Human consequences
About 1.7 million people displaced; a third of the victims are thought to have been children.
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TsunamiIndian Ocean tsunami
227,898Deaths
1.7MDisplaced / homeless
$10bnEstimated cost
- About 228,000 dead and missing in 14 countries, including more than 160,000 in Indonesia.
- About 10 billion dollars in damage.
A magnitude 9.1 earthquake ruptures about 1,300 km of undersea fault. The waves, more than 30 m high in Aceh, hit coastlines as far as East Africa, with no warning system in place.
Consequences
Environmental consequences
Coral reefs, mangroves and salinised farmland along thousands of kilometres of coastline.
Economic consequences
Fishing and tourism devastated; a record humanitarian response.
Political consequences
A peace agreement ends the Aceh conflict in 2005; an Indian Ocean tsunami warning system is operational from 2006.
Tsunami waves
- Banda Aceh · ≈ 20 min
- Phuket · ≈ 2 h
- Sri Lanka · ≈ 2 h
- Chennai · ≈ 2 h 30
- Maldives · ≈ 3 h 30
- Somalia · ≈ 7 h
Further reading
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- Kashmir earthquakeEarthquake · Pakistan and India2005
- Sichuan earthquakeEarthquake · China2008
In the rankings : The deadliest earthquakes in history No. 4
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