Indonesia Tsunami Map
A great earthquake occurred at 00:58:53 (UTC) on
Sunday, December 26, 2004. This 9.0+ magntide event was
located off the west coast of Northern Sumatra as shown
on the map below. This was the fourth largest earthquake
in the world since 1900 and the largest since the 1964 Prince
William Sound, Alaska earthquake. The tsunami caused more
casualties than any other in recorded history. Over 150,000
people were killed, over 25,000 were missing and over 1,000,000
were displaced in South Asia and East Africa. At least 110,229
people were killed in Indonesia, 30,922 people in Sri Lanka,
10,749 in India, 5,303 in Thailand, 150 in Somalia, 81 in
Maldives, 68 in Malaysia, 59 in Myanmar, 10 in Tanzania,
3 in Seychelles, 2 in Bangladesh and 1 in Kenya.
Image by USGS
Tsunami Earthquake Map
The map below shows the location of this earthquake
and some of the many aftershocks. It occurred at a convergent
boundary where the Indian plate subducts beneath the Burma
Plate.
Image by USGS
Tsunami Epicenter Map
Prior to this earthquake the Indian Plate was moving
beneath the Burma Plate, meeting resistance and compressional
forces accumulated. When the fault between these two plates
suddenly slipped a rupture approximately 1,200 kilometers
long developed in the ocean floor with a vertical displacement
of about 15 meters. The boundary between the plates and
the line of failure are shown on the map below as the blue
saw-tooth line.
Image by USGS
Tsunami Travel Time Map
The tsunami produced by the earthquake traveled
across the Indian Ocean causing significant damage. A modeled
travel time map for this event is shown below. Note how
the wave traveled across the Indian Ocean, striking India
within about two hours and Aftica about 6 hours later.
Image by NOAA
Tsunamis Wave Height Map
The modeled tsunami wave height map below shows the
maximum heights that the wave likely reached when it came
ashore. The coastline of Sumatra, near the earthquake event,
received waves over 10 meters tall. Areas farther away such
as Sri Lanka and Thailand were struck by waves over 4 meters
tall. On the other side of the Indian Ocean, Somalia and
the Seychelles were struck by waves approximately 4 meters
in height.
Image by NOAA
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