This earthquake was one of the most powerful ever recorded. It was the largest since one measuring 9.2 on the Richter Scale hit Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1964. When tectonic plates cause earthquakes and tsunamis, a huge amount of energy is released. This earthquake released an amount of energy that was equivalent to 23,000 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs.
Two factors make tsunamis devastating: the waves travel outwards from the epicenter at great speeds, and the waves increase in size as they get nearer to land because the seabed becomes shallower. The waves in this tsunami traveled outwards from the epicenter at up to 50 miles per hour and were only about 1.6 feet high at first. However, they grew to up to 30 feet high on the coast of Sumatra and 13 feet high on the coast of Thailand.
Most tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean. There is an early warning system based in Hawaii, but it does not cover the Indian Ocean. The last major disaster in the Indian Ocean occurred in 1945, so this tsunami took everyone by surprise. Thirteen countries were affected, including Indonesia, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma) and Sri Lanka. Approximately 226,000 people were killed and more than 500,000 injured.
Tsunamis devastate the areas that they hit. This causes additional deaths and makes the disaster even more serious than just the initial impact. Up to five million people lost their homes or had no access to food and water in the aftermath. About one-third of the dead were children, and 1.5 million kids are believed to have been wounded, displaced or lost their families.
About one million people were left without the means of making a living, and five World Heritage sites were destroyed or damaged, including the Sun Temples of Konarak in India. In 2005, the estimated cost for installing and building early warning tsunami facilities for the Indian Ocean was $20 million. The estimated costs for aid and reconstruction were $7.5 billion. Up to $7 billion in aid was promised by the international community for the countries damaged by the tsunami.