Sumatra, Indonesia, earthquake and tsunami – December 2004

On 26 December 2004, at 07:58 local time, an earthquake of magnitude 9.1 hit northern Sumatra in Indonesia, and then shook most of the world by causing the deadliest tsunami in human history. The earthquake was so powerful that it slowed down the earth’s speed of rotation by a tiny fraction of a second. The initial shock was followed by more than a dozen aftershocks. Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, and several other places, especially the Western Sumatra Province of Indonesia, which was closest to the earthquake and experienced the full force of the tsunami, all were devastated by the tsunami. At least 250,000 people were killed and many millions of others suffered losses of all kinds.