NOAA EARTHQUAKE REPORT

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Significant Earthquake

Date

Earthquake Location

Earthquake Parameters

Focal Depth

Magnitude

MMI Int

Year

Mo

Dy

Hr

Mn

Sec

Name

Latitude

Longitude

Mw

Ms

Mb

Ml

Mfa

Unk

2004

12

26

0

58

53.4

INDONESIA: SUMATRA: OFF WEST COAST

3.316

95.854

30

9.1

8.8

7.0

Earthquake Effects Total Effects (Earthquake and Tsunami, Volcano, etc.) Deaths Missing Injuries Damage Houses Destroyed Houses Damaged Deaths Missing Injuries Damage Houses Destroyed Houses Damaged Num De Num De Num De $Mill De Num De Num De Num De Num De Num De $Mill De Num De Num De 1001 4 3 10000.000 4 3 3 227899 4 3 10000.000 4 3

Comments for the Significant Earthquake

Display listing of nearby significant earthquakes This is the third largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and is the largest since the 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska earthquake. The earthquake caused severe damage and casualties in northern Sumatra, Indonesia and in the Nicobar Islands, India. Reference #3969: The assessments after the tsunami estimated losses and damage at just under $10 billion. 227,898 dead or missing. No separate death toll is available for the earthquake as the tsunamis followed within 20 minutes. However, the relatively light damage from the earthquake suggests that the death toll was probably no worse than for the earthquake of 28 March 2005 - that is, fewer than 1,000. Reference #1610: At least 170,000 dead, 100,000 missing, and more than 1,000,000 homeless by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 13 countries in South Asia and East Africa. According to provisional estimates (February 2005), the material losses caused by the catastrophe come to approximately US$ 10bn. Reference #1053: Earthquake intensities were observed at the following selected localities: Indonesia: IX: Banda Aceh, VIII: Meulaboh, IV: Medan, Sampali, III: Bukittinggi, Parapat, Payakumbuh, Felt: Jakarta India: VII: Port Blair, Andaman Is., IV: Madras, III: Bengaluru, Vishakhapatnam, Felt: Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Calcutta, Kochi Malaysia: V: Gelugor Estate, IV: Sungai Ara, III: Alor Setar, George Town, Kampong Tanjong Bunga, Kuala Lumpur, Kulim Thailand: V: Hat Yai, IV: Bangkok, III: Chiang Mai, Phuket Myanmar: IV: Mandalay, III: Rangoon Singapore: II: Singapore Bangladesh: III: Dhaka, Felt Chittagong Sri Lanka:II: Kandy and other parts of Sri Lanka Maldives:IV: Male (nearly 2500 km from the epicenter) Guam:Felt by people in a high rise building at Hagatna (more than 5400 km from the epicenter) Tectonic Summary The devastating earthquake of 26 December 2004 occurred as thrust-faulting on the interface of the India plate and the Burma plate. In a period of minutes, the faulting released elastic strains that had accumulated for centuries from ongoing subduction of the India plate beneath the overriding Burma plate. In a broad sense, the India and Australian plates move toward the north- northeast with respect to the interior of the Eurasia plate with velocities of about 60 mm/y in the region of the earthquake. In the region of northern Sumatra and the Nicobar Islands, most of the relative motion of India/Australia and the Eurasia plate is accommodated at the Sunda trench and within several hundred kilometers to the east of the Sunda trench, on the boundaries of the Burma plate. The direction in which India/Australia converges toward Eurasia is oblique to the trend of the Sunda trench. The oblique motion is partitioned into thrust-faulting and strike-slip faulting. The thrust faulting occurs on the interface between the India plate and the western margin of the Burma plate and involves slip directed at a large angle to the orientation of the trench. The strike-slip faulting occurs on the eastern boundary of the Burma plate and involves slip directed approximately parallel to the trench. The 26 December main shock occurred as the result of thrust faulting on the western Burma-plate boundary, but many strike-slip faulting aftershocks occurred on the eastern plate boundary. More information: USGS NEIC

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/26dec2004.html

References for the Significant Earthquake

ID	Author	Year	Citation
1053	National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC)	1971 to present	Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE), a weekly and monthly publication, National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colorado, 1971 to present.
1610	Munich Re Group	2005	Annual Review: Natural Catastrophes 2004 in the Munich Re Group Knowledge Series, Topics Geo, 2005, 60 p.
3757	United Nations Environment Programme	2005	After the Tsunami Rapid Environmental Assessment. Retrieved January 11, 2008 from http://www.unep.org/tsunami/reports/TSUNAMI_report_complete.pdf
3968	Cosgrave, John	2007	Synthesis Report: Expanded Summary, Joint evaluation of the international response to the Indian Ocean tsunami, published by the Tsunami Evaluation Coaliton (TEC), January 2007, 42 p.
3969	Telford, John, and John Cosgrave	2006	Synthesis Report: Joint evaluation of the international response to the Indian Ocean tsunami, published by the Tsunami Evaluation Coaliton (TEC), July 2006, 176 p.