Switzerland was also affected by the tsunami in Asia

20 years ago, on December 26, an underwater earthquake in the Indian Ocean caused the worst tsunami the planet has seen in living memory. Gigantic tidal waves devastated entire regions, from South-East Asia to Africa, killing nearly 230,000 people, including Swiss.

According to figures from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) transmitted to Keystone-ATS, 113 Swiss people were victims of the tsunami of the century. Most of them were on vacation in Khao Lak in southern Thailand. The Lucerne author Otto Marchi, who made himself known with his “Swiss History for Heretics”, was among the victims.

At 7:59 a.m. (2:59 a.m. Swiss), the earth shook less than 100 kilometers from the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, at a depth of only 30 kilometers. Two continental plates separated over a length of 1000 kilometers after years of building up tension.

This earthquake lasted ten minutes, rather than a few seconds like most others. According to various calculations, it reached a magnitude of 9.1 or 9.3 on the Richter scale, the second strongest earthquake in 100 years, after that which occurred in 1960 in Chile, with a magnitude of 9.5 this one.

Seismologists at the Hawaii Tsunami Warning Center quickly realized that such a powerful earthquake had great destructive power. But the Hawaiians have not found anyone to broadcast the alerts in the affected regions. A comprehensive early warning system was then lacking.

Between the earthquake and the first waves of the tsunami, it took 20 minutes in Indonesia, two hours or more in Thailand and Sri Lanka, as well as India, Myanmar and Bangladesh. After the sea receded from the coasts in many areas, at least two tidal waves, and in some places up to six, struck with increasing wave height. And more than six hours later, the shock wave also reached the African coast, with waves several meters high.

Switzerland provides assistance on site

In total, 14 countries were hit by waves sometimes reaching up to 20 meters high. In addition to the Indonesian province of Aceh, Thailand, India and the island state of Sri Lanka were particularly affected. In Aceh alone, the region closest to the epicenter, nearly 170,000 people lost their lives and 2.3 million residents were left homeless.

On January 1, 2005, more than 500 Swiss tourists were still missing. Most were found injured or unharmed. And among the victims, a dozen were identified on site by relatives in the hours and days that followed. Most of the others will only have been tested in 2005 by DNA comparison in Switzerland.

In Switzerland, January 5 has been declared a day of national mourning. Two days later, the Federal Council decided on an aid operation for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with three transport helicopters and up to 50 military personnel in Indonesia, the most affected country by the disaster.

In the months that followed, Switzerland transported 368 tonnes of relief material to Sumatra. Swiss specialists collaborated on site to identify the deceased. In 2005, the number of days of service in the Swiss Disaster Relief Corps and the army was a quarter higher than in the previous year.

Donations: records never exceeded

The national collection day organized by the Chaîne du Bonheur brought together 62 million francs in donations in the space of 24 hours, and more than 227.7 million francs in total. This is the largest collection since the creation of the foundation 78 years ago, its spokesperson Fabian Emmenegger told Keystone-ATS. By comparison, 134.7 million were collected for the war in Ukraine in 2022 and 74 million after the bad weather in Valais in 2000.

According to him, the emotional closeness to the countries concerned as holiday destinations was an important reason for this great solidarity. Just two minutes after the first broadcast on the television news of the call for donations, the first promises arrived, adds the spokesperson for the Chaîne du Bonheur.

The 23,000 reconstructed houses, financed by Swiss Solidarity funds, represented significant support for the beneficiaries. Other organizations, such as Caritas, also recorded significantly higher donations than usual, even records.