By: GoldenDragon
- 27th December 2004 at 21:46Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
This is an unimaginable tragedy. This calamity is even reaching the Western nations because of Thailand and Sri Lanka as major tourist spots.
From just Thailand alone:
The US, at least 8 dead and several hundred missing.
Italy, at least 10 dead and over 100 missing.
Germany, at 8 dead and up to 100 missing.
This does not even include the other European countries, Australia, New Zealand and the Far East. Thailand is a major tourist area for massive numbers of people from Hong Kong, Japan and China.
The missing are many times the known dead. The total could be even grimmer over the next days. We can only hope that the missing are just in areas which lost communications but every hour that missing do not report in, the chances that they survived becomes lower.
By: dionis
- 27th December 2004 at 21:54Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Well I live in New Delhi (I'm Russian though) and I might have been in the Maldives or Phuket, Thailand right now... those were trip options my family and I had this winter, but (I guess luckily) we went to Italy instead {where i am now}
By: GoldenDragon
- 27th December 2004 at 21:58Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
A disaster like this is where the often forgotten parts of the military becomes all important. The engineers and the transport units.
Forces from outside the disaster area from Australia to US to China to Europe are airlifting supplies and personel into the region. I would imagine the short field medium transports - C-130s, Y-8s, An-12s - would be most needed for areas where air fields are damaged or restricted. The big ones such as the C-17s and Il-76s would land at main distribution points.
Nations pledge cash, aid for Asia quake victims
27 Dec 2004 20:58:14 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Updates France)
GENEVA, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Countries around the globe have stepped forward with pledges of cash and assistance to the victims of the southern Asian earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The following is a list of contributions pledged, as compiled from reports by Reuters bureaux and United Nations agencies.
AUSTRALIA: Australia sent four air force transport planes with supplies and medical specialists to the western Indonesian island of Sumatra and committed $7.6 million to the international relief effort.
BELGIUM: The government is sending a military airbus with 22 tonnes of aid from Medecins Sans Frontieres and UNICEF to Sri Lanka.
BRITAIN: London sent an aircraft with plastic sheets and tents worth 250,000 pounds ($481,500) to Sri Lanka. It said it was contributing 370,000 pounds to the EU aid effort and a further $100,000 to the World Health Organisation for relief efforts.
CANADA: Canada said it would make an initial contribution of 1 million Canadian dollars ($814,300) to an appeal for some $6.5 million by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
CHINA: China said it would airlift emergency aid to stricken countries.
CZECH REPUBLIC: Prague despatched a plane to Sri Lanka with drinking water. Officials said overall aid worth $444,400 would be sent.
By: GoldenDragon
- 27th December 2004 at 22:11Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
"Hundreds of planes" from the rescue effort will be arriving within 48 hours.
UN Says `Enormous' Aid Effort Follows Deadly Quake (Update3)
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations said 24 countries have joined ``an enormous relief effort'' following a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Indonesia's coast that killed more than 23,000 and destroyed towns from Thailand to India. Aftershocks may cause further tsunamis and flooding, officials said.
Damage from the earthquake, the world's biggest in four decades, ``will probably be many billions of dollars,'' said Jan Egeland, the UN's head of humanitarian affairs. Insurers' losses may be less than $5 billion because so little property in the region is insured, according to Robert Hartwig, an Insurance Information Institute economist in New York.
``This is not the biggest earthquake in recorded history, but the effects may be the biggest because many more people live in exposed areas than ever before,'' Egeland told reporters in New York. ``Hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything and millions have only polluted water to drink, no sanitation or health services.''
Egeland said more than 2,000 UN workers and hundreds of airplanes will arrive within 48 hours in the eight nations most severely affected by the earthquake off Sumatra. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies asked for $6.6 million in emergency aid and the World Food Program appealed for $1.5 million.
