Samphop, adding restoration was an urgent task. The navy commander has deployed public works, civil affairs, medical and supply department staff as well as naval cadets to the Phangnga Naval Base to help in the work. The Naval Dockyard Department has surveyed damage to the warships and expects to start repairs soon. The Supreme Command was supplying its workforce and equipment for the repair and reconstruction, while the United States would help salvage the grounded warships, he said. Phangnga is the most devastated southern province hit by the tidal waves, which also damaged Ranong, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun.

The Colombo-Galle main road has now been cleared for traffic and two damaged bridges were replaced with temporary bridges. The Roads Development Authority RDA is presently focussing on the reconstruction of the highway in the east, in particular the highway from Potuwil to Trincomalee has been severely damaged by the tidal waves. However, the floods are causing major difficulties in reconstructing these roads while sand and other materials used for reconstruction have also been washed away. Five RDA directors have been sent to the east to carry out clearance and renovation. They hope to open the highway for traffic in two weeks. All operations are functioning smoothly in the port of Colombo.

The European Commission pledged an additional 350 million euros ($462 million) over three years today to relief efforts for the devastating 26 December Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Speaking at the international tsunami crisis summit, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the pledge still needed the approval of the European parliament. The European Union also proposed a one billion euro concessional loan through the European Investment Bank to help finance reconstruction efforts. He said the commission’s budget would have to be reworked to accommodate the 350 million euro pledge, which Barroso said takes the commission’s total aid commitment to more than 400 million euros.

Yesterday, the United Nations said governments and rebels in Sumatra, Sri Lanka and Somalia must keep the peace or risk a cut-off in tsunami aid, as Australia and Germany pledged more than $1.4 billion in disaster assistance. “We have a message to the parties to the conflicts: ‘Suspend your conflict and work together with us to help your own people’”, a senior UN official said.

There was now peace in Sumatra’s Aceh province, a cease-fire where Tamil Tigers had been active in Sri Lanka, and warlords were not fighting in much of Somalia, UN Emergency Relief coordinator Jan Egeland told reporters. However, he added: “We need that cease-fire, that peace, to hold because if new conflict breaks out, we cannot help the people”. Germany and Australia pushed the amount so far promised by donors worldwide to nearly $3.7 billion with pledges of $680 million and $765 million, respectively.

7 January 2005

Damage to the Phangnga Naval Base could soar to two billion baht (£27.3 million), far more than earlier estimates of 600 million baht, said navy deputy chief-of-staff Vice-Admiral Nopporn Achawakhom. The navy yesterday invited reporters to tour the 3,400-rai Phangnga Naval Base at Ban Thap Lamu in Thai Muang district after it was devastated by the 26 December tidal waves. Vice-Admiral Nopporn said the communication system and water and electrical supplies at the base were completely knocked out. The navy expected to restore them by 10-20 per cent within a month or two. He had no idea when everything would be put back in place. He said damage was initially estimated at 670 million baht. However, this figure did not include 300 million baht to renovate living quarters and buildings, 190 million baht to fix the communication system and 25 million baht in damaged vehicles. “In all, the total damage may be between 1-2 billion baht”, Vice-Admiral Nopporn said. A frigate, Kra Buri, was grounded at Thap Lamu, inside the naval base. He said, it will take about two months to salvage it. Damage to three patrol boats had yet to be assessed. A navy patrol boat, Tor 215, on a mission to provide security for Khun Poom Jensen, son of Princess Ubolratana, sank in the tsunami and has not yet been found. The vessel was estimated to be worth about 50 million baht. Rear Admiral Apiwat Sriwattana, Civil Affairs Department chief, said four navy soldiers died inside the base, as well as 12 children and seven other people. Two navy officers of the Third Fleet went missing. They were Captain Saravut Chumprasert, chief of the security team for Khun Poom at Khao Lak, and Warrant Officer Phadetchai Phoomsapap, a radio operator on Tor 215. Rear Admiral Prasit Jadbundit, Phangnga Naval Base commander, said the ordnance depot at the base was not damaged.

Ports in the Indonesian Province of Aceh are resuming operations. At Lohksumawe (East Coast Aceh), operations are normal at the public berths (two jetties) and open yard. Operations are also normal with no congestion at Padang on the West Coast of Sumatra. Some congestion may be possible due to aid cargo at Belawan on the East Coast of North Sumatra. Operations are normal at the port and a 1,500 m² covered storage area is available.

