December 26, 2021, marks 17 years since the devastating Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of 2004 which struck the coasts of multiple countries in south and southeast Asia and took a fatal toll on the population there.
Listed among the worst calamities in this part of the world, more than 230,000 people across India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand, and Indonesia were and the countries sustained billions of dollars worth of damages to property after the 100-foot tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake.
The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami is also known as the Boxing Day Tsunami or, in the scientific community, the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. According to a report by CNN, the tremors were so powerful that it was one of those rare instances when the entire planet vibrated and no place on Earth escaped movement.
“Globally, this earthquake was large enough to basically vibrate the whole planet as much as half an inch, or a centimeter,” the report quoted an associate professor of geosciences at the Penn State University in the United States. “Everywhere we had instruments, we could see motions.”
Triggered by the undersea earthquake activity offshore, the 100-feet-high tsunami waves laid bare complete annihilation in as many as 14 countries, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.
According to geological estimates, the 2004 earthquake was the third-largest of its type to ever be recorded, and it managed to even trigger aftershocks as far away as in Alaska. The plight of the affected people and countries prompted a worldwide humanitarian response, with donations totalling more than $14 billion.
Indonesia, hit worst by the disaster, was however no stranger to earthquakes, lying between the Pacific Ring of Fire and the Alpide Belt along the south and west. The 2002 Sumatra earthquake is, in fact, believed to have been a foreshock to this main event.
Read more:
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/2004-indian-ocean-tsunami-17-years-on-a-look-back-at-one-of-the-deadliest-natural-disasters-in-history-101640476494667.html