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The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an
undersea
earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53
UTC (07:58:53 local time) on
December 26,
2004.
The earthquake generated a
tsunami
that was among the
deadliest disasters in
modern history. At a
magnitude of 9.0, it was the largest earthquake
since the 9.2 magnitude
Good Friday Earthquake off
Alaska
in 1964,
and tied for fourth largest since
1900.
The earthquake originated in the
Indian Ocean just
north
of
Simeulue
island, off the western coast of northern
Sumatra,
Indonesia. The resulting tsunami devastated the
shores of Indonesia,
Sri
Lanka,
South India,
Thailand
and other countries with waves of up to
15 m
(50 feet) high. It caused serious damage and deaths as far as the east
coast of
Africa,
with the furthest recorded death due to the tsunami occuring at
Port Elizabeth in
South Africa, 8 000km (5000 miles) away from the
epicentre.
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