The financial cost to the Indian mainland from the devastating tsunami is more than $1 billion, the government says, quoting individual regions thus: Tamil Nadu $613 million; Kerala $305 million; Andhra Pradesh $162 million and Pondicherry $115 million. Costs to the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands are still being assessed. The southern state of Tamil Nadu on the mainland has suffered the worst damage, incurring losses at some $580 million, officials say. The official death toll for all of India stands at 9,691, with thousands still missing. Unlike neighbouring Sri Lanka, the government has rejected offers of help from foreign governments, although it is accepting aid from foreign aid agencies. The main expense there will be rebuilding homes and buildings along the coast, most of which were completely destroyed or made uninhabitable. It is estimated that around 15,000 fishing boats need repairing or replacing. The Indian government says getting the fishing communities earning a living again is a top priority, so no expense will be spared. Officials hope to get Tamil Nadu’s fishing fleets fully operation again within six months.

7 January 2005

A strong earthquake shook buildings and sent people scrambling from their homes in Banda Aceh early today. The Indonesian provincial capital of Aceh was devastated by a massive quake and tsunami two weeks ago. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quake, which the United States Geological Survey’s web site said struck off the northern coast of Sumatra island at 0513, local time. The magnitude 6.2 quake was 14 km under the sea bed in the Indian Ocean, about 60 km south-west of Banda Aceh, the USGS said.

10 January 2005

Sri Lankan Ports update: Colombo port is functioning smoothly. However, there is congestion due to naval relief vessels berthing inside port and a slight delay for container vessels. At Galle port, one berth is currently functioning and it is hoped that other berths at the port will be operational within ten days. Vessel operations are now being conducted at Trincomalee, despite damage to the pier.

Ports on the east coast of the Aceh Province are now operating normally. The port of Lhokseumawe is open and operating normally with berths available. Open storage also remains available. Trucks can also be arranged for aid deliveries to communities along the east coast at Lhokseumawe, Bireuen, Panteraja, Sigli and Banda Aceh area. The Lhokseumawe-Banda Aceh route is 280 km long, along a paved road in good condition. Transit times for trucks are approximately six-seven hours each way. The port of Belawan (Medan) is reported to be operating normally with no berthing delays at this time. Open and covered storage are still available, as well as trucks. Medan Airport is fully operational for aid flights. There are long delays/cancellations to scheduled flights. Banda Aceh airport is also fully operational, but with delays due to congestion. On the west coast, following bridge repairs, the following route between Medan and Meulaboh is now reported open and suitable for trucks: Medan-Berastagi-Kabanjahe-Sidikalang-Kalakepen-Bakongan-Kandang-Tapktuan-Susoh-Kutanibong-Meulaboh. The estimated distance is 450 km and truck transit times are estimated at 15-20 hours. Access to the western offshore islands of Simeulue and Nias is now possible by sea and by air.

The 26 December tsunami that shattered India’s Southern Coastline has made Chennai Port the deepest on the country’s East Coast. A Bathymetry Survey conducted by National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has revealed the entry channel to Chennai Port has deepened – enabling the berthing of vessels of larger drafts. Sources of Chennai Port said the report states that 4-5 lakh m³ of sediment was dredged due to the high current generated by the tsunami. This deepened the 17.4 m deep harbour by 1-2 m, especially along Ambedkar dock and Bharathi dock, where the depth of the entry channel (previously 18.6 m) has deepened by a metre. Tuticorin Port is functioning normal with all shipping and cargo operations being carried out without any problems. The bulk storage yard is functioning normally and all cargo movements are being carried out without any hindrance. The Port and Customs offices are also fully attended and functioning normally. Cochin Port is working normal and all shipping movements and cargo operations are being carried out as usual. Port offices and Customs offices are fully attended and functioning normally.

A US military helicopter helping the tsunami relief effort crashed near Banda Aceh airport today, briefly disrupting aid operations, but military sources said no one was killed. A Reuters reporter on the scene said the body of the Seahawk helicopter was on its side intact in the midst of a rice paddy, but the rotors were smashed and dented, with some missing. The tail had nearly snapped off. Seahawk wing commander Capt. Larry Burt told reporters there were ten personnel on board. “None died in the crash, they all survived”. He said the helicopter had been landing to pick up supplies for tsunami victims. US flights were suspended after the crash, which Burt said occurred at 07.15 hrs, but resumed an hour later. Burt said the cause of the crash was under investigation. “We will not release details until we are confident. We will not compromise the investigation.”

