On December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake happened off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Tons of water moved when the seabed rose up. The tsunami that hit the coasts of the Indian Ocean was one of the deadliest disasters in known history. Over 225,000 people died in 11 countries. Waves 100 feet high washed out whole coastal communities. The earthquake had a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3. That made it the second largest on record! How much energy was released on the Earth’s surface? Over 1,500 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. This quake also lasted longer than any previous one—between eight and ten minutes. It was so strong, it caused other earthquakes, some as far away as Alaska.
