2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake

Looking back on that sad event in 2004, when the great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake or known as the Asian tsunami. What a devastating day, many people lost their lives and the lucky ones who survived either were lost, separated from loved ones, and/or lost their homes and towns, but that’s just a result of 100-foot waves. Not only did this earthquake cause the tsunami, it triggers many smaller earthquakes all over the world too. In the paragraph below theres is much more information about the devastating event.

On December 26th 2004, at 00:58:53 UTC, an undersea earthquake occurred off the coast of Sumatra Indonesia (3.316N, 95.854E). The quake had a magnitude of around a 9.2, it was the second largest earthquake recorded on a seismograph. It also had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. 26.3 megatons of TNT were released during the quake, causing the entire planet to move 1 centimeter (0.5 inches). An estimated 1,600 km of fault line slipped about 15km at the subduction zone along where the Indian plate and Burma plate collide (the Indian plate is sliding under the Burma plate). This earthquake triggered devastating tsunamis along the coasts’ of most of the landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean. The countries affected the most were Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. With waves up to 30 meters (100 feet), killing an estimated 225,000 people, in eleven separate countries, 1,126,900 people displaced, 229,866 people lost, and inundating costal communities. This earthquake trigger several other earthquakes around the world some as far as Alaska. Its safe to say this was one powerful quake.

No matter how sad and tragic this event was we cannot forget what happen on the December 26th 2004, since that day earthquake predictors have been set up all around the fault lines so that, if ever another huge quake occurs we can maybe react faster and get people to a safe place as soon as possible.


by mmb 4th hour