Ecological Impact of Sumatra Tsunami on the Great Nicobar Islands
Abstract
On December 26, 2004, at 07:58:50 local time, a fatal earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean. The Sumatra Tsunami was among the three greatest earthquakes ever recorded in the world history. The paper will explore the impacts of this earthquake on the ecosystem as well as the marine life. Also, this term paper will determine how the ecosystem of the affected areas has been resilient to the damages caused by the event and the aspects in which the environment made it vulnerable to the earthquake. Further, the paper will determine the causes of the Tsunami by a close analysis of the events that triggered its occurrence as well as the cascading events. Finally, the paper will discuss the preventive measures that could get implemented in an attempt to control the damage. The paper will also explain in detail the preventive measures applicable to mitigating the damages of earthquakes in future. The study and importance of the ecosystem will mark the main standpoint of the study in an attempt to design resilience on the ecosystem.
Introduction
On December 26, 2004, an earthquake with a 9.3 megathrust magnitude occured along the oceanic subduction region located 100 kilometers west of Sumatra and the Nicobar Islands (Titov et al., 2005). The earthquake created destructive waves worth 20 meters in horizontal displacement and 10 meters in vertical displacement (Kain et al., 2014). These strong destructive waves extended their damages to other countries along the coastline of the Indian Ocean and East Africa to Thailand (Lay et al., 2005). On the Great Nicobar Islands, more than 80,000 houses sustained major damages and eventually collapsed. The Sumatra Tsunami damaged properties worth billions of dollars and was fatal (Titov et al., 2005). After the 2004 Sumatra Tsunami, rebuilding lives and salvaging communities was the reconstruction effort employed by the government and other humanitarian agencies in response to the disasters damages. In attempts to recover the impacts of Sumatra Tsunami, the government facilitated immediate relief by releasing grants to the affected areas (Titov et al., 2005). Facilitation of regional logistics coordination and relief camps was also engineered to reconstruct the damages of the earthquake. The main aim of this term paper is determining the ecological impacts of Sumatra Tsunami on the Great Nicobar Islands.
Causes
What were the triggering events?
The Sumatra tsunami is the third world’s largest earthquake that was caused by an oceanic subduction which extended its effects to 1300 kilometer length along the oceanic zone. The pressure in the fault of South California was getting extremely large to the extent of causing South California to get kicked out into the Indian Ocean, the nuke was implanted at the fault near Sumatra. The extreme triggering on the nukes made the pressure at South California get back to normal. The end result was the Sumatra Tsunami. The waves of tsunami spread along the Indian Ocean, destructing the coastal communities of 12 nations (Kanamori, 2006).
Cascading events: How did one hazard lead to another?
The occurrence of Sumatra Tsunami is associated with more fatalities that the earthquake alone. The Sumatra Tsunami was hazardous and caused damages to property and the ecosystem. The epicenter of this Sumatra Tsunami was caused by oceanic subduction; destructive waves followed and damaged countries along the coastline of Indian Ocean claiming a lot of properties and people lives (Lay et al., 2005). The prolonged timespan of the earthquake caused serious damages to properties such as buildings, roads, and other properties. Residential areas in the coastal region were adversely devastated and their houses were swept away by the waves to the sea. Other well-constructed industrial facilities were also damaged by the Sumatra Tsunami. Further, the low lying topography of Banda Aceh was swept in an out by the successive strong waves of the Tsunami (Lay et al., 2005). At the end of the earthquakes, more lives were claimed and a lot of property was reported damaged, this marked the Sumatra Tsunami as the world’s third largest and deadly earthquake to occur in its history.