The undersea megathrust seismic tremor was brought on when the Indian Plate was subducted by the Burma Plate and set off a progression of obliterating tidal waves along the shores of most landmasses flanking the Indian Ocean, executing 230,000 individuals in 14 nations, and immersing beach front groups with waves up to 30 meters (100 ft) high. It was one of the deadliest common calamities in written history. Indonesia was the hardest-hit nation, trailed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.
With a greatness of Mw 9.1–9.3, it is the third-biggest quake ever recorded on a seismograph. The seismic tremor had the longest span of blaming ever seen, somewhere around 8.3 and 10 minutes. It brought about the whole planet to vibrate as much as 1 centimeter (0.4 crawls) and activated different seismic tremors as far away as Alaska. Its epicenter was in the middle of Simeulue and terrain Indonesia. The situation of the influenced individuals and nations incited an overall compassionate reaction. Taking all things together, the overall group gave more than US$14 billion (2004) in philanthropic guide.
The hypocentre of the primary tremor was around 160 km (100 mi) off the western bank of northern Sumatra, in the Indian Ocean only north of Simeulue island at a profundity of 30 km (19 mi) underneath mean ocean level. The northern segment of the Sunda megathrust burst over a length of 1,300 km (810 mi). The quake (trailed by the wave) was felt all the while in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore and the Maldives. Spread issues, or auxiliary "pop up flaws", created long, contract parts of the ocean depths to appear in seconds. This immediately lifted the tallness and expanded the velocity of waves, bringing on the complete decimation of the adjacent Indonesian town of Lhoknga.Indonesia lies between the Pacific Ring of Fire along the north-eastern islands adjoining New Guinea, and the Alpide belt that keeps running along the south and west from Sumatra, Java, Bali, Flores to Timor.Great tremors, for example, the Sumatra-Andaman occasion, which are constantly connected with megathrust occasions in subduction zones, have seismic minutes that can represent a huge part of the worldwide quake minute crosswise over century-scale time periods. Of all the seismic minute discharged by tremors in the 100 years from 1906 through 2005, approximately one-eighth was because of the Sumatra-Andaman occasion.
The megathrust quake was strangely vast in land and topographical degree. An expected 1,600 kilometers (1,000 mi) of flaw surface slipped (or burst) around 15 meters (50 ft) along the subduction zone where the Indian Plate slides (or subducts) under the overriding Burma Plate. The slip did not happen quickly but rather occurred in two stages over a time of a few minutes:Seismographic and acoustic information show that the first stage included a break around 400 kilometers (250 mi) long and 100 kilometers (60 mi) wide, found 30 kilometers (19 mi) underneath the ocean bed—the biggest crack ever known not been brought on by a seismic tremor. The crack continued at a rate of around 2.8 kilometers for every second (1.7 miles for each second), starting off the shore of Aceh and continuing north-westerly over a time of around 100 seconds.A delay of about an additional 100 seconds occurred before the break proceeded with northwards towards the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In any case, the northern burst happened more gradually than in the south, at around 2.1 km/s (1.3 mi/s), proceeding with north for an additional five minutes to a plate limit where the flaw sort changes from subduction to strike-slip (the two plates slide past each other in inverse headings).
The Indian Plate is a piece of the considerable Indo-Australian Plate, which underlies the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, and is floating north-east at a normal of 6 centimeters for each year (2.4 inches every year). The India Plate meets the Burma Plate (which is viewed as a part of the considerable Eurasian Plate) at the Sunda Trench. As of right now the India Plate subducts underneath the Burma Plate, which conveys the Nicobar Islands, the Andaman Islands, and northern Sumatra. The India Plate sinks more profound and more profound underneath the Burma Plate until the expanding temperature and weight drive volatiles out of the subducting plate. These volatiles ascend into the overlying plate bringing about halfway softening and the arrangement of magma. The rising magma barges in into the covering above and exits the Earth's outside layer through volcanoes as a volcanic circular segment. The volcanic action that outcomes as the Indo-Australian Plate subducts the Eurasian Plate has made the Sunda Arc.The vitality discharged on the Earth's surface just by the 2004 Indian Ocean quake and tidal wave was evaluated at 1.1×1017 joules, or 26 megatons of TNT. This vitality is identical to more than 1500 times that of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb.