11 January 2005

Creative Holidays general manager Andrew Yell has returned from a fact-finding mission in Phuket. Most of Phuket’s hotels were at 100 per cent occupancy when the tsunami hit the Thai resort area on Boxing Day and Yell said the hotels that were still open were now at about 20 per cent capacity. Yell said the clean up effort at Phuket was progressing well. “I have never seen Patong Beach so clean”, he said. “There are some odd things to be seen though; CDs and DVDs are everywhere and banana lounges and umbrellas are all over the place.” He said one street in from Patong Beach, the damage to infrastructure was quite limited. However, the evidence of the water was everywhere. “In hotel rooms a fair way back from the water the water mark is half way up the walls”, he said. “A lot of the properties look like they could do with a good hose down.” Much of the damage at hotels had come from patio furniture being pushed through windows due to the force of the wave. He said the salt water had killed the lawns and plants in the gardens of the resorts, but that these were quickly being replanted. He estimated that by the beginning of February, the holiday experience of tourist in Phuket would not be diminished. However, Yell could not gain access to the devastated area of Khao Lak where most hotels have been destroyed.

With thousands of bodies still being pulled from the rubble and the death toll topping 157,000, the emergency phase of the tsunami disaster is far from over, the Red Cross warned, as donor countries convened in Geneva today for a UN conference. Markku Niskala, secretary general of the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said that some 2,600 bodies had been recovered on Saturday (8 January) alone around the town of Meulaboh on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island. This “is an alarming figure and only indicates that the emergency phase definitely is not over yet”, Niskala said. Indonesia’s death toll rose to 105,262 today with more than 10,000 still missing, according to the social affairs ministry. In Geneva, pushed by unprecedented global sympathy for tsunami victims, about 250 representatives of governments, aid agencies and nations hit by the catastrophe were gathering for a conference chaired by UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland. The task of the conference is to firm up worldwide pledges of more than eight billion dollars for the relief effort and turn promises into reality, while at the same time seek to better coordinate how, when and where the aid gets delivered on the ground. With some Islamic nations under fire for what is seen as a less than generous response to the tragedy, which involves some Muslim countries, Malaysia announced that members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference have contributed $118-million in aid. The 57-member OIC, of which Malaysia is current chairman, would channel the money through the UN, said Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar. On the ground, survivors around the region were slowly beginning to rebuild their lives, going back to sea to fish in Sri Lanka, and reopening businesses even in the worst hit area, Indonesia’s Sumatra island.

12 January 2005

Marine experts have reported that the killer tsunami two weeks ago has temporarily damaged some of Thailand’s coral reefs. Scuba divers have been scouring the depths of the Andaman Sea, in some of Thailand’s favourite dive spots. They are clearing away debris littering the seabed – all carried by the killer tsunami two weeks ago. Charoen Nitithamyong, a marine biologist at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, explained how debris – such as furniture and vehicles – dragged off land by the giant waves caused the damage. “Coral is an animal but they have algae living inside the coral and those algae need the light to photosynthesize”, he explained. “So when the corals were covered by these things the coral couldn’t survive.” The Thai government says its initial assessment shows overall about 5 per cent of coral reefs have been harmed. The damage is most extensive around South Patong Beach – with 20 per cent devastation – and Koh Pai and Rana Bay off Phi Phi Island, which lost almost half the reef. Ukkrit Satatoomin, of the Phuket Marine Biological Center, says the situation is not that bad given the catastrophe. “I think the effect of the tsunami to coral is very minor. The damage is restricted only to specific sites in Phuket”, he said. “But the major reef areas are still in good condition, some places have been untouched by the tsunami.” The United Nations has sent some equipment to help divers clean up the Andaman Sea. Mr Ukkrit is optimistic. “Coral can heal itself. Even the coral that get damaged like breaking off or even turned over, some parts of it is still alive. I’m sure within three or five years that we can see the coral in good condition again”, he said. Elsewhere in Asia, Indian marine experts are also examining marine life off the coast of Kerala, which was also hit by the tsunami. It is feared that the killer waves may have killed or displaced rare sea turtles in the Indian Ocean.