By: shamayel
- 27th December 2004 at 22:37Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Pakistan dispatches relief goods for Sri Lanka tidal wave victims
ISLAMABAD, Dec 27 : The government of Pakistan on Monday dispatched relief goods relief package for the earthquake victims of Sri Lanka, keeping in view the tragic loss of lives and property in the country, caused by earthquake and tidal waves.
Under the package, relief goods comprising tents, medicines, drinking water and food items have been sent to Sri Lanka.
Realizing the humanitarian crisis in Southeast Asia following the tidal waves and earthquake that killed at least 14000 people, the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had directed the concerned authorities to immediately send relief goods to Sri Lanka.
A plane of Pakistan Army C-130 carrying the relief goods left for Sri Lanka from Chaklala Airbase. The government of Pakistan took immediate action and dispatched relief goods in response to Colombo’s request.
By: Pak Thunder
- 28th December 2004 at 00:33Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Contrary to media reports - CarNic Air Force Station is NOT completely destroyed. It has been physically battered and about a 100 out of the 1000 personnel and their families are either killed or missing. According to the Air Chief's interview, the officers quarters were the worst hit as they were near the waterfront. The base has been now made active and the runway is currently operational and taking in relief flights. Evacuations and Supply missions are being carried out even as we speak.
Entire IAF station pushed off the map in Car Nicobar
Tuesday December 28 2004 00:00 IST
CAR NICOBAR ISLANDS: The day after, the sea here almost mocks in its ordinariness. The sun blazing, when you look down from the AN-32 on its way to Car Nicobar from Port Blair, there are just tiny white flecks on the calm Bay of Bengal. If you don't search for land, it's as if yesterday didn't happen.
But once you land, you know why this is where an estimated 2,000 are feared dead, this is where once an Indian Air Force Base was.
The base has been pushed off the map by the sea and along with it, have perished over 100 officers and IAF personnel - of the total base strength of 1700. The entire coastline is strewn with trees that snapped like twigs. Those people who survived are so traumatised that even the slightest movement of wind or wave makes them run out into the open from the Air Force station hangars and other installations which are doubling up as shelters.
This was a plum posting, says Group Captain and Station Commander V Bandopadhyaya. ``The officers and men wanted to stay here, wilfully.'' Because the picture-postcard Air Force colony was drawn along the coastline, dotted with elegant two-storeyed bungalows. The sea was barely 200 m away, the front yard almost a private beach.
But not today.
Most of those houses have been flattened. In many spots, even debris is missing, the house swallowed up whole.
Standing, then staggering on the debris, Captain P Maheshwar counts himself lucky - he lost everything but has his wife and child.
``The night before, we had a Christmas party and when the earthquake hit early in the morning, people were scared but we all took it in the right spirit. Every family rushed out of their homes and began to assemble together. One of us even began filming the chaos on his handycam saying it will be precious visual evidence for posterity. Suddenly, I saw the water level rise and that officer (the one with the handycam) vanished.''
Captain Maheshwar stops, his eyes lock on a metal frame stuck on a tree branch about 20 feet from the ground. ``That looks like my refrigerator,'' he says, under his breath. ``The skeleton of my car is lying there,'' he points. ``Every belonging of my 12 years of married life has been wiped out.'' Except, his family, of course, which Maheshwar says he can't explain other than saying it must be a miracle.
Not for six officers and their families, including several squadron leaders, the Met officer and the doctor of the Air Force station - all among the 102 that have been killed.
The waves hammered the coast for over two hours and once the water receded, the bodies of 23 IAF personnel were found strewn on the tarmac. Two more were retrieved from the debris, another 77 believed to have been sucked into the sea by the retreating waves.
The tarmac was the safe haven here. Being the highest point in the station. It stuck out, eyewitnesses said, amid the waves like the ``back of a giant tortoise in the sea.'' Most of those who could clamber onto it were saved.
The Mi-8 choppers were safe but the top floor of the three-storeyed Air Traffic Control was sliced off from the main structure, so neatly that it looks as if a giant crane ripped off the top floor and neatly placed it at a distance.
