Asian tsunami 2004 (boxing day tsunami) - Thailand

• Background infomation

  • 26th December 2004
  • Tourism reliance - reason death toll was so high
  • No one knew if. Tsunami had been created or how fast it was - no warning system in palace

  Causes

  • 8.9 magnitude earthquake
• why was the tsunami devistating?

  • 12 countreys affected
  • changed earths orbit - days 2.68 microseconds shorter
• social impacts

  • 228,000 deaths
  • surprised most people as there was no warning system
  • many people went to the exposed beach - many people drowned
  • diseases such as cholera, dysenery and hepatitis spread quickly - fear of epidemic
• Economic impacts

  • Many community’s effected were dependent on fishing industary - loss of emplyees, equpment and ships
  • infrastructure such as fresh water supplied damaged - difficult for farmers to irrigate - saltwater made land infertile.
• Enviromental impacts

  • mangroves, coral reefs and forests destroyed by wave surge
  • ecosystems polluted by human and chemical waste in the floodwater