13 January 2005

The Port of Galle is now operating and two vessels have been berthed. However, the maximum draft is currently restricted to 6.2 m, compared to the previous 7.3 m. Dredging is underway to revert to the draft of 7.3 m. Work is progressing slowly, however, as an old dredger is being used. The new dredger (suction hopper dredger Diyakawa) was washed ashore when the tsunami struck the port on 26 December and is currently lying on the pier. The Sri Lankan Government and Ports Authority are seeking the assistance of a private party to get the new dredger back to water.

14 January 2005

The Sri Lanka government said it will start reconstruction of all fisheries harbours that were affected by the tsunami and may built eight new fisheries harbours in Chilaw, Ambalangoda, and Dikovita from tomorrow. Sri Lanka Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Chandrasena Wijesinhe told local journalists at a press briefing recently, that the fisheries industry needs Rs16.5 billion for its reconstructing process. The estimated losses incurred to the other institutes related to the ministry are about Rs3,058 million and the damage to machinery and equipment was Rs11,449 million, the Minister said. “We hope to get the assistance of the boat manufacturers in Sri Lanka for repairing and manufacturing boats. The ministry will recruit 400 youth from fishing families in the affected areas as team leaders. These team leaders will provide reliable information on the damage incurred by each fisherman. We have planned to set up fisheries villages for affected fishermen and we are now looking for suitable plots of land for the project”. The Ministry has already built 50 temporary houses for fishing families in Kirindagama. “We will also promote that fish consumption is safe among our consumers”, he said. Chairman of the National Aquatic Resources, Research and Development Agency (NARA) Kapila Perera said: “The tsunami has caused Rs384 million damage to its allied bodies. Our research laboratory where we used to examine the quality of fish for export has been affected. Aquatic breeding centres have also been destroyed”.

14 January 2005

A survey of the port at Chennai since the devastating tsunamis shows that the port was “dredged” by the action of the currents and is now the deepest in India. According to the survey 450,000 m³ of sediment were removed 26 December, leaving an average increase of 1-2 m.

17 January 2005

Sri Lanka’s tsunami death toll increased today as officials said the more they cleared up, the more bodies they found. The island added another 7,275 victims to its list of the dead, taking the national toll over 38,000 and the overall toll around Indian Ocean nations to 175,458. “We are coming across dead bodies on a daily basis as we clear the rubble”, said Tilak Ranavirajah, a senior public security ministry official. Hardest-hit Indonesia has steadily raised its total, but Sri Lanka’s body count had stabilised around 30,000 until today. Sri Lanka said it would begin its tsunami reconstruction phase on Wednesday (19 January) in the obliterated town of Hambantota. Sri Lankans have now begun rebuilding tsunami-hit homes and hotels close to the shore, in defiance of a government ban.

19 January 2005

Cruise liners are expected to resume their weekly calls at Patong Bay (Phuket) from Monday (24 January). The Port of Phuket was not affected by the tsunami that hit the west coast of Phuket Island and South of Thailand from Ranong to Satul. On Phuket Island, only the west coast beaches were affected – up to 200 metres from the beach in some places. Most beach areas have now been cleaned up. One land tour operator says that normal activities and tours (city tour and Phangnga Tour) for cruise passengers will proceed as usual and will not pass areas in a state of disrepair. Sanitation on Phuket is fully up to standard and there are no diseases or epidemics.

The global death toll from the Asian tsunami shot above 226,000 today after Indonesia’s Health Ministry confirmed the deaths of tens of thousands of people previously listed as missing. The ministry raised the country’s death toll to 166,320. It had previously given a figure of 95,450 while Indonesia’s Ministry of Social Affairs had put the death toll at around 115,000 before it stopped counting. Dodi Indrasanto, a director at the health ministry’s department of health affairs, said the new death total reflected the latest reports from the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, which were directly in the path of the killer tsunami. The new figure lifted the total global death toll from the tsunami disaster to 226,566, although the number continues to rise as more deaths are reported around the region. Indrasanto said the health ministry report, which had just 6,245 people still listed as missing, had been sent to Yudhoyono late Wednesday. The ministry’s figures said 617,159 people were still homeless in northern Sumatra more than three weeks after the killer wave struck. Across Aceh’s ravaged west coast, survivors were few and many villages were virtual ghost towns. In others, a mosque was the only building left standing. In the province’s second city Meulaboh, almost sliced in half by the killer wave, mountains of rubble smouldered and electricity was intermittent, but some shops and markets were busy, and food appeared to be available. Daniel Augstburger, head of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the coastal city of Meulaboh, said not enough help was reaching people outside of major urban areas. “The French are starting to move food, of course the Americans … are moving food out, but this has to increase tenfold, I would say”, Augstburger told Reuters, adding that tsunami victims also needed items such as clothes and cooking utensils. In Sri Lanka, residents of a tsunami-ravaged town packed up and left – ready to re-establish their community 1.5 km inland as a precaution against any other surprises from the sea. The International Monetary Fund said it hoped to approve Sri Lanka’s emergency request for up to $160 million in assistance, while Indonesian officials told donors that the tsunami would likely cost the country around $4.5 billion. Governments, aid groups, individuals, corporations and international agencies have pledged more than $7 billion in aid to Asia’s tsunami victims, but donors have to date promised just $739 million of the $977 million the UN system says is needed in emergency aid to meet the basic needs of victims over the next six months, according to Kevin Kennedy, a senior official of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