The neighbouring village of Malacca has been wiped out, most of the other half a dozen villages here are still inaccessible. This was why the toll could rise alarmingly, Lt Governor Ram Kapse told visiting Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Sonia Gandhi when they arrived here on Monday afternoon.
Commander in Chief B S Thakur said that several sorties were carried out right through the day with over 430 people being evacuated from Car Nicobar. About 70 of them were brought to the Naval Hospital in Port Blair.
The importance of Car Nicobar base, which is the operational heart of the Andamans and Nicobar Command, lies in its location. It sits on the mouth of strategic Malacca Straits, which accounts for 52 per cent of world cargo and is the second-most busy shipping lane in the world. More than 114 supertankers carrying 9.5 billion oil barrels for South Asian markets traverse through this 10 degree channel route that bisects the Andamans Islands and the Great Nicobar Island.
Besides handling the reconnaissance and surveillance activities, the Car Nicobar base has a major role in tracking down gun-runners and narco-traffickers that push in arms and drugs to India's north-east through the Cox's bazaar and Chittagong route in Bangladesh.
The runway of Car Nicobar base was extended to handle fighter operations in 2001 after the government cleared the Andamans and Nicobar Tri-Service Command. Since then, the IAF was conducting fighter exercises involving Jaguars and Su-30s twice a year so that it would be ready in case India wanted to project force in the Indian Ocean.
Apart from the Car Nicobar base, the Indian Navy has 12 amphibious landing ships and fast attack crafts at the Port Blair harbour. Top Navy officials said that none of the ships were damaged in the tsunami as they were pushed to mid-stream the moment the first wave came and hit Port Blair. The state-of-the-art Thomson CSF radar that monitors traffic north of Landfall Islands is safe but the building housing the equipment has developed cracks.
New
Posts: 165
By: Saleem Y Hatoum
- 28th December 2004 at 01:21Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
This is very serious and dangerous. IAEA should sent inspectors to verify the safety of the plant.
Tsunami may have damaged Indian nuclear plant
NEW DELHI: Huge waves that battered the Indian coastline after an earthquake in Indonesia may have damaged a nuclear power plant in southern Tamil Nadu state, the government said on Monday. The Press Trust of India news agency said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had called a meeting on Tuesday to review any damage to the plant. Authorities on Sunday shut down the Indira Gandhi Atomic Energy Centre in Kalpakkam, 80 kilometres south of Tamil Nadu capital Madras as a precaution. Water seeped into the facility, which is located on the coast, after the tsunami hit following Sunday’s earthquake. “Information reaching here suggests that facilities at Kalpakkam nuclear station may have been affected by the tidal waves,” said a spokesman from the prime minister’s office. The private NDTV news channel said 1,500 families in the Kalpakkam township of Tamil Nadu had been evacuated by government relief agencies. (AFP)
By: wd1
- 28th December 2004 at 04:49Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
i'm in singapore, and somewhat amazingly the country is unscathed despite being so close to the epicentre. sumatra and malaysia shielded us. nonetheless we are all a bit shellshocked at the scale and closeness of the calamity. a friend's friend who was in phuket when the tsunami struck remains out of contact. we're sending cash and a medical team... our thoughts go to the victims and their families.
we can expect the death toll to rise over the following days as rescuers reach cut-off areas. expect 30+k... :(
New
Posts: 218
By: Lava
- 28th December 2004 at 05:44Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
:( :(
Sad Day really Sad day
9k people died in India
12K people died in Sri Lanka
24K People have been confirmed dead....
What a tragic loss to Nations affected!
Even I dont know what to speak we are just too shocked ! :(
By: Showtime 100
- 28th December 2004 at 06:02Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Will the damage be greater if it happen on mainland of any countries? 8.9 scale earthquake happen on any city or town will result annihilation of it.I bet the death toll will hit 300,000 people.Is it consider blessing it happen on Ocean? :confused:
Jet Li on the missing name list of Asian earthquake
BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Hong Kong action star Jet Li is said to be on the missing person list after massive earthquakes and tsunamis ripped through countries bordering the Indian Ocean.
