Revisiting a tsunami Fiji TV One 2005 report

October 8, 2009

Tsunami Warning for Capital

Fiji One News – Fiji TV
4 Apr 2005 17:32:31 FJT

Seismologists have unveiled a three dimensional view of a Tsunami hitting Suva city, showing
massive destruction.

In an awareness program they say there is a strong possiblity that there could be another
earthquake soon – only more devastating than the quake of 1953.

The epicentre of the 1953 earthquake was recorded South West of Suva. The impact of the quake
was felt in Levuka, Savusavu and Kadavu.

What many saw after the earthquake was this, a 4 meter wave, ploughing its way through the
three main areas. What it left behind was a trail of destruction, from the harbor to this 40 meter
crack along the Suva Wharf. Eight people died, five were from Kadavu.

Seismologist Lasarusa Vuetibau says there is a strong possibility that this could happen again.

But now the risks are high in the capital, given the rate of development and sedimentation in the
harbor.

We are currently in the 17 to 25 years expectation period from the last earth quake in 1998.

Seismologists fear that if another earth quake strikes in Vanuatu, Tonga or the Southern end of
Kadavu registering more than 6.5 on the richter scale, this could be the scenario.

Suva lies directly in the path of a possibleTsunami, the suva wharf will be the first to be hit, the
second wave, according to experts, will be the strongest.

What experts have discovered, is that an earthquake with massive magnitude was felt in Suva
centuries ago – its path of destruction still visible on the sea bed just outside the Suva reef.

At this stage, Seismologists can only advise people on what the country can expect, when an
earthquake strikes.

Any quake measuring more than 6.5 on the Richter scale will cause damage and could be
followed by a Tsunami.
 Report on tsunami
The word ‘Tsunami’ is of Japanese origin, which means, “harbour wave”. Tsunami are large
waves that are generated when the see floor is deformed by seismic activity, vertically
displacing the overlying water in the ocean. The quake occurred at a place where several
massive geological plates push against each other with massive force. Tsunami has very low
height while traveling over deep ocean. High waves occur only when it reaches the shallow
waters, typically near the coast. The mega thrust earthquake-measuring 9.0 at Richter scale,
off the western coast of northern Sumatra (Banda Ache), Indonesia was the largest of its
type since the 9.2 magnitude Good Friday earthquake off Alaska in 1964. The deadliest
natural disaster caused by the tsunami generated from an undersea earthquake on 26
December 2004 in the Indian Ocean has shaken up the world. The 2004 tsunami generated
waves of up to 15 meters in height and even hit Somalia at a distance of about 4500 km
west of the epicenter. The tsunami traveled slowly and took seven hours to hit the farthest
coast at the west. Because of the 1200 kilometer of the fault line affected by the seaquake
was in a nearly north-south orientation, the greatest strength of the tsunami waves was in
the east-west direction.

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53
UTC (07:58:53 local time) on December 26, 2004. The earthquake originated in the Indian
Ocean just north of Simeulue island, off the western coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia.
The resulting tsunamis devastated the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and
other countries with waves of up to 15 m (50 feet) high, even reaching the east coast of
Africa, 4500 km (2,800 miles) west of the epicenter.The Unieted States Geological Survey
recoreded the magnitude of the earthquake of Sumatra at 8.9 with the epicenter lying 10km
below the seabed. Aftershocks struck in the magnitude 7 range. The quake occurred at a
place where several massive geological plates push against each other with massive force.
The survey said, a 1000 – kilometer section along the boundry of the plate shifted, a motion
that triggered the sudden displacement of a huge volume of water. An interesting
phenomenon of the seismic tidal waves in the different part of the world was that people saw
sea water disappearing away from the beaches in the minutes before the giant wave lashed
back with infernal fury devouring whatever come on the way of their lethal onslaught.
Scientists say the effect is caused by tidal waves shocking shallow coastal waters out to see
before returning them as a massive wall of water.

The titanic tsunami that wrought unprecedented death and destruction in South and South-
East Asia will go down in history as one of the greatest natural calamities of the modern
times. The great disaster caught the people and the government off guard and in a matter of
minutes, snuffed out more than 2,00,000 lives. Across the more than twelve countries. The
number of people rendered homeless might run into millions, as no estimate is immediately
available as to how many children have become orphans, how many women become widows
and how many families have been wiped out in a single sweep.
 Flood watch issued

The National Weather Service station at Peachtree City late yesterday afternoon forecast another
round of possible flooding conditions for Douglas County.

