The TSUNAMI Memorial – The Wake UP! Memorial

The Tsunami Memorial

The Tsunami disaster happening 2004 in Southeast Asia showed the world impressively, that the human being is far from controlling nature powers, especially when they are widely ignored, as such.
Therefore, the dimension of the catastrophe was human made. The hundred thousands of victims could have been avoided if the adminstrations of the affected countries would have installed defense. Again the poorest of the poor people were affected, damaged or killed.
The Tsunami Memorial would like to motivate people to show not only empathy insired by art, but also solidarity and humanity for these victims and the affected regions. This particular natural disaster is standing for other natural disasters like earthquakes, volcano eruptions, hurricanes and other storm disasters, natural phenomena demonstrating the powerlessness of the human individual.

TSUNAMI 2004

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami (also known as the Boxing Day Tsunami) occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on 26 December, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Sumatra. It was an undersea megathrust earthquake that registered a magnitude of 9.1–9.3 Mw, reaching a Mercalli intensity up to IX in certain areas. The earthquake was caused by a rupture along the fault between the Burma Plate and the Indian Plate.

A series of large tsunami waves up to 30 metres (100 ft) high were created by the underwater seismic activity. Communities along the surrounding coasts of the Indian Ocean were seriously affected, and the tsunamis killed an estimated 227,898 people in 14 countries. The Indonesian city of Banda Aceh reported the largest number of victims. The earthquake was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. The direct results caused major disruptions to living conditions and commerce, particularly in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.

The earthquake was the third largest ever recorded and had the longest duration of faulting ever observed; between eight and ten minutes. It caused the planet to vibrate as much as 10 millimetres (0.4 inches), and it remotely triggered earthquakes as far away as Alaska. Its epicentre was between Simeulue and mainland Sumatra The plight of the affected people and countries prompted a worldwide humanitarian response, with donations totaling more than US$14 billion. The event is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake.

Countries affected
Main article: Countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
Countries affected

According to the U.S. Geological Survey a total of 227,898 people died.[1] Measured in lives lost, this is one of the ten worst earthquakes in recorded history, as well as the single worst tsunami in history. Indonesia was the worst affected area, with most death toll estimates at around 170,000.[96] An initial report by Siti Fadilah Supari, the Indonesian Minister of Health at the time, estimated the death total to be as high as 220,000 in Indonesia alone, giving a total of 280,000 fatalities.[97] However, the estimated number of dead and missing in Indonesia were later reduced by over 50,000. In their report, the Tsunami Evaluation Coalition stated, “It should be remembered that all such data are subject to error, as data on missing persons especially are not always as good as one might wish”. A much higher number of deaths has been suggested for Myanmar based on reports from Thailand.

The tsunami caused serious damage and deaths as far as the east coast of Africa, with the furthest recorded fatality directly attributed to the tsunami at Rooi-Els, close to Cape Town, 8,000 km (5,000 mi) from the epicenter. In total, eight people in South Africa died due to high sea levels and waves.

Relief agencies reported that one-third of the dead appeared to be children. This was a result of the high proportion of children in the populations of many of the affected regions and because children were the least able to resist being overcome by the surging waters. Oxfam went on to report that as many as four times more women than men were killed in some regions because they were waiting on the beach for the fishermen to return and looking after their children in the houses.

States of emergency were declared in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Maldives. The United Nations estimated at the outset that the relief operation would be the costliest in human history.[citation needed] Then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated that reconstruction would probably take between five and ten years. Governments and non-governmental organizations feared that the final death toll might double as a result of diseases, prompting a massive humanitarian response.

In addition to a large number of local residents, up to 9,000 foreign tourists (mostly Europeans) enjoying the peak holiday travel season were among the dead or missing, especially people from the Nordic countries. The European nation hardest hit was Sweden, with a death toll of 543. Germany was close behind with 539 identified victims.

The TSUNAMI Memorial (2004)
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participanting artists

Socialist Future, Igor Ulanovsky, Gerald Schwartz, Alan Sondheim , Thomas Jackson Park, Seth Lew, Stephen Mead, mac dunlop, CEZARY OSTROWSKI, Julie Andreyev, Simantha Roy, Mike Wrathell, Lars Vilhelmsen, David Cheung, Eva Lewarne, Robert Ciesla, Colleen Corradi, Sejma Prodanovic, Victor Angelo, Jelena Vukotic, Carla Della Beffa, Wittwulf Y Malik, Giovanni Bai/MUSEO TEO, jody zellen, Wolfgang Peter Menzel, Andrea Polli, Constantine Cionca, sam, Eldad Tsabary, Simon Longo, Nicola Dale, Francesca De Gregorio, babel, Ilse Hilpert, Brigitte Neufeld

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