Over one thousand people from Hong Kong that were traveling in some of the countries have been reported missing.
Tsunamis triggered by an earthquake that registered at 8.9 on the Richter scale in Indonesia smashed into coastal areas of the Indian Ocean ring nations Sunday, destroying villages and flooding cities, which has so far killed more than 11 thousand people.
(CRIENGLISH.com)
Here's a later report. Jet Li and his family is alive and well in the Maldives but was injured protecting his daughter when the wave crashed into his hotel lobby.
JET li, the Hong Kong action star of recent box office smash Hero, has survived the Asian tsunami disaster with nothing more than an injured foot.
Li, who also played the villain opposite Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon 4 and starred in Romeo Must Die, Kiss of the Dragon and The One, Was on holiday in the Maldives.
The actor injured his foot as he protected his daughter from tsunami waves that flooded his hotel.
He struck his foot against a floating piece of furniture, a Hong Kong newspaper reported.
New
Posts: 2
By: ritesh
- 28th December 2004 at 10:10Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
[QUOTE=Pak Thunder]sadly its worse then that Jagan
Jagan is correct. Car Nicobar is already recieveing Il-76 flights. Saw them with own eyes this morning. The air station is safe, although control tower severly damaged. All choppers safe and accounted for. They are already flying SAR missions. The housing colony and officers mess is completely flattened.
80 killed and accounted for and 30 missing from AF station.
India has mobilised a large number of air force planes and over 20 naval vessels, including seven ships despatched with aid to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, for rescue and relief operations in the wake of Sunday's killer tsunami.
"A total of 22 ships from the navy's eastern and western fleets have been mobilised and sent out with rescue, medical and diving teams," Indian Navy spokesman Commander Vinay Garg told IANS.
Besides the three vessels sent to the Maldives and four to Sri Lanka, five ships had been stationed along the coastlines of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the states hit hardest by Sunday's tremors and tidal waves.
Another nine ships had been sent to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, where Indian officials said they expected a huge number of casualties as several islands had been flooded by the tsunami.
"The specialist teams on the ships will provide all help to the civilian authorities according to the ground situation," said Garg, noting that the ships could also be used as floating hospitals if the need arose.
"The medical teams on board are already providing medicines and other assistance."
The Coast Guard is aiding the navy and at least 10 more warships were standing by to join the relief operations if required, Garg said.
An Indian Air Force spokesman said 14 transport aircraft, including three heavy Il-76 jets, had been pressed into service for relief missions and to evacuate people from the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
Under Operation Castor, the effort to help the people in the Maldives, the Indian Navy's INS Mysore, INS Udaygiri and support vessel INS Aditya will reach Male after Tuesday morning.
"Aditya is carrying water and has a water purification plant. Medical teams, medical supplies and relief equipment are also on board," Garg said.
The effort to aid Sri Lanka -- Operation Rainbow -- commenced Monday with INS Sharda and INS Sutlej reaching Galle. The navy sent a Dornier aircraft with a medical team and 600 kg of medical supplies to Colombo Sunday.
INS Sandhayak and INS Sukanya have been sent to Trincomalee, and all vessels have helicopters, divers, medical supplies and relief equipment on board.
The Indian Navy and the IAF are also helping Sri Lanka search for missing fishermen and boats.
New
Posts: 21
By: flanker101
- 28th December 2004 at 21:07Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Sunday's tsunami waves have wrecked the Indian Air Force's plans to turn the Car Nicobar island into a major fighter base.
In view the strategic location of this island, the air force had planned to expand the small base into a major fighter hub by placing the frontline SU-30 MKI planes here.
The IAF had planned to place two SU-30 multi-role aircraft on the island from January 5. The deployment may be delayed now.
"We will have the fighters operating from the base within six months," a determined Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy
"In a year's time we will make the base fully operational. The problem is of transporting each and every construction material by ships and planes again to this place. The material include even the concrete which we have to lay on the runway," the air chief said.