19 January 2005

Asia’s earthquake and tsunami chaos has swept away about 1 million jobs in Indonesia and Sri Lanka alone, sending the unemployment rate soaring in the worst affected areas, the UN’s labour agency says. In a strategy paper, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) advises that quick action is vital to cushion the blow and get people back to work. “The ILO today urged that employment-intensive job creation strategies be integrated into the humanitarian and reconstruction response to the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Asia that destroyed the livelihoods of an estimated one million persons in Indonesia and Sri Lanka alone”, it said. The paper is due to be presented at a five-day United Nations conference on disaster reduction that opened in Kobe, Japan yesterday. The agency says that in addition to death and injury, the earthquake and floods on 26 December has cost Indonesia 600,000 jobs, in particular in the Aceh province and the island of Nias. “The majority of job losses are in fishing, small-scale and plantation agriculture and unregistered small businesses”, it said. The ILO says as a result, the jobless rate in the affected areas may have increased to 30 per cent from about 6.8 per cent before the disaster. The country’s total number of unemployed is likely to have risen by 6 per cent from around 9.7 million people. In Sri Lanka, the catastrophe has robbed the country of more than 400,000 jobs in the affected districts in the eastern, southern and western coasts. “The majority of job losses in Sri Lanka have occurred in the fisheries, hotel and tourism industry – including ecotourism, which was starting to expand – and the informal economy”, the ILO said. It estimates that the unemployment rate in the areas battered by the disaster has probably risen to more than 20 per cent from 9.2 per cent beforehand. At the same time, the aid that is sweeping into the countries will help to provide new sources of income for the locals. The ILO predicts work to reconstruct and repair buildings and infrastructure could enable between 50 per cent to 60 per cent of those who saw their livelihood washed away by the mayhem to earn a living again by the end of the year, That number could grow to around 85 per cent by the end of 2006.

21 January 2005

The United Nations Environment Programme today estimated damage from Asia’s tsunami disaster to Indonesia’s environment would amount to US$675 million. The preliminary report, the first made by the UN Environment Programme on the tsunami’s environmental costs, put the damage in Indonesia at Rp5.1 trillion ($675 million). In Aceh province alone, the disaster damaged 25,000 hectares of mangroves, some 29,200 hectares of coral reefs and 120 hectares of seagrass beds, the report said. Coastal forests and a 300 km stretch of coastal lands were also damaged or lost, the report said. Other problem areas were the debris and waste caused by the tsunami, destruction of local environmental capacity – such as solid waste management – and damage to oil depots and other industrial sites that could lead to leaks of harmful chemicals. Indonesia has asked UNEP to establish an environmental crisis centre, and the Maldives has requested emergency waste management help and impact studies on coral reefs. Sri Lanka and Thailand have also asked for assistance in gauging damage to the environment, the UNEP said.

21 January 2005

Amidst speculation on the geographical impact of the recent disastrous earthquake and the tsunami, officials today said that an area in Port Blair may have sunk by a metre while the Andaman island appear to have twisted. “According to the recordings made by a tide gauge that was placed at a location in Port Blair, tsunami hit the area at 07.14, 26 December”, Secretary of the Department of Ocean Development Harsh Gupta said in New Delhi. “The record also indicates that base of the tide gauge went down in Port Blair”, Gupta said, adding the record is visible as a graph whose base went down. It means that the place sunk by about a metre due to the earthquake, which was the fifth largest to be recorded in history. The recording by another tide gauge at Chennai did not indicate such shifting in the baseline of the graph. The tsunami hit Chennai at 09.06 hrs and Cochin at 11.12 hrs, according to the records by these tide gauges, he said. Dr V.S. Ramamurthy, Secretary Department of Science and Technology, said that studies being carried out by various agencies in Andamans appear to indicate that the island has twisted. Gupta said four vessels were cruising the different tsunami affected regions. Preliminary results had started coming in, he said.

