The Wavefront of Death

An animation
of the how the killer waves propagated across the Bay of Bengal is featured on
the International
Coordination Group for the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific website.
More information
is provided here. An earlier Belmont
Club post speculated that the wavefront was still hours away from the Indian
subcontinent after impact on Thailand. That was incorrect. The time difference
between the wave's impact on Phuket and landfall on Sri Lanka was only about 30
minutes.

A log of warnings issued by the Pacific tsunami warning system is shown here.
The earthquake on the western side of Sumatra took place at 0059Z 26 DEC 2004,
initially rated at 8.0 on the Richter Scale. The first tsunami warning bulletin
was issued at 0114Z 26 DEC 2004 -- about fifteen minutes later. It was 09:15 in
the morning in Bangkok. The wave was still an hour away from Phuket. Although
the recipients of the warning were the members of the Pacific group there may
have been enough information in the first bulletin to ring alarm bells had any
trained person concerned with the Indian Ocean read it.

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001 PACIFIC TSUNAMI
WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS ISSUED AT 0114Z 26 DEC 2004 THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL
AREAS OF THE PACIFIC BASIN EXCEPT ALASKA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON -
OREGON - CALIFORNIA.

.................. TSUNAMI INFORMATION BULLETIN ..................

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THERE IS NO TSUNAMI WARNING OR WATCH IN
EFFECT.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 0059Z 26 DEC 2004

COORDINATES - 3.4 NORTH 95.7 EAST

LOCATION - OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATERA

MAGNITUDE - 8.0

EVALUATION

THIS EARTHQUAKE IS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE PACIFIC. NO DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THREAT
EXISTS BASED ON HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DATA. THIS WILL BE THE ONLY
BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.
THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE BULLETINS FOR ALASKA -
BRITISH COLUMBIA - WASHINGTON - OREGON - CALIFORNIA.

On 0204Z 26 DEC 2004 a second bulletin was issued. It concluded that there
was still no danger to the Pacific. The waves were only minutes away from Phuket
and the rest is history.