The Indonesian Boxing Day Tsunami

By

In 2004, the Boxing Day Tsunami caused by the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake took some 230000 lives in a matter of hours, becoming the deadliest recorded tsunami in history.

Destruction from the tsunami extended hundreds of meters inland and stretched for thousands of kilometers. Credit: Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Jon Gesch, USN. (Earth Magazine)


"At 7:59 AM, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake—one of the largest ever recorded—ripped through an undersea fault in the Indian Ocean, propelling a massive column of water toward unsuspecting shores. The Boxing Day tsunami would be the deadliest in recorded history, taking a staggering 230,000 lives in a matter of hours." (History)


National Geographic shared an incredible video taken from a hotel balcony of a wave generated from the tsunami off of the coast of Thailand.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mapping the Forgotten Chicago Transit Authority "L" Stations

By
Image
I haven't really discussed much about the CTA 's rail lines and its history on this blog for two reasons. One is that many historians and the Illinois Railway Museum have done a tremendous job of preserving its history, as well as discussing it and the other interurban lines around Chicago in various blogs, most notably The Trolley Dodger and the Chicago-L , among others.  The second, and probably larger reason, is that the entire system's history is actually quite complex; what is now composed of a system of color-coded lines comes from several different systems and branches that have merged into the current Chicago Transit Authority over time. I do my best not to discuss things I'm not certain about, and of course if I'm wrong about the slightest fact, an army of railroad historians will be rushed to my location to correct me as soon as humanly possible.  Image: Kostner Station from the Eisenhower Expy. Google Street View  Image But after driving into the city
Read more

A Railroad into the Clouds: The Mount Washington Cog Railway

By
Image
A New Hampshire state legislator in the 1850's suggested that Sylvester Marsh, who was planning a railroad line from the base to the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire, should be granted the charter; not just to the summit, but to the moon as well, for how impossible such a railroad line would be. At over 6,200 feet in height, Mount Washington is the tallest mountain in the Northeastern United States, and its summit is well above the tree line, making the ascent feel similar to the much higher mountain terrains in the Rocky Mountains. Despite the incredible prominence of the mountain, Marsh was undeterred, and even put $5000 of his own money towards the project, which helped secure the charter for the railroad. In 1868, Marsh would prove his detractors wrong when his railroad was completed, one of the first rack and pinion railways in the world, and to this day the second-steepest grade in existence. This line is the Mount Washington Cog Railway , which we visited during La
Read more

11 Of The Most Amazing Abandoned Railroad Bridges Still Standing Today

By
Image
With the hundreds of thousands of miles of abandoned railroad corridors in the world, it's no surprise that some of the most amazing infrastructure humanity has ever built was eventually abandoned, or re-purposed. And indeed, many bridges, trestles and viaducts have been lost to history, such as the Brushy Creek Viaduct in Alabama. But there are also many which still stand today which serve as reminders of bygone days, the folly of man, or the power of Mother Nature, or some combination thereof. Here are 11 such bridges. 11) Goat Canyon Trestle, Jacumba Hot Springs, CA (32.729167, -116.183333) Image: CoachellaValley.com Goat Canyon Trestle is the largest standing (for now) wooden trestle in the United States, and in spots is 200 feet off the ground, and 750 feet long. Built in the 1930's, it's actually a lot younger than it looks, since by the 1930's, steel had all but replaced wood as the preferred construction material for bridges. It was made out of woo
Read more