24 January 2005

The Indian Ocean tsunami is likely to cost Thailand’s lucrative tourism industry around 30 billion baht ($780 million) in lost revenues in 2005, its vice-minister for tourism said today. “We have noticed quite a drastic drop-off after the incident”, Krirk-krai Jirapaet told reporters at a meeting of tourism officials from the ten-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the Malaysian resort isle of Langkawi. “There were cancellations. We had a look at the possible annual performance of our industry, and the effect on the economy of Thailand. We thought we would lose about 30 billion baht of tourism, which is about 10 percent of revenue in the previous years”, he said. The government has announced a series of soft loans for affected businesses, and hotel operators on the resort island of Phuket, which sustained localised damage, are trying to lure holidaymakers back with cut-price deals. Nearly 13,000 of the more than 41,000 hotel rooms on Phuket and the mainland provinces of Krabi and Phang Nga were destroyed, analysts say. However, the destruction will not dent the overall Thai economy, which is still expected to grow at between 5.5 and 6.5 per cent in 2005, the state economic planning agency said nearly two weeks after the disaster. The National Economic and Social Development Board said the reconstruction effort would offset property losses and business setbacks in the tourism sector, which accounts for around 6 per cent of the economy.

24 January 2005

A strong earthquake today rocked Andaman and Nicobar Islands and parts of southern Indian metropolis of Chennai, where panic-struck residents were seen running out of their houses in some areas. One of the strongest aftershocks since the 26 December earthquake that triggered killer tsunami waves, the tremor measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale was recorded at 04.17, GMT off the west coast of Great Nicobar Islands, the MET Department said in New Delhi.

Coral reefs surrounding Sri Lanka may not have suffered as much damage from the Indian Ocean tsunami as initially feared. Jerker Tamelander, marine programme co-ordinator of the World Conservation Union in Sri Lanka, explained: “A lot of the mechanical damage seems to have been caused by boats washing over coral reefs and in turn pushing over large boulders, so there’s very site-specific damage – whereas on the broad scale, the mechanical damage is much less”. Some of this damage came from material washed back from land –“including motorbikes and TV sets” – that resulted in “quite significant amounts of debris on several reefs”. Tamelander has completed a survey of reefs on Sri Lanka’s southwest coast. The area was badly affected on land, with “significant destruction” of terrestrial ecosystems. However, in comparison, the underwater coral has not been badly affected, the BBC reported yesterday. The survey also found that the tsunami had had little obvious effect on marine and fish populations. Tamelander said that fish looked “reasonably normal, both in terms of species composition and abundance”. However, he warned there may be problems yet with destruction to fish habitats and nursery grounds.

25 January 2005

Indonesia’s health ministry said today a total of 228,164 people are dead or missing in the 26 December earthquake and tsunami. The ministry’s crisis centre said 95,992 bodies have been recovered and buried and another 132,172 people were missing. The health ministry last week raised its death toll from the disaster to 173,981 by adding some 70,000 missing and presumed dead to its figure for confirmed deaths. The ministry’s crisis centre said many of the 132,172 missing are presumed to be dead, four weeks after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the tsunami it produced. However, an undetermined number of them may be alive and living in temporary camps or otherwise unaccounted for.

26 January 2005

Changes in the depths of waters, particularly the waters in the northern approach to the Straits of Malacca and Singapore were reported following the earthquake/tsunami incident in the Indian Ocean and the Andaman Sea on 26 December. There has been close liaison between the hydrographic offices of Indonesia and Singapore to monitor the situation. Ships transiting the area have also been asked to report any changes in water depths. Since the initial unconfirmed reports on 6 January, many ships have passed the area. No reported changes in water depths have been received and shipping traffic through the Straits remains smooth. However, as a precaution, ships transiting the Straits should continue to listen for broadcast of changes in depths, to turn on their echo sounders to check the depths of water and to advise the coastal VTS Authority of any depths less than charted. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) will continue to monitor the situation in the northern approach to the Straits of Malacca and Singapore together with the Indonesian hydrographic office and the industry.

27 January 2005

A moderate earthquake occurred at 17.30, UTC, today. The magnitude 5.6 event has been located in the Nicobar Islands, India, in lat 08.29N, long 93.98E, depth 26 km.

