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On December 26, 2004 a 9.0 Earthquake off the coast of Sumatra Island, Indonesia in the Indian Ocean triggered a tsunami which spread over more than 10 countries in SE Asia and NE Africa. Wave heights were 8 to 20 ft. as they reached shore. It is being referred to as the Boxing Day tsunami. (See Tsunamis) The wave reached Sri Lanka in about 90 min. and took 12 hrs. to reach E. Africa. Death Toll by Country as of Jan. 21, 2005
On Jan. 17, Reuters reported the total was over 175,000. Jan 21, AP reported deaths at 225,000. A Jan. 28th report at the Sidney Herald added 132,197 listed as missing in Indonesia and 5,669 in India for a total of 283,000. A year later the U.N. puts the number at least 223,000, though it says some countries are still updating their figures.
Half the casualties in Thailand were tourists at popular beach resorts in Phuket, Khao Lak and Phi Phi. As of Dec., 31 the highest confirmed death tolls were Sweden (59), Britain (34), Germany (34), France (22), Norway (21), Japan (17), United States (15), Italy (14), Switzerland (13), Australia (10), Denmark (7), Singapore (7), Belgium (6), Netherlands (5), Canada (5), Finland (4), South Korea (4), South Africa (4), Philippines (3), Taiwan (2), Brazil (2).
On Jan. 5, The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the tsunami death toll could double to about 300,000 unless survivors received clean water and other basic services by the end of the week.
"One of the most immediate impacts has to do with food security," says Ian Dutton, director of conservation measures at The Nature Conservancy. "Something like 53 percent of all of the protein for Indonesians comes from fish, and if those coral reefs are badly affected, the fish have no habitat to live in, and there is no food security there for the people,"
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