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Revision as of 10:44, 26 December 2004

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A magnitude 8.9 undersea earthquake struck the Indian Ocean off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia on December 26, 2004 00:58:50 UTC (or 07:58:50 local time in Jakarta and Bangkok). It was the strongest earthquake in the world since the Good Friday Earthquake which struck Alaska in 1964, and the fifth largest since 1900. Several thousand deaths were caused by resulting tsunamis, which in Thailand had a height as much as 10 meters (30 feet).

Damage and Casualties

The earthquake triggered massive tsunamis (popularly known as "tidal waves"), which struck the coasts of the Indian Ocean. However Pacific Ocean coasts were not affected.

Damage and casualties from tsunamis and flooding have been reported from:

In addition to the large number of local residents, some tourists during the busy Christmas holiday travel season were among the victims.

Quake characteristics

The epicentre was measured at 3.298°N, 95.779°E, some 160 kilometres west of Sumatra, at a depth of 10 km underwater.

The quake itself was felt as far away as Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand.

The earthquake was unusually large in geographical extent, in that over 1000 km of faultline broke. It was initially reported at magnitude 6.8 but soon upgraded to 8.5, and then 8.9. The largest recorded earthquake was the Great Chilean Earthquake of 1960, at magnitude 9.5.

See also

External links

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