31 January 2005

A moderate earthquake struck near India’s Nicobar Islands – an area that has been rattled by aftershocks since last month’s earthquake-tsunami disaster, the Hong Kong Observatory said today. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties. The 5.6-magnitude tremor struck at 15.39, GMT, yesterday in the Nicobar island chain.

Indonesia

1 February 2005

An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale jolted the area of Lumajang regency in East Java this morning. The quake was also felt in the neighbouring regencies of Blitar and Malang. The earthquake occurred at about 03.21hrs with the epicentre 119 km south of Lumajang, about 33 km under the Indian Ocean. “We haven’t had any reports of fatalities or damage caused by the quake”, Arief of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency’s Tretes station told Antara news agency.

2 February 2005

A moderate earthquake rocked parts of Indonesia’s main island Java today, causing panic among residents and cracks to some buildings, officials and a media report said. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The epicentre of the 5.2-magnitude quake was about 40 miles south of Bandung, West Java’s capital, said Yusuf, an official at the meteorological agency. It struck at about 13.00. Meanwhile, Muhammad Imron, an official in Bandung, said that the quake jolted some towns in the province and caused large cracks at a factory in Banjaran, an industrial neighbourhood in southern Bandung. The quake has reportedly damaged two houses and one school building in Garut and Pengalengan, two other towns in West Java.

3 February 2005

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake jolted the Northern Marianas and Guam yesterday, but seismologists assured terrified residents that the quake would not generate a tsunami. There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage on the islands. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, which is located in Hawaii, did not issue a tsunami warning. Despite assurances from local and federal agencies, many terrified residents ran out of buildings and looked out to sea for any sign of a tidal wave. The epicentre of the earthquake was located about 35 miles west of Rota and 45 miles north of Hagatna, Guam.

3 February 2005

Two earthquakes, the strongest measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, shook Indonesia, injuring several people and damaging houses, officials said. The resort island of Bali and Lombok were shaken by the more powerful of the two quakes at 22.00 hrs, 14.00, GMT, some 15 km south-west of Lombok’s capital Mataram, seismology officials said. The quake was felt strongly in Denpasar, the capital of Bali, but there were no reports of injury or casualty on the resort island. Earlier, at 0555, GMT, a 5.2-magnitude quake struck 43 km south of Bandung, the capital of West Java, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said. District spokesman Suherman said several people were injured in the melee and many houses were damaged but the number was not immediately known.

4 February 2005

An earthquake of moderate intensity rocked areas bordering Assam and Nagaland early today, the Met Department said. The tremor, which measured 5.5 on the Richter scale, was felt in the border region of Assam-Nagaland at 01.44 hrs, the Department said. The earthquake was epicentred in lat. 26.7N, long. 94.2E.

7 February 2005

A moderate earthquake hit near India’s remote Nicobar Islands Hong Kong seismologists said yesterday. No casualties or damage were immediately reported. The 5.5-magnitude quake was centred 340 km north-north-west of the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh, the Hong Kong Observatory said in a statement. It was recorded in Hong Kong at 01.41, yesterday. The latest tremor followed similar moderate earthquakes in the same area on Friday (4 February) and Saturday.

9 February 2005

An earthquake of at least 5.7 magnitude struck Indonesia’s tsunami-ravaged Aceh province today, shaking buildings and touching off a panic as terrified residents fled for higher ground. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The Banda Aceh Geophysics Centre said the tremor was magnitude 6.2, struck about 20.30 hrs and was centred beneath the Indian Ocean floor, about 66 miles south-west of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh. However, the US Geological Survey estimated the earthquake’s magnitude at 5.7 and its epicentre about 50 miles south-west of the city in Aceh.

