Six More Months Needed to Find All Dead Bodies in Aceh

It will take workers six more months to find all of the dead bodies in the Indonesian province of Aceh, said the Red Cross.

Numerous volunteers have been looking for dead bodies in the rubble of Aceh since the December 26, 2004 tsunami struck.

The Red Cross originally estimated that it would take two months to collect all of the dead bodies, but have realized that their initial estimate is well off the mark.

"According to the information from the local Red Cross volunteers, the collection will go on for six months," said Yrsa Grune, a Red Cross spokeswoman.

The number of people volunteering for the effort has decreased, so the number of bodies found daily has decreased to about 70.

The work of finding dead bodies is extremely emotionally exhausting and the condition of the bodies now being found make the work even more difficult; the tropical temperatures cause rapid decomposition.

What is a Tsunami?

How an underwater earthquake causes a tsunami

Tsunami is a Japanese word in which tsu means harbor and nami means wave. Thus the word means harbor wave.

A tsunami is a series of waves of extremely long wavelength that are usually caused by a strong disturbance of the water, such as an underwater earthquake, landslide, or volcanic eruption; a meteorite can also cause a tsunami.

The waves travel outward in all directions from the disturbance, similar to what you would see if you threw a rock in a pond.

The average wave speed is 450 miles per hour.

Tsunami waves differ dramatically from traditional waves in that the tsunami waves have great depth, extending from the ocean floor the to waters surface. The height above the water may be only a few inches, but the huge wave is actually hidden in the water below.

Traditional surface waves, such as those you would see at an ocean coastline, are shallow waves; they are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon, sun, and planets, or by wind.

Because of the great depth of the tsunami waves, when they hit the coastline their height may increase from a few inches to tens of feet. And the tremendous speed of the waves (about 500 miles per hour) can carry the tsunamis a great distance onto land, flooding areas, destroying structures, and injuring or killing people.

The sequence above illustrates how an underwater earthquake disturbs the water and causes a tsunami.

Fake Tsunami Pictures

Fake Tsunami Pictures: #1
This is a picture of a TIDAL BORE taken in China in 2002
This IS NOT a December 26, 2004 tsunami picture


Fake Tsunami Pictures: #2
This is a picture of a TIDAL BORE taken in China in 2002
This IS NOT a December 26, 2004 tsunami picture


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Fake Tsunami Pictures: #3
This is a picture of a TIDAL BORE taken in China in 2002
This IS NOT a December 26, 2004 tsunami picture


Fake Tsunami Pictures: #4
This is a picture of a TIDAL BORE taken in China in 2002
This IS NOT a December 26, 2004 tsunami picture


Fake Tsunami Pictures: #5
This is a picture of a TIDAL BORE taken in China in 2002
This IS NOT a December 26, 2004 tsunami picture


Fake Tsunami Pictures: #6
This is a picture of a TIDAL BORE taken in China in 2002
This IS NOT a December 26, 2004 tsunami picture


Fake Tsunami Pictures: #7
This is a picture of a TIDAL BORE taken in China in 2002
This IS NOT a December 26, 2004 tsunami picture






ALL of these pictures are NOT pictures of the December 26, 2004 tsunami

Again, these ARE NOT pictures from the December 26, 2004 tsuanmi, but many people are circulating them saying that they are.

Additionally, these �fake� pictures were shown on Australian television by Channel Nine and Sky News on January 3, 2005. When the stations realized that the pictures were not from the December 26, 2004 tsunami, they issued apologies.

The pictures below are indeed REAL pictures, but of a TIDAL BORE, not a tsunami. The pictures were taken in October 2002 at the Qiantang Jian River in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China -- an area known for tidal bores.

Tidal bores occur when the leading edge of a tide forms a wave (or waves) which rushes from the ocean up a river; the flow of water from the wave actually causes the river to temporarily REVERSE its flow. So water flows UP the river until the energy of the wave dissipates.

Tidal bores are rare and occur only on certain tides in areas with a large tidal range. The incoming tide is funnelled into a shallow, narrowing river via a broad bay.

The illustration below shows how a tidal bore forms.

Tidal bore illustration
How a tidal bore forms

The bell-shaped mouth of the Quiantang Jian River allows this rare phenomena to occur, which was captured in the pictures below.

This tidal bore area attracts many tourists, and although the waves appear quite dangerous, they acually lose energy quickly after hitting the wall; so spectators are usually not hurt by them.

As you can see in the following pictures, many spectators like to stand near the wall's edge until the wave hits, and then run away.

The pictures below ARE NOT from the December 26, 2004 tsuanmi, but many people are circulating them saying that they are.