Impact of the 26-12-04 tsunami

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• Topography: the coastal zone of Myanmar can be divided in three parts:
  • The Arakan coastal area in the north: generally narrow and for the most part steep and rocky, but broader areas also exist
  • The flat delta of the Irrawaddy
  • The rocky shores of the southern Tenasserim range.
• Geology: the geology of the coastal zone comprises the alluvial sediments of the Irrawaddy River and undifferentiated Tertiary and older limestone and granitic rocks
• Hydrogeology: The groundwater conditions are:
  • groundwater is abstracted from the sandy alluvium on the Arakan coast
  • sand and gravel aquifers of local extent exist in the Irrawaddy Delta
  • along the south coast alluvial or limestone aquifers may exist locally Salinization due to seawater intrusion and over-abstraction exists in all areas.
• Vulnerability: to be described; detrimental effect to coastal aquifers is probably small due to the small extent of the flooding.
• Water Supply: no detailed information available
• Damage areas: Damage is less than in other countries: some wells were filled with sand and some local drinking water ponds are contaminated with salt water

Geological map of Myanmar
Ref.: Geological map of South and East Asia, sheet no. 3. 1:5,000,000,CGMW, 1990

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