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Help the Children and Families of the Earthquake and Tsunami Catastrophe

Earthquake & Tsunami create Thousand's of Victims

The most powerful earthquake in 40 years erupted under the sea off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Dec. 26. The quake unleashed a giant tsunami wave that crashed into the coasts of south and southeast Asia, killing tens of thousands of people.

The power of the tsunami was felt as far away as the African coast, some 3,000 miles away.

Indonesia: South Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Affected Areas
SITUATION A massive earthquake struck the west coast of Indonesia's northern Sumatra island on 26 Dec 2005 generating Tsunamis that killed thousands of people throughout east and southeast Asia. AFP reports more than 11,000 deaths in the region: app. 4,200 in Indonesia, 7,000 in India and Sri Lanka, hundreds of deaths in Thailand, Maldives, Myanmar, and Malaysia. Death toll expected to rise as more information becomes available. ACTION UNDP administrator, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator requesting all UN Country Teams in affected region to convene crisis meetings immediately. Indonesian Red Cross en route to Aceh. Sri Lanka declared state of disaster. IFRC has launched 6.6 million USD appeal for assistance for 500,000 affected people for six months.

The names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.	Produced by the ReliefWeb Map Centre Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs United Nations - 26 December 2004

How to help
There are many relief agencies working hard to help people in regions devastated by tsunamis. Here is contact information for some of them. For a larger list of even more Help Organizations World Wide click here
The Canadian government is matching donations to these organizations:	Other organizations:
Canadian Red Cross: 1-800-418-1111 or visit www.redcross.ca or www.amazon.ca Oxfam Canada and Oxfam Quebec: 1-800-466-9326 (1-800-GO-OXFAM) or visit www.oxfam.ca World Vision Canada: 1-800-268-5528 or visit www.worldvision.ca UNICEF Canada: 1-877-955-3111 or visit www.unicef.ca CARE Canada: 1-800-267-5232 or visit www.care.ca Save the Children: 1-800-668-5036 or visit www.savethechildren.ca Development and Peace: 1-888-664-3387 or www.devp.org ADRA Canada: 1-888-274-ADRA or www.adra.ca Doctors without Borders: 1-800-982-7903 or visit www.msf.ca	World Job and Food Bank: 1-403-264-0220 or visit www.wjfb.org Foster Parents Plan: 1-800-387-1418 or visit www.fosterparentsplan.ca Canadian Relief Org. for Peace in Sri Lanka: 1-416-429-2822 Salvation Army: 1-800-725-2769or visit www.salvationarmy.ca Mennonite Central Committee Canada: 1-888-622-6337 Canadian Tamil Congress: 1-416-751-8777 Christian Children's Fund of Canada: 1-800-263-5437 or www.ccfcanada.ca UJA Federation of Greater Toronto: 1-416-631-5705 or www.jewishtoronto.com

What are Tsunamis and why do they occur?

Tsunami, a Japanese word meaning “harbor wave,” is a wave in the ocean or lake created by a geologic event. Often a tsunami is incorrectly referred to as a tidal wave, which, strictly speaking, describes the periodic movement of water associated with the rise and fall of the tides. The term tsunami was adopted for general use in 1963 by an international scientific conference.

Oceanographers call tsunamis seismic seawaves because they are usually caused by earthquakes, landslides or marineslides under or near the ocean. These push the water upward, sideways or downward to create the tsunami waves. Volcanic eruptions can also cause tsunamis. They are more common in the Pacific Ocean.

A tsunami is not a single wave, but a series of waves that can travel across the ocean at speeds of more than 500 miles an hour. In the deep ocean, hundreds of miles can separate wave crests; many people have lost their lives during tsunamis after returning home thinking the waves had stopped.

As the tsunami enters the shallows of coastlines in its path, its velocity slows but its height increases. A tsunami that is just a few centimeters or meters high from trough to crest can rear up to heights of 30 to 50 meters as it hits the shore, striking with devastating force.

For those on shore there is little warning of a tsunami’s approach. The first indication is often a sharp swell, not unlike an ordinary storm swell.

In 1883, a tsunami following the eruption of Krakatoa volcano between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra killed 36,000. The tsunami’s passage was traced as far away as Panama.

In July 1998, two undersea quakes measuring 7.0 created three tsunamis that killed at least 2,100 near the town of Aitape on the north coast of Papua New Guinea.

News Releases About the Earthquake & Tsunami Catastrophe
26/12/2004 Relief teams head for quake zone	[Link]
26/12/2004 At-a-glance: Countries hit	[Link]
26/12/2004 Indonesia braced as deaths mount	[Link]
27/12/2004 Quake, tsunamis kill more than 26,000	[Link]
27/12/2004 Bad Water, Decaying Dead Threaten Tsunami Survivors	[Link]
27/12/2004 Thousands fill mass graves and burn on pyres along India's devastated coast	[Link]
27/12/2004 Asian disaster: Maldives eyewitnesses	[Link]
27/12/2004 Asian disaster: Malaysia eyewitnesses	[Link]
29/12/2004 China rushes aid to tsunami battered countries	[Link]
30/12/2004 Tsunami death toll tops 118,000	[Link]
4/01/2005 Criminals target tsunami victims	[Link]
8/01/2005 Indonesia moves to prevent child trafficking	[Link]
9/01/2005 Relief workers face danger in Indonesia	[Link]

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Please Note:

Help the Children and Families of the Earthquake and Tsunami Catastrophe

Indonesia: South Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Affected Areas

How to help

What are Tsunamis and why do they occur?

News Releases About the Earthquake & Tsunami Catastrophe