Experience on Off-Sumatra Earthquake-Indian Ocean Tsunami Disaster （in Langkawi Island） 26 December 2004 by Shunya Susuki
25 December 2004 My wife, son, daughter and I went to Fukuoka Airport by taxi. Though we were in a traffic jam caused by a traffic accident on the highway, we were able to be on time for our 9:30 flight. The travel agency told us that the flight would be delayed for an hour. We arrived at Kuala Lumpur Airport more than one hour later than we had expected after all. We rushed and arrived at the counter of the domestic airline but the staff there said to us, "Please come here tomorrow morning because Flight Check-in service for Langkawi Island is over today." I claimed strongly, "It is your responsibility that our flight was late." Suddenly an electric automobile appeared in front of us and took us to the boarding gate just before the last flight for Langkawi Island departed. Finally we arrived at the hotel "Pelangi Beach Resort & Spa" at midnight.
26 December 2004 I took a picture in the morning in front of the cottage where we stayed.
At about 9:00 a.m., we had breakfast in an outdoor lounge. During breakfast, I felt a very gentle vibration of the earth so subtle that people around us didn't notice it. I told my wife about it. She agreed with me.
At 8:58 a.m.(Malaysian time), a big earthquake that was about 4,000 times of the magnitude 9.1-9.3 "South Hyogo earthquake" occurred and a tsunami (Average 10m high; Max 34m high in the Sumatra northern part) was coming towards this place. The source is TIME magazine.
After breakfast, I played in the shallows with my children. We discovered that many small fishes were swimming in several lines in the shallows. Only a half day later that I realized that they had probably been protecting themselves from the electromagnetic waves of the earthquake by swimming perpendicularly to the waves. However, it was too late. We moved from the sea to swimming pool (1).
I took my children to the swimming pool with my wife, and we had a break on the sofa by the pool. I was listening to the voices of the children from various countries. I told my children to come out of the swimming pool to have lunch.
A tall man by the pool began to shout out something, waving his arm vigorously. People were running away from the beach and children were climbing out from the swimming pool, crying out loud. Watching them as they pass by us, I felt as though I was seeing the movie "Jaws". My wife with her good eyesight shouted that the surface of the sea was rising.
Countless emulsion-colored bubbles covered overspread the swimming pool instantly and exhaustively. I heard someone yell "Evacuate!". We took refuge at the lobby (2) in the same course as everyone took. The hotel employee explained to the hotel guests that the heavy rain in the monsoon had caused it. We heard an announcement at the lobby (2) that this place was still dangerous. We evacuated to the second floor terrace (3) near the entrance.
This is the path we took during the tsunami. Pink Line : The height of the tsunami (about the floor level of the high-floored cottage )
We were in the terrace (3) for a couple of hours. There were parents embracing their crying children. We were the only Japanese there. We were forced to move from the terrace (3) to the Chinese restaurant (4) afterwards.
I borrowed a mobile phone from the master at the Chinese restaurant, and contacted the local travel agency. An English-speaking group beside us who had been collecting information by mobile phones and radios began to collect their luggage from the hotel room. One of them gestured "Come on" but we waited for our local travel agency. When we were eating ice cream, the local travel agency staff arrived. She said to us with a smile. "After you finish eating ice cream, I will explain the present situation". And she added that a tsunami 30m high was approaching As soon as my wife and I heard it, we rushed back to the already roped-off hotel room leaving our children behind, and made all efforts to bring our suitcases from the hotel room. We left the hotel (1) by the travel agent's private-owned car, after saying good-bye to the master of the restaurant insisting that another tsunami would not come. Passing by the merrymaking of the crowd that gathered to see the tsunami, we arrived at the hotel (2) (Sheraton Langkawi) that stood on a hill by another beach.
We waited anxiously in the hotel room (2) for 9:00 p.m., the estimated arrival time of the third wave. Our room's TV was broadcasting the miserable situation caused by the tsunami and Earthquake that worsened every moment. When I said "We will face a dangerous situation even in this hotel if a 30m-high tsunami really comes here", my daughter burst into tears. The clock struck 9:00 p.m. The third wave didn't come.
The source : Free lance encyclopedia "Wikipedia" Sunda trench (Java Trough) where Indian Australian plate and Eurasia plate meets is one of the most earthquake-prone zone in the world. It is considered the speed of earthquake waves was about 4km/s=14,400km/h (around Mach 11) and they had run five laps around the earth.
Slipping off in the huge range of the border (Java Trough) of the plate between Sumatra island northwest offing and Andaman Nikobaru Islands, i.e. more than 1,000 kilos made energy more than magnitude 9 free. The animation of the massive tsunami ("red" shows the upheaval of the surface of the sea : "blue" shows the sedimentation of the surface of the sea ) (by NOAA) We can know by this animation that some sedimentation occurred in Langkawi Island's outskirts but the upheaval was not so high, miraculously.
The tsunami speed was comparatively late in the East of the seismic center (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar) whereas its speed was like a jet (about 700km per an hour) for the west of the seismic center (Sri Lanka, India, Maldives, African countries). According to the announcement of every country's governments, the death toll was 226,566 by 19 January 2005. The animation of the massive tsunami ("red" shows the upheaval of the surface of the sea : "blue" shows the sedimentation of the surface of the sea )( by NOAA)
Through this experience I strongly felt that spreading knowledge about the earthquake / tsunami and developing a system to disseminate accurate information on the tsunami outbreak at an early stage were needed.
by Shunya Susuki

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