On December 26, 2004, at 07.58 a.m. local time, a massive undersea earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean just north of Simeue island, off the western coast of northern Sumatra. Immediately following the disaster I was asked to coordinate the response of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and spent a year and a half between Indonesia, Thailand and FAO Rome headquarters managing a reconstruction program for Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand and Myanmar. These are a few early impressions of Aceh. The magnitude of the earthquake was recorded as between 9.1 and 9.3. At this magnitude, it is the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. This earthquake was reported to be the longest duration of faulting ever observed, lasting between 500 and 600 seconds, and it was large enough that it caused the entire planet to vibrate at least half an inch. It also triggered earthquakes in other locations as far away as Alaska. The earthquake triggered a series of massive tsunamis that devastated the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and other countries with waves up to 30 meters high, traveling at 400 km per hour. It caused serious damage and deaths as far as the east coast of Africa, with the furthest recorded death due to the tsunami occurring at Port Elizabeth in South Africa, 8,000 km (5,000 mi) away from the epicenter. Although initial estimates have put the worldwide death toll at over 275,000 with thousands of others missing, recent analysis compiled lists a total of 229,866 persons lost, including 186,983 dead and 42,883 missing. The catastrophe is one of the deadliest disasters in modern history. The plight of the many affected people and countries prompted one of the largest humanitarian a responses in history. In all, the worldwide community donated more than US$7 billion in humanitarian aid to those affected by the earthquake. |
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