The December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami: Initial Findings on Tsunami Sand Deposits, Damage, and Inundation in Sri Lanka

Survey Site Locations and Photos

Hikkaduwa Click photo to see a larger image
Bulldozers and front-end loaders had redistributed the rubble and cleaned up much of the debris in some areas of Sri Lanka visited by the survey teams. (larger image, 178 kb)	One of many views of the complete destruction of houses and other buildings in Hikkaduwa. (larger image, 189 kb)
One of many views of the complete destruction of houses and other buildings in Hikkaduwa. (larger image, 222 kb)	The gap and curved shape of the rock platform and beach at Hikkaduwa focused the tsunami and increased local damage to buildings. (larger image, 89 kb)
View at Hikkaduwa looking parallel to the beach showing zone of local scour and sand deposition. The trench is located to the right of the trees about 30 m inland from the beach. (larger image, 175 kb)	Trench at Hikkaduwa showing the tsunami sand deposit about 23 cm thick. Ground elevation is about 0.5 m and flow depth was about 2.5 m at this site. (larger image, 151 kb)
Simple, durable field tools, such as a hand level and tape, are used to survey topographic profiles and to measure heights of water marks above sea level. (larger image, 97 kb)