The torrent first struck the west and north shores of northern Sumatra, Indonesia especially in Aceh area. The biggest slip of 30 m was evaluated on the subfault situated off the west shoreline of Aceh territory. The watched subsidences were 0.2-0.6 m at Banda Aceh, >0.2 m at Peukan Bada, >1.5 m at Lhoknga and Leupung.A two story house harmed by the wave demonstrating the tidal wave immersion tallness in downtown Banda Aceh.
As per onlookers at Ulee Lheue in Banda Aceh, the first torrent came to shore 15–20 minutes after the tremor, the time interim between the first and second waves was 15–20 minutes, and the second was greater than the first. The observer report that the second was greater than the first is the same as that in Khao Lak and Phuket Island in southern Thailand. The greatest stature of the tidal wave was measured at Leupung, situated on the west bank of the northern tip of Sumatra, close Banda Aceh, and came to more than 30 m. Generally talking, wave statures on different coasts were 15–30 m on the west drift, 6–12 m on the Banda Aceh coast, around 6 m on the Krueng Raya coast – where 3 oil tanks glided out – and around 5 m on the Sigli coast. The torrent statures in Weh Island were 3–6 m on the north drift specifically confronting the wave source and around 3 m on the inverse side of the coast.The tidal wave tallness on the Banda Aceh coast is lower than half of that on the west drift. Indeed, even inside of the Banda Aceh coast, the torrent stature lessened significantly from 12 m at Ulee Lheue to 6 m a further 8 km toward the upper east. A reason is by all accounts that there is an archipelago in the middle of Lhoknga and Banda Aceh.The torrent progressed around 4 km inland at Banda Aceh. Inside 2–3 km from the shoreline, houses, aside from firmly assembled strengthened solid ones with block dividers, which appeared to have been halfway harmed by the tremor before the torrent assault, were totally cleared away or crushed by the tidal wave.
The wave influenced for the most part the southwestern shores of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is found 1,700 km a long way from the epicenter and the wave source, so nobody felt the ground shake and the torrent hit the whole coastline of Sri Lanka around 2 hours after the quake.
The wave brought about the 2004 Sri Lanka wave rail debacle which took no less than 1,700 lives, making it the biggest single rail calamity in world history by loss of life. Gauges taking into account the condition of the shoreline and a high-water mark on an adjacent building put the torrent 7.5 to 9 meters above ocean level and 2 to 3 meters higher than the highest point of the train.
As per the U.S. Land Survey an aggregate of 227,898 individuals kicked the bucket. Measured in lives lost, this is one of the ten most noticeably bad seismic tremors in written history, and in addition the single most exceedingly bad torrent ever. Indonesia was the most exceedingly bad influenced territory, with most loss of life assessments at around 170,000. Be that as it may, another report by Siti Fadilah Supari, the Indonesian Minister of Health at the time, assessed the demise aggregate to be as high as 220,000 in Indonesia alone, giving a sum of 280,000 fatalities.
The tidal wave brought about genuine harm and passings to the extent the east shoreline of Africa, with the most remote recorded demise because of the tidal wave happening at Rooi Els in South Africa, 8,000 km (5,000 mi) far from the epicenter. Altogether, eight individuals in South Africa kicked the bucket because of strangely high ocean levels and waves.
The seismic tremor and coming about wave influenced numerous nations in Southeast Asia and past, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, the Maldives, Somalia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Seychelles and others. Numerous different nations, particularly Australia and those in Europe, had expansive quantities of nationals going in the district on vacation. Sweden lost 543 residents in the debacle, while Germany had 539 identified victims.
