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What happened?
Source:
www.wikipedia.org
 The
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, known by the scientific
community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, was an undersea
earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53
UTC (07:58:53 local time)
December 26,
2004,
with an
epicentre off the west coast of
Sumatra,
Indonesia.
The earthquake triggered a series
of devastating
tsunamis that spread throughout the
Indian Ocean, killing large numbers of people and inundating
coastal communities across
South and
Southeast Asia, including parts of
Indonesia,
Sri Lanka,
India,
and
Thailand. Although initial estimates have put the worldwide
death toll at over 275,000 with thousands of others missing, recent
analysis compiled lists a total of 229,866 persons lost, including
186,983 dead and 42,883 missing.[1]
The figure excludes 400 to 600
people who are believed to have perished in
Myanmar which is more than that government's official figure of
only 61 dead.[2]
This catastrophe is one of the
deadliest disasters in
modern history. The disaster is known in
Asia
and in the international media as the Asian Tsunami, and also
called the Boxing Day Tsunami in
Australia,
Canada,
New Zealand, and the
United Kingdom as it took place on
Boxing Day.
The
magnitude of the earthquake was originally recorded as 9.0 on
the
Richter scale, but has been upgraded to between 9.1 and 9.3. At
this magnitude, it is the
second largest earthquake ever recorded on a
seismograph. This earthquake was also reported to be the longest
duration of faulting ever observed, lasting between 500 and 600
seconds, and it was large enough that it caused the entire planet to
vibrate at least half an inch, or over a centimetre.[3]
It also triggered earthquakes in other locations as far away as
Alaska.[4]
The earthquake originated in the
Indian Ocean just north of
Simeulue island, off the western coast of northern Sumatra. The
resulting tsunami devastated the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka,
India, Thailand and other countries with waves up to 30 m (100 ft).
It caused serious damage and deaths as far as the east coast of
Africa,
with the furthest recorded death due to the tsunami occurring at
Port Elizabeth in
South Africa, 8,000 km (5,000 mi) away from the epicentre.
The plight of the many
affected people and countries prompted a widespread
humanitarian response. In all, the worldwide community donated
more than US$7 billion in humanitarian aid to those affected by the
earthquake.
Fundraising through this website
Last year we
had our first fundraising. The charity was UNICEF, more
specifically UNICEF's Tsunami Relief Fund. We can proudly say we
raised $1200 ca all together. Therefore we would like to thank
everyone who put in their two cents! It wouldn't have been
possible without you!
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