TSUNAMI 2004 PREPAREDNESS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE PENANG COMMUNITY

Abstract

It has been 10 years since the 2004 Sumatera-Andaman earthquake which was the largest earthquake in 40 years with a moment magnitude of Mw=9.2 with seismicity travelling 1600 km along the entire Andaman fault. Sumatra- Andaman earthquake affected 12 countries across the Indian Ocean (Lay et al., 2005). The epicentre was about 100km from Aceh. The accurate number is unknown (Thomas, 2001) but an estimated number of 250 000 deaths was reported, 51 000 missing and around 1.5 million were displaced swept by the force of the tsunami wave. Property and economic damage were estimated to be worth billions of USD (Rodriguez, Wachtendorf, Kendra & Trainor, 2006).
Peninsular Malaysia lies in the shadow of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Besides extreme heat, storm, flood and the consequences of heavy rain, other natural disasters are as foreign as snow falling in the tropics. Although light tremors are felt from Indonesian earthquake but there is no devastating impact as Peninsular Malaysia is protected by Sumatera in the west and Borneo in the east. The unprecedented event is a wake-up call indicating Malaysia is no longer a natural disaster threat free country.