The 9,000 feet runway has now been cut short by the waves to about 5,000 feet.
Despite this constraint, the IAF pilots are flying large aircraft like 'Gajraj' (IL-76) and An-32s in and out for relief and rescue operations.
New
Posts: 21
By: flanker101
- 28th December 2004 at 21:16Permalink- Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
A massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake centered off the western end of Indonesia sparked a tsunami Sunday, December 26, that devastated much of South Asia. Over 51,000 people have been killed in ten countries from Malaysia to Somalia.
Country
Casualties
Indonesia
27,000
Sri Lanka
18,700
India
4,000 - 7,000
Thailand
1,516
Somalia
110
Burma
90
Malaysia
65
Maldives
52
Seychelles
3
Bangladesh
2
Posts: 1,220
By: phrozenflame - 27th December 2004 at 21:14 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
24k dead :-(, the waves even killed ppl in Somalia, kind of hard to beleive but true.
Posts: 3,854
By: GoldenDragon - 27th December 2004 at 21:46 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
This is an unimaginable tragedy. This calamity is even reaching the Western nations because of Thailand and Sri Lanka as major tourist spots.
From just Thailand alone:
The US, at least 8 dead and several hundred missing.
Italy, at least 10 dead and over 100 missing.
Germany, at 8 dead and up to 100 missing.
This does not even include the other European countries, Australia, New Zealand and the Far East. Thailand is a major tourist area for massive numbers of people from Hong Kong, Japan and China.
The missing are many times the known dead. The total could be even grimmer over the next days. We can only hope that the missing are just in areas which lost communications but every hour that missing do not report in, the chances that they survived becomes lower.
Posts: 1,856
By: dionis - 27th December 2004 at 21:54 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Well I live in New Delhi (I'm Russian though) and I might have been in the Maldives or Phuket, Thailand right now... those were trip options my family and I had this winter, but (I guess luckily) we went to Italy instead {where i am now}
Posts: 3,854
By: GoldenDragon - 27th December 2004 at 21:58 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
A disaster like this is where the often forgotten parts of the military becomes all important. The engineers and the transport units.
Forces from outside the disaster area from Australia to US to China to Europe are airlifting supplies and personel into the region. I would imagine the short field medium transports - C-130s, Y-8s, An-12s - would be most needed for areas where air fields are damaged or restricted. The big ones such as the C-17s and Il-76s would land at main distribution points.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27633773.htm
Posts: 3,854
By: GoldenDragon - 27th December 2004 at 22:11 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
"Hundreds of planes" from the rescue effort will be arriving within 48 hours.
Posts: 331
By: shamayel - 27th December 2004 at 22:37 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Pakistan dispatches relief goods for Sri Lanka tidal wave victims
ISLAMABAD, Dec 27 : The government of Pakistan on Monday dispatched relief goods relief package for the earthquake victims of Sri Lanka, keeping in view the tragic loss of lives and property in the country, caused by earthquake and tidal waves.
Under the package, relief goods comprising tents, medicines, drinking water and food items have been sent to Sri Lanka.
Realizing the humanitarian crisis in Southeast Asia following the tidal waves and earthquake that killed at least 14000 people, the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had directed the concerned authorities to immediately send relief goods to Sri Lanka.
A plane of Pakistan Army C-130 carrying the relief goods left for Sri Lanka from Chaklala Airbase. The government of Pakistan took immediate action and dispatched relief goods in response to Colombo’s request.
http://www.pakistanlink.com/Headlines/Dec04/27/08.htm
Posts: 297
By: Pak Thunder - 28th December 2004 at 00:33 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
sadly its worse then that Jagan
http://www.newindpress.com/coastalcalamity/News.asp?Topic=-367&Title=&ID=IE920041227123728&nDate=&Sub=&Cat=
Entire IAF station pushed off the map in Car Nicobar
Tuesday December 28 2004 00:00 IST
CAR NICOBAR ISLANDS: The day after, the sea here almost mocks in its ordinariness. The sun blazing, when you look down from the AN-32 on its way to Car Nicobar from Port Blair, there are just tiny white flecks on the calm Bay of Bengal. If you don't search for land, it's as if yesterday didn't happen.
