Pha Island EarthCache
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
The Pha Island is a small island outside of Koh Kho Khao in Thailand. It is built from sand and old dead coral pieces. Because of its small size, the flat surface and exposure to the sea and tides it changes shape with time.
During the 2004 Tsunami in the Indian ocean the island and the coral reef to the west played a big part in saving hundreds of people. This line of the coast was hit among the hardest of the wave. The reef and the island took the first blow and the force of the wave was decimated.
No people were killed or missing in the shade of the reef, but only kilometres to the south the harbour was totally destroyed, boats were moved several hundred meters inland and a lot of people were killed or washed out to sea. Even further south in Khao Lak the devastation was even larger.
The geological base of the coast line offers natural protections for tsunami waves like this.
The earthquake causing the Tsunami was caused by a subduction, killing around 230.000 people. It is one of the deadliest recorded natural disasters. The magnitude was between 9.1 and 9.3 and the duration was between 8 and 10 minutes, the longest recorded ever.
Tsunamis can be caused by other phenomena than an earthquake even if that is the most common reason.
More than 80 % of all tsunamis come from earthquakes.
A volcano eruption can cause a Tsunami both from a Pyroclastic flow or a under water eruption.
Landslides going into water is also a possible reason for a Tsunami.
Comets or asteroids, 70 % of the earth surface is water. If a large object hit the sea it will generate a Tsunami. I a very large object fall in it can in theory create waves up to a kilometre, that would destroy whole countries.
To log the geo cache you need to do the following.
Send me the answer for the following questions:
1. Standing on the island you can see that it is created out of 3 items. One is sand, what are the other 2?
2. What is the magnitude of the largest recorded earthquake ever?
I appreciate a photo where you take a picture of yourself holding your GPS in one hand and one of the many Hermit Crabs in the other next to the small temple at the coordinates.
Send me the answer to the 2 questions before logging. When I give you an OK, log and upload picture. Logs without my approval will be removed.
To get to the Pha Island I recommend you to go down to the harbour (one on the island Koh Kho Khao and one at Ban Keph Pier both are added as way points) and rent a long tail boat with a driver. The trip is quite cheap so do not bargain the trip as many of the Tsunami victims now have this as a living. You can also note the pier that was destroyed by the Tsunami. For coordinates look at the way points in the cache. Bring plenty of water. A 3 hour trip will include a stop on the island and also an hour of snorkling on the reaf. The coral is quite destroyed but the fishes are back in the reaf. Respect the Pha island and do not pick shells or corals from there. You can see that some waste like plastic bottles is floating ashore on the island, please help by removing garbage if you find any. Plastics kills the turtles in the water around the island.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures