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Preliminary Earthquake Report

U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center

World Data Center for Seismology, Denver

A great earthquake occurred at 00:58:53 (UTC) on Sunday, December 26, 2004. The magnitude 9.0 event has been located OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)



Magnitude 9.0

Date-Time Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:53 (UTC)

= Coordinated Universal Time

Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 7:58:53 AM

= local time at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 3.267°N, 95.821°E

Depth 30 km (18.6 miles) set by location program

Region OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA

Distances

250 km (155 miles) SSE of Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia

315 km (195 miles) W of Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia

1260 km (790 miles) SSW of BANGKOK, Thailand

1590 km (990 miles) NW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia



Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 6.1 km (3.8 miles); depth fixed by location program

Parameters Nst=231, Nph=231, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.03 sec, Gp= 29°,

M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=R

Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)



Felt Reports

At least 27,000 people were killed by the earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia. Tsunamis killed at least 18,000 people in Sri Lanka, 4,300 in India, 1,400 in Thailand, 100 in Somalia, 52 in Maldives, 44 in Malaysia, 30 in Myanmar, 10 in Tanzania, 3 in Seychelles, 2 in Bangladesh and 1 in Kenya. Tsunamis also occurred on the coasts of Cocos Island, Mauritius, and Reunion. The tsunami crossed into the Pacific Ocean and was recorded along the west coast of South and North America. The earthquake was felt (VIII) at Banda Aceh and (V) at Medan, Sumatra. It was also felt in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand. This is the fourth largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and is the largest since the 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska earthquake.

Did Sri Lanka Animals Know Tsunami Was Coming?



COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan wildlife officials are stunned -- the worst tsunami in memory has killed around 22,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast, but they can't find any dead animals.



Giant waves washed floodwaters up to 3 km (2 miles) inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka's biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards.



"The strange thing is we haven't recorded any dead animals," H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of the national Wildlife Department, told Reuters on Wednesday.



"No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit," he added. "I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening."



At least 40 tourists, including nine Japanese, were drowned.



The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, which sent waves up to 5-metres (15-feet) high crashing onto Sri Lanka's southern, eastern and northern seaboard, flooding whole towns and villages, destroying hotels and causing widespread destruction.