But once you land, you know why this is where an estimated 2,000 are feared dead, this is where once an Indian Air Force Base was.
The base has been pushed off the map by the sea and along with it, have perished over 100 officers and IAF personnel - of the total base strength of 1700. The entire coastline is strewn with trees that snapped like twigs. Those people who survived are so traumatised that even the slightest movement of wind or wave makes them run out into the open from the Air Force station hangars and other installations which are doubling up as shelters.
This was a plum posting, says Group Captain and Station Commander V Bandopadhyaya. ``The officers and men wanted to stay here, wilfully.'' Because the picture-postcard Air Force colony was drawn along the coastline, dotted with elegant two-storeyed bungalows. The sea was barely 200 m away, the front yard almost a private beach.
But not today.
Most of those houses have been flattened. In many spots, even debris is missing, the house swallowed up whole.
Standing, then staggering on the debris, Captain P Maheshwar counts himself lucky - he lost everything but has his wife and child.
``The night before, we had a Christmas party and when the earthquake hit early in the morning, people were scared but we all took it in the right spirit. Every family rushed out of their homes and began to assemble together. One of us even began filming the chaos on his handycam saying it will be precious visual evidence for posterity. Suddenly, I saw the water level rise and that officer (the one with the handycam) vanished.''
Captain Maheshwar stops, his eyes lock on a metal frame stuck on a tree branch about 20 feet from the ground. ``That looks like my refrigerator,'' he says, under his breath. ``The skeleton of my car is lying there,'' he points. ``Every belonging of my 12 years of married life has been wiped out.'' Except, his family, of course, which Maheshwar says he can't explain other than saying it must be a miracle.
Not for six officers and their families, including several squadron leaders, the Met officer and the doctor of the Air Force station - all among the 102 that have been killed.
The waves hammered the coast for over two hours and once the water receded, the bodies of 23 IAF personnel were found strewn on the tarmac. Two more were retrieved from the debris, another 77 believed to have been sucked into the sea by the retreating waves.
The tarmac was the safe haven here. Being the highest point in the station. It stuck out, eyewitnesses said, amid the waves like the ``back of a giant tortoise in the sea.'' Most of those who could clamber onto it were saved.
The Mi-8 choppers were safe but the top floor of the three-storeyed Air Traffic Control was sliced off from the main structure, so neatly that it looks as if a giant crane ripped off the top floor and neatly placed it at a distance.
The neighbouring village of Malacca has been wiped out, most of the other half a dozen villages here are still inaccessible. This was why the toll could rise alarmingly, Lt Governor Ram Kapse told visiting Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Sonia Gandhi when they arrived here on Monday afternoon.
Commander in Chief B S Thakur said that several sorties were carried out right through the day with over 430 people being evacuated from Car Nicobar. About 70 of them were brought to the Naval Hospital in Port Blair.
The importance of Car Nicobar base, which is the operational heart of the Andamans and Nicobar Command, lies in its location. It sits on the mouth of strategic Malacca Straits, which accounts for 52 per cent of world cargo and is the second-most busy shipping lane in the world. More than 114 supertankers carrying 9.5 billion oil barrels for South Asian markets traverse through this 10 degree channel route that bisects the Andamans Islands and the Great Nicobar Island.
Besides handling the reconnaissance and surveillance activities, the Car Nicobar base has a major role in tracking down gun-runners and narco-traffickers that push in arms and drugs to India's north-east through the Cox's bazaar and Chittagong route in Bangladesh.
The runway of Car Nicobar base was extended to handle fighter operations in 2001 after the government cleared the Andamans and Nicobar Tri-Service Command. Since then, the IAF was conducting fighter exercises involving Jaguars and Su-30s twice a year so that it would be ready in case India wanted to project force in the Indian Ocean.
