At 0059 GMT, a massive earthquake registering 9.0 on the Richter scale struck off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. This was followed by a series ofmore than 67 aftershocks, the largest of which occurred approximately three hours after the first earthquake and registered 7.1 on the Richter scale. The earthquake triggered a series of tsunami waves that radiated through the Bay of Bengal at a rate of more than 500 kilometers per hour, directly impacting coastal areas of Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Reunion, Seychelles, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Thailand. The tsunami which hit Malaysia on the 26th December 2004 challenged the disaster response mechanism of the Malaysian Government. This paper presents the actions taken by the government agencies and in particular the DID in response to the December 2004 tsunami and beyond. The paper briefly discusses the event, its effect on Malaysians and how the government responded in its aftermath. For the covering abstract see ITRD E139491.
Abstract