Hazards and DisastersTsunamis |
What caused the great Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2004? |
A magnitude 9.0 earthquake in the ocean off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, caused a reverberating swell of water to move toward Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, and the Maldives. Its effects were felt as far away as Africa, before it finally dissipated.
A map showing the location of DART tsunami monitoring buoys across the world (map courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).