Apart from the Car Nicobar base, the Indian Navy has 12 amphibious landing ships and fast attack crafts at the Port Blair harbour. Top Navy officials said that none of the ships were damaged in the tsunami as they were pushed to mid-stream the moment the first wave came and hit Port Blair. The state-of-the-art Thomson CSF radar that monitors traffic north of Landfall Islands is safe but the building housing the equipment has developed cracks.
Posts: 165
By: Saleem Y Hatoum - 28th December 2004 at 01:21 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
This is very serious and dangerous. IAEA should sent inspectors to verify the safety of the plant.
Tsunami may have damaged Indian nuclear plant
NEW DELHI: Huge waves that battered the Indian coastline after an earthquake in Indonesia may have damaged a nuclear power plant in southern Tamil Nadu state, the government said on Monday. The Press Trust of India news agency said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had called a meeting on Tuesday to review any damage to the plant. Authorities on Sunday shut down the Indira Gandhi Atomic Energy Centre in Kalpakkam, 80 kilometres south of Tamil Nadu capital Madras as a precaution. Water seeped into the facility, which is located on the coast, after the tsunami hit following Sunday’s earthquake. “Information reaching here suggests that facilities at Kalpakkam nuclear station may have been affected by the tidal waves,” said a spokesman from the prime minister’s office. The private NDTV news channel said 1,500 families in the Kalpakkam township of Tamil Nadu had been evacuated by government relief agencies. (AFP)
Posts: 211
By: pirate - 28th December 2004 at 02:05 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Navy providing some help to countries hit by tidal wave -- may provide more
The U.S. Navy base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean has emerged unscathed from the tsunami. Three P-3 Orion aircraft have been deployed to Thailand to help in search efforts.
Posts: 339
By: wd1 - 28th December 2004 at 04:49 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
i'm in singapore, and somewhat amazingly the country is unscathed despite being so close to the epicentre. sumatra and malaysia shielded us. nonetheless we are all a bit shellshocked at the scale and closeness of the calamity. a friend's friend who was in phuket when the tsunami struck remains out of contact. we're sending cash and a medical team... our thoughts go to the victims and their families.
we can expect the death toll to rise over the following days as rescuers reach cut-off areas. expect 30+k... :(
Posts: 218
By: Lava - 28th December 2004 at 05:44 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
:( :(
Sad Day really Sad day
9k people died in India
12K people died in Sri Lanka
24K People have been confirmed dead....
What a tragic loss to Nations affected!
Even I dont know what to speak we are just too shocked ! :(
Posts: 919
By: Showtime 100 - 28th December 2004 at 06:02 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Will the damage be greater if it happen on mainland of any countries? 8.9 scale earthquake happen on any city or town will result annihilation of it.I bet the death toll will hit 300,000 people.Is it consider blessing it happen on Ocean? :confused:
Posts: 3,854
By: GoldenDragon - 28th December 2004 at 07:06 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
www.chinaview.cn 2004-12-28 09:41:22
Here's a later report. Jet Li and his family is alive and well in the Maldives but was injured protecting his daughter when the wave crashed into his hotel lobby.
http://entertainment.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4459,11797749%255E10431%255E%255Enbv,00.html
Posts: 2
By: ritesh - 28th December 2004 at 10:10 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
[QUOTE=Pak Thunder]sadly its worse then that Jagan
http://www.newindpress.com/coastalcalamity/News.asp?Topic=-367&Title=&ID=IE920041227123728&nDate=&Sub=&Cat=
Jagan is correct. Car Nicobar is already recieveing Il-76 flights. Saw them with own eyes this morning. The air station is safe, although control tower severly damaged. All choppers safe and accounted for. They are already flying SAR missions. The housing colony and officers mess is completely flattened.
80 killed and accounted for and 30 missing from AF station.
Posts: 2,991
By: Canpark - 28th December 2004 at 10:38 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I heard the death toll has reached 27,000... so sad....
