  Recent follow-up observations of the December 27 giant flare of SGR 1806-20
have detected a multiple-frequency radio afterglow from 240 MHz to 8.46 GHz,
extending in time from a week to about a month after the flare. The angular
size of the source was also measured for the first time. Here we show that this
radio afterglow gives the first piece of clear evidence that an energetic blast
wave sweeps up its surrounding medium and produces a synchrotron afterglow, the
same mechanism as established for gamma-ray burst afterglows. The optical
afterglow is expected to be intrinsically as bright as $m_R\simeq13$ at $t\la
0.1$ days after the flare, but very heavy extinction makes the detection
difficult because of the low galactic latitude of the source. Rapid infrared
follow-up observations to giant flares are therefore crucial for the
low-latitude SGRs, while for high-latitude SGRs (e.g. SGR 0526-66), rapid
follow-ups should result in identification of their possible optical
afterglows. Rapid multi-wavelength follow-ups will also provide more detailed
information of the early evolution of a fireball as well as its composition.
