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Although the impact of tsunamis is limited to coastal areas, their destructive power can be enormous, and they can affect entire ocean basins. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was among the deadliest natural disasters in human history, with at least 230,000 people killed or missing in 14 countries bordering the Indian Ocean.
The tsunami washed away a further 15,000 houses and a total of 3,000 people died from either the earthquake or the tsunami. [6] The death toll associated with the tsunami was less than would be expected in comparison to the 1707 tsunami , because many people had left the coastal area following the large earthquake the previous day. [ 7 ]
Official reports from the government of Myanmar (Burma) cite a death toll of 90 due to the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on 26 December 2004. [1] However, some estimates put the toll at between 400 and 600.
Both surface deformation and faulting and shaking-related geological effects (e.g., soil liquefaction, landslides) not only leave permanent imprints in the environment, but also dramatically affect human structures. Moreover, underwater fault ruptures and seismically triggered landslides can generate tsunami waves.
[11] [12] The tsunami was disproportionately large for its surface wave magnitude, or M s, [6] and the duration of the rupture process was 100 s, unusually long for its size. [11] The moment magnitude was 7.6, larger than the 20-second M s of 7; this M s –M w difference is a characteristic of tsunami earthquakes. [6]
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was a teletsunami.. A teletsunami (also called an ocean-wide tsunami, distant tsunami, distant-source tsunami, far-field tsunami, or trans-ocean tsunami) is a tsunami that originates from a distant source, defined as more than 1,000 km (620 mi) away or three hours' travel from the area of interest, [1] [2] sometimes travelling across an ocean.
A further serious impact of the tsunami was the critical damage done to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in severe releases of radioactivity and the prospect of a long-term health and environmental hazard in need of an expensive clean-up.
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, by far the worst disaster in the number of lives lost during peacetime for Finland, killed 179 Finns in Thailand and Sri Lanka, and caused widespread public debate and investigations into the actions of Finnish officials who were claimed to have failed to help their citizens in the affected areas.