Posts: 4,441
By: matt - 28th December 2004 at 11:00 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Any news on COCO island?
Posts: 2,991
By: Canpark - 28th December 2004 at 11:09 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Oh...I've just heard that Somalia and Kenya felt it as well, and some Somali fisherman is missing.
Posts: 21
By: flanker101 - 28th December 2004 at 21:05 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
http://www.expressnewsline.com/fullstory0105-insight-India+sends+naval+vessels+to+Sri+Lanka-status-33-newsID-8843.html
India has mobilised a large number of air force planes and over 20 naval vessels, including seven ships despatched with aid to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, for rescue and relief operations in the wake of Sunday's killer tsunami.
"A total of 22 ships from the navy's eastern and western fleets have been mobilised and sent out with rescue, medical and diving teams," Indian Navy spokesman Commander Vinay Garg told IANS.
Besides the three vessels sent to the Maldives and four to Sri Lanka, five ships had been stationed along the coastlines of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the states hit hardest by Sunday's tremors and tidal waves.
Another nine ships had been sent to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, where Indian officials said they expected a huge number of casualties as several islands had been flooded by the tsunami.
"The specialist teams on the ships will provide all help to the civilian authorities according to the ground situation," said Garg, noting that the ships could also be used as floating hospitals if the need arose.
"The medical teams on board are already providing medicines and other assistance."
The Coast Guard is aiding the navy and at least 10 more warships were standing by to join the relief operations if required, Garg said.
An Indian Air Force spokesman said 14 transport aircraft, including three heavy Il-76 jets, had been pressed into service for relief missions and to evacuate people from the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
Under Operation Castor, the effort to help the people in the Maldives, the Indian Navy's INS Mysore, INS Udaygiri and support vessel INS Aditya will reach Male after Tuesday morning.
"Aditya is carrying water and has a water purification plant. Medical teams, medical supplies and relief equipment are also on board," Garg said.
The effort to aid Sri Lanka -- Operation Rainbow -- commenced Monday with INS Sharda and INS Sutlej reaching Galle. The navy sent a Dornier aircraft with a medical team and 600 kg of medical supplies to Colombo Sunday.
INS Sandhayak and INS Sukanya have been sent to Trincomalee, and all vessels have helicopters, divers, medical supplies and relief equipment on board.
The Indian Navy and the IAF are also helping Sri Lanka search for missing fishermen and boats.
Posts: 21
By: flanker101 - 28th December 2004 at 21:07 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Tsunami wrecks frontline IAF base
http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/dec/28iaf.htm
Sunday's tsunami waves have wrecked the Indian Air Force's plans to turn the Car Nicobar island into a major fighter base.
In view the strategic location of this island, the air force had planned to expand the small base into a major fighter hub by placing the frontline SU-30 MKI planes here.
The IAF had planned to place two SU-30 multi-role aircraft on the island from January 5. The deployment may be delayed now.
"We will have the fighters operating from the base within six months," a determined Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy
"In a year's time we will make the base fully operational. The problem is of transporting each and every construction material by ships and planes again to this place. The material include even the concrete which we have to lay on the runway," the air chief said.
The 9,000 feet runway has now been cut short by the waves to about 5,000 feet.
Despite this constraint, the IAF pilots are flying large aircraft like 'Gajraj' (IL-76) and An-32s in and out for relief and rescue operations.
Posts: 21
By: flanker101 - 28th December 2004 at 21:16 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/daily/graphics/tsunami_122804.html
A massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake centered off the western end of Indonesia sparked a tsunami Sunday, December 26, that devastated much of South Asia. Over 51,000 people have been killed in ten countries from Malaysia to Somalia.
Country
Casualties
Indonesia
27,000
Sri Lanka
18,700
India
4,000 - 7,000
Thailand
1,516
Somalia
110
Burma
90
Malaysia
65
Maldives
52
Seychelles
3
Bangladesh
2