Unforgettable wave of despair
BOXING DAY TSUNAMI - 10 YEARSON: Police Commissioner Mike Bush was stunned by the scale of the tragedy.
TEN years ago a 9.2-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia, rupturing a 1200-kilometre section of the Earth’s crust and releasing energy equivalent to 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs.
It caused a tsunami that raced across the Indian Ocean at the speed of a jet plane, affecting 14 countries and claiming the lives of a quarter-of-a-million people in a single day. It was one of the deadliest disasters in recorded history.
Police Commissioner Mike Bush was at that time New Zealand’s Southeast Asia police liaison officer, based in the Thai capital Bangkok.
He felt the earthquake at 8am. By that evening, he was the first Kiwi police officer in the southern resort of Phuket, and one of the first responders to the disaster.
‘‘I’ll never forget the grief and despair of the thousands of people who crowded through the doors of the emergency headquarters set up by Thai police immediately after our first briefing,’’ he wrote this month in Ten One, the police magazine. ‘‘There were mums and dads looking for children; kids looking for parents; brothers and sisters looking for siblings; tourists looking for friends.
‘‘You can never be prepared for tragedy on that scale.’’
The disaster was truly international in scope, as Bush would discover. It had hit 14 countries across Southeast Asia and Africa, affecting 5 million people and killing more than 230,000. It is estimated as many as a third of the victims were children, totally defenceless against the ocean’s force.
Thousands of foreign nationals were also among those killed, including seven New Zealanders. Many had been enjoying holidays in Thailand, where it was peak tourist season.
Bush’s job was to liaise with Thai authorities and representatives from other countries to ensure the victim-identification process, involving more than 20 countries, ran smoothly.
‘‘I will never forget the spirit and generosity of the Thai people, who did everything they could to help the recovery effort,’’ he said.
‘‘And I will never forget seeing all those victims – especially the young children – who had perished. That’s not something I ever want to experience again.’’
Images of devastating scenes in place-names foreign to New Zealanders, also emerged. Few would have heard of Banda Aceh, the Indonesian city closest to the epicentre, and one of the worst-hit locations. Entire villages were destroyed and whole families were wiped out.
An unprecedented outpouring of generosity from the international community followed.
Kiwis would reach deep into their pockets to offer about $26 million in private donations, matched dollar-for-dollar by the Government, which would eventually pledge $68m million in total.
The disaster was a wake-up call for New Zealand. The Pacific ‘‘Ring of Fire’’ nation has changed its tsunami-warning system.
Dr Ken Gledhill, of GNS Science, said New Zealand now used tsunami forecast models to inform evacuation decisions based on already-planned zones and routes.
‘‘The whole warning system is now much more end-to-end.’’
While New Zealand is served by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and GNS Science for distant and regional tsunami, work is continuing on the science and technology needed to develop a warning system for local tsunami.
‘‘The huge impact of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in the Indian Ocean changed our perception of tsunami forever,’’ Gledhill said. ‘‘We all now understand the potential of these extreme natural events.’’