|
|
(CNN) -- Massive tsunamis triggered by the largest earthquake to shake the planet in more than 40 years wiped out coastal areas across Asia as far as 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) away, killing more than 11,000 people.
More than 4,500 people are reported dead in Sri Lanka, along with thousands more fatalities in Indonesia and India and hundreds dead in Thailand.
The initial quake, measuring 9 in magnitude, struck about 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island around 7 a.m. Sunday (0000 GMT), according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center.
It is the fourth largest earthquake in recorded history, according to the NEIC. The measurements have been taken since 1899.
News agencies in Indonesia reported over 4,000 dead, many of them in Aceh, in northern Sumatra, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the quake's epicenter.
CNN has been able to confirm only 500 people killed there but that figure is set to soar as communications and access improve to the ravaged region.
\"We still haven't got any reports from the western coast of Aceh, which is closest to the epicenter, so officials are bracing themselves for a lot more bad news,\" said journalist John Aglionby in Jakarta.
Sri Lankan military authorities are reporting more than 4,500 people killed, most of them in the eastern district of Batticaloa. Several districts in the country's south have still not reported casualty figures, and authorities fear the death toll could rise.
Officials said thousands were missing and more than a half million had been displaced.
The huge waves also swept away a high security prison in Matara, in southern Sri Lanka, allowing 200 prisoners to escape. Eyewitnesses in the eastern Sri Lankan port city Trincomalee reported waves as high as 12 meters (40 feet), hitting inland as far as a kilometer (half a mile).
The Sri Lankan government declared a state of emergency, and along with the government of The Maldives has requested international assistance, the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.
Sri Lankan officials imposed a curfew as night fell, and tourists were being evacuated from the eastern coasts to the capital, Colombo, which is on the west coast and was unaffected.
India agreed to assist Sri Lanka, sending two naval ships to the resort town of Galle, in the south, and Trincomalee, according to Colombo officials.
Indian aircraft will bring in relief supplies to the country on Monday.
India reeling
India itself is reeling from the aftermath of the quake and tsunamis. Indian officials said at least 2,300 Indians were killed as a result of the massive waves. A resident of Chennai (formerly Madras) in Tamil Nadu district -- the hardest hit area -- said he witnessed several people being swept away by a tidal wave.
Along India's southeastern coast, several villages appeared to have been swept away, and thousands of fishermen -- including 2,000 from the Chennai area alone -- who were out at sea when when the massive waves swept across the waters have not returned.
Along the coast, the brick foundations of village homes were all that remained.
Official state media said 1,725 people were killed in Tamil Nadu state. At least 300 people died in India's remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, which were closer to the quake's epicenter. Most of the aftershocks have been centered off those islands.
A further 700 were missing.
Three hundred others were reported to have been killed in other states, with thousands missing, many of them fishermen at sea when the waves hit.
Paradise destroyed
Thai authorities say more than 200 are feared dead, and hundreds are missing after the massive waves swept through coastal areas, including Krabi and the popular resort islands of Phuket and Phi Phi.
One witness said Phuket's famed Laguna Beach resort area is \"completely gone.\" The area provides 40 percent of Thailand's $10 billion annual tourist income.
Among the missing were a number of scuba divers exploring the Emerald Cave off Phuket's coast.
Officials say the final toll in Thailand may be closer to 1,000.
Phuket's airport -- which closed down when its runways flooded -- reopened, but most roads remained closed, as officials tried to assess the damage, fearing structural damage to buildings closer to the shore.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived in Phuket and said the situation was \"under control.\" He told CNN he planned to stay the night and direct rescue and relief efforts.
Eyewitnesses reported people drowning in their hotel rooms near the coast as 30-foot waves washed ashore. Others reported narrow escapes -- including one man whose alert but screaming boat driver turned their boat directly into a nearby shore. As he and his passengers scrambled up the steep beach, the waves crushed their boat.
There were also fatalities reported in The Maldvies. However, an accurate death toll has not been assessed because communications to the outlying islands have been cut off.
The earthquake is classified as \"great\" -- the strongest classification given by the NEIC.
NEIC geophysicist Don Blakeman said all of the tsunamis were triggered by the initial quake. Waverly Person, Blakeman's colleague at NEIC, said the tsunamis are \"long over at this point,\" and residents and visitors should not be concerned with more high water.
One major aftershock, measuring 7.3 in magnitude, struck about 300 kilometers (200 miles) northwest of Banda Aceh -- on Sumatra's northernmost tip -- over four hours after the initial quake, according to the NEIC. The rest of the aftershocks measured under 6.5 in magnitude.
The NEIC expects the quake to produce hundreds of smaller aftershocks, under 4.6 magnitude, and thousands smaller than that.
\"A quake of this size has some pretty serious effects,\" he said.
He explained the quake was the energy released from \"a very large rupture in the earth's crust\" over 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) long. The rupture created shockwaves that moved the water along at several hundred miles per hour.
It was the strongest earthquake to hit since March 1964, when a 9.2 quake struck near Alaska's Prince William Sound. The strongest recorded earthquake registered 9.5 on May 22, 1960, in Chile.
CNN Correspondents Aneesh Raman in Phuket, Satinder Bindra in Colombo and Suhasini Haidar in Chennai contributed to this report.
中文大意：
印度尼西亚苏门答腊岛附近海域当地时间26日上午8时发生里氏8.5级的强烈地震。由此地震引发的大海啸最高时高达10米，波及斯里兰卡、泰国、马来西亚，印度等东南亚国家沿海地区，造成巨大的经济损失，超过11000人死亡，大片地方被海水淹没。
斯里兰卡是受灾最为严重的国家，受害人数已超过4500人，多人失踪，另有数千人不得不离家避难。其它国家如泰国，情况也非常严重，2300人死亡，700人失踪，死亡人数预计还会继续增加。目前，各受灾国家已经采取紧急措施，世界各国也加以援手，抢救灾民。 |
|
发表于 2006-11-4 09:12:39