11 February 2005

Workers trudging through tsunami debris in Indonesia recovered more than 1,400 bodies, officials said today, while the British military announced it will pull its troops out of the area, a sign that much of the emergency relief work has been done. Hundreds of bodies are still being found daily nearly seven weeks after the 26 December earthquake and tsunami devastated Indonesia’s Aceh province and hit ten other Indian Ocean countries. The find of 1,414 more bodies brought the death toll to more than 164,000. After initially saying the retrieval of bodies would likely be complete by June, the Red Cross now says several more months might be needed, agency spokeswoman Yrsa Grune said. Today, Indonesia revised its number of missing for the first time in two weeks, saying nearly 13,000 people have now been either confirmed dead, have been found alive in refugee camps, or have left Aceh. The missing tally stood at 114,922 – down from 127,774. The departure of Britain’s tiny contingent from Aceh follows that of most US troops, who had been spearheading the relief effort. About three dozen British pilots and other personnel have been in Aceh since 2 January, delivering aid and equipment. British forces will pull out Sunday (13 February), according to a statement posted on the web site of the British Embassy in Jakarta. A Royal Navy vessel, the HMS Scott, remained in Indonesian waters with a team of British scientists and Indonesian naval officers conducting a detailed survey of the ocean floor near the earthquake’s epicenter off the coast of Sumatra Island. The ship was scheduled to depart 15 February. Finally, today, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer toured Aceh’s worst hit areas, the latest foreign dignitary to visit the region. Germany has pledged $660 million to the tsunami relief effort, making it one of the largest donors.

13 February 2005

Two aftershocks from the massive earthquake that triggered Asia’s tsunami rattled the Indonesian province of Aceh early today, as British forces providing relief prepared to leave the disaster zone. There were no reports of damage from the temblors, which struck about an hour apart and shook buildings in the provincial capital. One of the underwater quakes had a magnitude of 5.6, according to US Geological Survey, which had no immediate details about the second. Hundreds of bodies are still being found daily in the province seven weeks after the earthquake and tsunami. Indonesia said today that recovery workers in provincial capital Banda Aceh pulled 546 more bodies from debris left after the earthquake and tsunami, bringing the death toll to 118,767. However, with emergency relief efforts winding down about three dozen British pilots and other personnel were preparing to leave the area today. Their departure follows that of about 10,000 US troops, though another 5,000 remain, mostly based on US ships. Japanese forces said they would be out by March. The Royal Navy vessel HMS Scott remains in Indonesian waters with a team of British scientists and Indonesian naval officers conducting a detailed survey of the ocean floor near the earthquake’s epicentre off the coast of Sumatra island. The ship is collecting data using sonar that scientists hope can be used to develop a tsunami early-warning system – like the one that already exists in the Pacific – for the Indian Ocean region. Experts say thousands of lives could have been saved in December with even a few minutes advance notice. Several countries, including Thailand, Indonesia and India, have pushed to host a regional warning system, but nations ravaged by the tsunami agreed last month to create several centres rather than a single, centralized one. Thailand’s prime minister said over the weekend his country would have an initial tsunami early warning system in place by April and a fully operational one working within two years.

15 February 2005

A 6.0-magnitude quake hit off the coast of the Indonesia’s Sumatra island early today. The tremor was centred in seas 200 km west-northwest of Padang which is about 900 km southeast of Banda Aceh. Yesterday’s quake was recorded in Hong Kong at 01.13 hrs, the Hong Kong Observatory said in a statement.

16 February 2005

A strong earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale shook the Indonesian province of North Sulawesi overnight but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, meteorologists said today. The offshore quake occurred at 1442, GMT, in the Pacific Ocean some 378 km north-east of Talaud island, said Wijayanto of the Meteorology and Geophysics office. The quake was centred some 22 km under the seabed and was felt strongly on the island, Wijayanto said.

16 February 2005

A moderate earthquake shook the Nicobar Islands, Hong Kong seismologists said today. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the 5.6-magnitude quake, which struck at around 0230, today. The tremor was epicentred about 320 km northwest of Banda Aceh, the Indonesian city that was battered by the Asian earthquake-tsunami disaster, the Hong Kong Observatory said. Several moderate quakes have struck the same area in recent weeks.

17 February 2005

At least US$30 million is required to rebuild Aceh’s tsunami-battered fishing fleets but costs may soar once an assessment of the heavily damaged western coast is completed, the United Nations said today. While the estimate provided an initial indication as to how much would eventually be required to rebuild Aceh’s fishing industry, there is a much larger problem: scores of traumatized fishermen who are reluctant to return to the ocean. This could result in a radical change in community structures, said United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization fisheries adviser Uli Schmidt. The FAO’s initial assessment – along the eastern coast – provided an indication of the scale of the damage to fishing fleets. Costs for the west coast – where an assessment will be conducted next week – are expected to be much higher, Schmidt said. More than 6,500 fishermen died, while about 5,200 boats were lost, the FAO said. At least US$9 million worth of wood will be required to build new boats while a further US$20 million will be needed for nets, engines and other fishing equipment.