The Cause and Effect of the Tsunami in Thailand in 2004
The tsunami in Thailand that occurred on December 26, 2004, was by far the largest tsunami catastrophe in human history. It was triggered by a magnitude 9.1-9.3 earthquake along the Indian-Australian subduction zone off the northern coast of Sumatra. The tsunami waves traveled primarily in the east to west direction and caused major damage along the coasts of southern Thailand. Unpredictably, it was a violent earthquake beneath the sea that initiated the massive waves and struck more than a dozen countries in Southern Asia. It also destroyed thousands of miles of coastline and even submerged entire islands permanently. Throughout the region, the tsunami killed more than 150,000 people, and a million more were hurt, homeless, and without food or drinkable water, making it perhaps the most destructive tsunami in the modern history. In spite of peninsular Thailand's location facing the northern part of this subduction zone, the lack of any written historical records, together with the lack of any major local seismic activity, the tsunami caused thousands of fatalities and huge economic losses in the popular tourist regions in Thailand. Immediately after the disaster, numerous organizations and individual citizens have helped out and contributed to this devastating tsunami. Indeed, the tsunami in Thailand was a worldwide event, with significant wave action felt around the world. In this context, I am focusing more on the key features of the tsunami’s natural causes, the psychological effects on citizens, the perspective of socio-economic impacts and the consequences of the tsunami calamity.
What triggered this horrific natural disaster that took place off the western coast of Sumatra? The earthquake of December 2004 was aroused because of the grinding between two large plates in the Indian Ocean. Fatally, it was so intense that it literally caused something far more deadly. The epicenter of this earthquake was in the Indian Ocean, just off the western coast of the island of Sumatra. When the Burma plate cracked, the unexpected movement shifted trillions of tons of water. Unfortunately, that mass of water moved up to the ocean surface, where it stretched outward in violent waves. That is why, they call it a tsunami since it usually occur underwater earthquakes, and these waves are forced by the energy of the quake. Similarly, it can happen by coastal landslides, the collision of a meteor, or the explosion of an underwater volcano. (Catastrophe in S.A. 12)
Unfortunately, the tsunami had rapidly sped up to the Thailand coast, estimated about 300 miles (482.8km) from the earth quake’s epicenter, and then moved to India and Sri Lanka. Sadly, the waves of the tsunami hit hard and furious as fast as it came to the shoreline. The popular tourist resort of Phuket was badly hit, and within hours, the aftermath of the tsunami killed hundreds of thousands of people, at least as many missing, and such...