Environments and People - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 29

Earthquake epicenters
Active volcanoes

TANGSHAN QUAKE
1976: 250,000 deaths

MT . ST . HELENS
1980: 70 deaths

KOBE QUAKE
1995: 5,500 deaths

MT . UNZEN
1991: 12,000 evacuees

MT . PINATUBO
1991: 800 deaths

EL CHICHON
1985: 2,000 deaths

NEV ADO DEL RUIZ
1985: 25,000 deaths

GALUNGGUNG
1984

MT . MERAPI
1994: 37 deaths,
6,000 evacuees
2010 Oct.
event
2004 Dec.
Tsunamis

Figure 2-4
The Pacific Ring of Fire. Do you live in one of these major fault zones? How would you prepare
for a seismic event?

Tsunamis ,or seismic sea waves, can be even
more damaging than the seismic event. The speed
of a tsunami is proportional to the depth of the water;
the deeper the water, the faster the wave. As the
water approaches a shallow area, the fast-moving
wave is slowed, causing the water to pile up on it-
self. Tsunamis have caused the deaths of hundreds
of thousands of coastal and island people. For ex-
ample, in 1976, a tsunami drowned 8,000 people
in the Philippines' Moro Bay .
On the morning of December 26, 2004, a mas-
sive 9.0 earthquake struck off the western coast of
Sumatra, Indonesia, setting off ocean shock waves
that were felt more than 3,000 miles away on the
coast of East Africa. The earthquake occurred when
stress built up between the Burma and Indian
plates, causing several hundred miles of the Burma

plate to snap. This forced a massive displacement
of water in the Indian Ocean. The resulting waves
spread in all directions, moving as fast as 500 miles
per hour. In the deep ocean, the waves may be im-
perceptible, but they slow down and gain height
as they hit shallower water near shore. The worst-
hit places were Aceh province on the island of
Sumatra, where more than 80,000 were killed, and
Sri Lanka, where more than 29,000 died. Thailand
lost at least 5,000 people. In addition, thousands
of people disappeared, their bodies swept out to sea.
The tsunami also devastated infrastructures and
ruined regional economies (Figure 2-5).
Although the outpouring of international aid was
unprecedented for this disaster, the most affected
areassuch as Aceh province are not expected to
recoverfor over a decade.And even as the recovery