On December 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred with an epicentre off the west coast of Northern Sumatra.
Image Courtesy NASA Earth
Observatory
The earthquake and the tsunami it spawned resulted in more than 225,000 confirmed deaths (as at Feb 1, 2005), the worst tsunami disaster on record and one of the top 10 earthquake disasters ever recorded. The tsunami itself was generated along the 1200km fault rupture and the waves were recorded over 5,000 miles from the source [see animation, bottom].
It has been estimated that the power of the tsunami itself was the equivalent of approximately 5 megatons of TNT; to put that into perspective, the entire explosive arsenal used during 6 years of World War II was around 2 megatons. The earthquake itself generated around 1.5 exajoules, which is around the same amount of energy consumed in the United States per annum qand more than 1000 times the power of the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated.
Human and environmental impact of the tsunami has been catastrophic; in addition to the near quarter million casualties, a million people have been left homeless and hundreds of thousands of livelihoods, homes and businesses have been left in ruins. The United Nations estimate that the disaster will prove to be the costliest ever recorded, with full economic recovery not expected for up to 10 years in many areas.
2004 Tsunami Imagery [click to view]
 | Tsunami damage, Gleebruk, Indonesia, January 2005 |
 | Tsunami damage in Thailand, December 2004 |
 | Banda Aceh shore after December 2004 tsunami |
 | Banda Aceh shore before December 2004 tsunami |
 | Banda Aceh Northern shore after December 2004 tsunami |
 | Banda Aceh Northern shore before December 2004 tsunami |
 | Banda Aceh before December 2004 tsunami and flooding |
 | Banda Aceh after December 2004 tsunami and flooding |
 | Banda Aceh grand mosque and area before December 2004 tsunami and flooding |
 | Banda Aceh grand mosque and area after December 2004 tsunami and flooding |
 | Kalutara area of Sri Lanka flooding after the December 2004 tsunami |
 | Kalutara beach of Sri Lanka flooding after the December 2004 tsunami |
 | Kalutara area of Sri Lanka flooding after the December 2004 tsunami |
 | Kalutara area of Sri Lanka before the December 2004 tsunami |
 | Gleebruk Village, Indonesia, after tsunami, December 2004 |
 | Gleebruk Village, Indonesia, before tsunami, December 2004 |
 | Banda Aceh South, Indonesia, after tsunami, December 2004 |
 | Banda Aceh South, Indonesia, before tsunami, December 2004 |
 | Breaking tsunami waves along India's Eastern coast, December 26, 2005 |
 | Tsunami damage, Northwestern Sumatra |
 | Tsunami strikes Sri Lanka, December 26, 2004 |
 | Tsunami damage in Northwest Sumatra, December 2004 |
 | Phuket, Thailand, before the tsunami strike, December 2004 |
 | Tsunami damage in Aceh Province, Sumatra, December 2004 |
Suggested Links
FAQ About the Earthquake and Tsunami [USGS]
Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory data for the disaster
[NOAA/PMEL]
Wikipedia
article, including imagery and regional casualties
Full animation of December 2004 tsunami [750k, please be patient
while loading]
This image appears courtesy of Vasily V. Titov, Associate Director,
Tsunami Inundation Mapping Efforts (TIME), NOAA/PMEL - UW/JISAO, USA
