On December 26, 2004, a massive 9.1-9.3 magnitude earthquake triggered a giant tsunami near Indonesia that killed off more than 200,000 people. That tsunami has many names including the Boxing Day Tsunami and the South Asian Tsunami.
That particular earthquake is the third largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. It triggered other earthquakes all the way up to Alaska. Shock waves were felt all the way to the state of Oklahoma. It caused Earth to wobble on its axis by 2.5 centimeters. This particular earthquake released as much energy as 1500 atomic bombs. Some islands were reported to have actually sunk by a few inches or moved around a few inches as a result.
The tsunami itself was also extremely powerful. It released over two times as much energy as all the explosives used in World War II including both atomic bombs. The area hit the hardest was Indonesia with almost 170,000 people killed. It was one of the top ten deadliest tsunamis in terms of lives lost. Many diseases from the dead bodies also arose such as cholera, dysentery, and typhoid.
Countries around the world donated $14 billion total to Indonesia and the other countries hit by the earthquake and tsunami.
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