Effect Of The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake On Sri Lanka
As of 16:35 GST 3 January 2005, Sri Lankan authorities report 30,196 confirmed deaths after the island was hit by the tsunami resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on December 26, 2004. Many of the dead were adults and the elderly. The south and east coasts were worst hit. One and a half million people have been displaced from their homes. The death toll continues to rise as the threat of infectious diseases breaking out has turned into a fact, with doctors confirming first cases of cholera.
About 1,200 dead were counted at Batticaloa in the east. At Trincomalee in the northeast, where the tsunami reached more than 2 km (1.25 mi) inland, 800 were reported dead. In neighbouring Amparai district alone, more than 5,000 dead. The naval base at Trincomalee is reported to be submerged. About 1000 more dead were counted in Mullaitivu and Vadamaradchi East . A holiday train, the "Queen of the Sea", was struck by the tsunami near the village of Telwatta as it travelled between Colombo and Galle carrying at least 1,700 passengers, killing all but a handful on board.
The agricultural sector has been affected seriously. 259 km² of paddy land has been destroyed in the northern, eastern, southern and western coastal belt. In addition, the extensive salinization of paddy lands has rendered them unsuitable for paddy cultivation. Rubbish has also been deposited on paddy lands. A large number of agricultural vehicles and equipment have been destroyed and canals and drains have been blocked. Underground sources of water have also been salinated.
Across the island collections are being taken for those who have lost everything, vans with PA systems driving around calling on people to give whatever they can. Even in the poorest, most remote areas people flock to the roadside to hand over money, clothes, bottles of water and bags of rice and lentils.
Apart from homes, many hotels as well as shops were reported to have been damaged. Hotels along the south coast were full of both foreign tourists and Sri Lankans making use of the long Christmas weekend. Twenty thousand soldiers were deployed in government-controlled areas to assist in relief operations and maintain law and order after sporadic looting. Curfews had been imposed in some areas to curb looting. Chinese light antipersonnel mines of type T-72A, left after the two-decade civil war, are feared to have been washed up and spread by the surge of water. The Norwegian Peoples' Aid Organization is currently assembling a team of mine sweepers to assess the situation.
It has been noted that in the Yala National Park, many animals seem to have moved to higher regions in order to escape the disaster. It is unclear how they detected the coming disaster, although a sixth sense, perhaps the ability to hear the infrasound rumble of the tremors or approaching tsunami, was mentioned in reports. Another possible reason is that many animals can run faster than people, enabling them to outrun the tsunami.
The test match ground at Galle, where international cricket is played, has been devastated.
Read more about Effect Of The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake On Sri Lanka: Aftermath
Famous quotes containing the words effect of the, effect of, effect, indian, ocean and/or earthquake:
“The cities of the world are concentric, isomorphic, synchronic. Only one exists and you are always in the same one. It’s the effect of their permanent revolution, their intense circulation, their instantaneous magnetism.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“Reckoned physiologically, everything ugly weakens and afflicts man. It recalls decay, danger, impotence; he actually suffers a loss of energy in its presence. The effect of the ugly can be measured with a dynamometer. Whenever man feels in any way depressed, he senses the proximity of something “ugly.” His feeling of power, his will to power, his courage, his pride—they decline with the ugly, they increase with the beautiful.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The effect of having other interests beyond those domestic works well. The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one’s appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.”
—Amelia Earhart (1897–1937)
“The Indian said a particularly long prayer this Sunday evening, as if to atone for working in the morning.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It would be better for men
To be few and live far apart, where none could infect another; then
slowly the sanity of field and mountain
And the cold ocean and glittering stars might enter their minds.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)
“It is crystal clear to me that if Arabs put down a draft resolution blaming Israel for the recent earthquake in Iran it would probably have a majority, the U.S. would veto it and Britain and France would abstain.”
—Amos Oz (b. 1939)