In its zone forecasts for north and central Georgia issued just before 4 p.m., it said a flash flood
watch and flood warning are in effect from late last night through today. The forecast was for
Douglas County and the city of Douglasville as well as neighboring counties of Carroll and
Paulding. The watch also included Haralson and Polk counties to the north and west of Douglas
County.

The chance of rain for last night and today was listed at 100 percent by the weather service.

Wes Tallon, Douglas County community relations and communications director, said yesterday
afternoon the county is watching the weather closely.

“We may have one to four inches of rain overnight and tomorrow, and that’s a tough one
considering that Sweetwater Creek is still at flood level,” Tallon said. Sweetwater Creek is one
of the county’s most flood-prone areas.

According to wsbtv.com:

A broad area of heavy rain was to move into the watch area after midnight last night and spread
eastward through tonight. Rainfall amounts of two to four inches are likely generally north of a
line from LaGrange, to Macon, to Louisville, according to the report.

Several rivers and creeks remain in or near flood after the widespread 2-3 inches of rain on
Monday, and the soil is saturated. Additional heavy rainfall will quickly run off into creeks,
rivers and streams, resulting in rapid rising water and potentially more significant flooding, the
report showed.
Quake landslides wipe out 3 villages in Indonesia
PADANG, Indonesia — At least three Indonesian villages were obliterated by earthquake-
triggered landslides that buried as many as 644 people including a wedding party under
mountains of mud and debris, officials said Saturday.

The full extent of Wednesday’s 7.6-magnitude earthquake was becoming apparent three days
later as aid workers and government officials reached remote villages in the hills along Sumatra
island’s western coast.

If all 644 are confirmed dead — as is likely — the death toll in the disaster would jump to more
than 1,300. The government’s death toll currently is 715, with most casualties reported from the
region’s biggest city, Padang, where aid efforts are currently focused.

More than 3,000 people were listed as missing before the news about the obliterated villages
emerged.

Rustam Pakaya, head of the Health Ministry’s crisis center, said the villages of Pulau Aiya,
Lubuk Lawe and Jumena in Pariaman district were completely wiped out by the landslides.

He said 400 people were attending a wedding in Pulau Aiya when the quake set off a landslide.
In Indonesia’s rural communities, weddings are often communal affairs open to the entire
village.

“They were sucked 30 meters deep into the earth,” Pakaya said. “Even the mosque’s minaret,
taller than 20 meters, disappeared.”

He said about 244 others were buried in Lubuk Lawe and Jumena villages. Only 26 bodies had
been extricated, he said.

An AP photographer who flew over Pariaman district in a helicopter saw several landslides in
the area.

At one, a giant section of a hillside was swept away and the remains of destroyed houses
protruded from the mud. The ruins of other homes hung precariously over the edge of a huge
crevice that was torn through rice fields and forest. Roads were gone and trees had been uprooted
and swept downhill.

MetroTV broadcast footage showing uprooted trees and a large empty area of brown earth where
a village once stood. The houses were apparently been buried under tons of mud. The broadcast
did not identify the village.

El-Mostafa Benlamlih, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator for Indonesia, told the AP that 200
houses were swept away in Pulau Aiya.
The immediate medical needs from the quake were being met, but aid efforts are “still
concentrated in Padang area,” with outlying areas still short of aid, Benlamlih said.

He said aid agencies would focus on restoring public utilities, sanitation and preventing disease.

Elsewhere, disappointed rescue workers were unable to locate survivors buried under a collapsed
hotel in Padang after one sent a cell-phone text message to a relative Friday saying he and some
others were alive.

Frantic rescue efforts came to naught Saturday as sniffer dogs failed to detect life.

After several hours of digging through blocks of concrete, steel and bricks, rescue workers gave
up. Padang police chief Col. Boy Rafli Amar told reporters, “So far rescuers have found
nothing.”

Hidehiro Murase, head of a Japanese search dog team, said its search had been fruitless.

“We did an extensive search this morning, but there were no signs of life. Our dogs are trained to
smell for living people, not the dead, and they didn’t sense anything,” he told the AP.

Fuel was being rationed amid a power outage, water and food were in short supply and villagers
dug out the dead with their bare hands.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla estimated that the quake damaged about 17 percent of buildings in the
worst-hit areas.

He said recovery operation would cost at least $400 million.

Military and commercial planes shuttled in tons of emergency supplies.

Millions of dollars in aid and financial assistance came from Australia, Britain, China, Denmark,
the European Union, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea,
Switzerland and the United States, Indonesian officials said.

Wednesday’s quake originated on the same fault line that spawned the 2004 Asian tsunami that
killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations.

Associated Press writers Ali Kotarumalos, Anthony Deutsch, Niniek Karmini and Vijay Joshi in
Jakarta contributed to this report.