13 years of tsunami: How the events unfolded on December 26th, 2004

This day marks the 13^th anniversary of the disastrous tsunami that ravaged the entire Indian ocean coastline. The tsunami that occurred following an undersea earthquake near Indonesia's Sumatra led to more than 230,000 deaths and left numerous others displaced.

The chaos that ensued was remembered for many years across the world.

Here is a brief timeline of the disaster:

• An earthquake was registered by the Geo-Physical Center, Jakarta off the Sumatran coast at around 8 am local time (06.30 IST).The quake was registered at a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3 on the Richter scale.


• Around 30 minutes later, the waves, some of which were well over 30 metres struck Sumatra and Aceh province of Indonesia. The country ended up suffering over 1.3 lakh deaths. Andaman & Nicobar islands too were hit around the same time. Travelling at well over 500 kmph in deep sea, the waves lost speed while reaching the coastline, but gained height that led to widespread damage.


• The beaches of Thailand, a popular attraction for tourists across the globe,  were hit by giant waves at around 8 am (IST). The country suffered over 8000 casualties, many of them foreign tourists particularly from Europe enjoying Christmas vacations. As per reports, the death of over 500 Swedish citizens during the disaster was the highest experienced by the country since the Battle of Poltava in 1709.


• Between 8 to 8.30 am the waves reached the coasts of Myanmar and Bangladesh but did not make large-scale damage as compared to other areas.


• The waves soon hit Sri Lanka and mainland India between 8.30 am and 9.00 am. The two countries suffered maximum casualties after Indonesia, with Sri Lanka suffering over 35,000 deaths and India close to 20,000.


• In India, the worst affected regions were the coastline of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry along with Andaman and Nicobar islands that led to around 20,000 deaths.


• Within an hour the waves hit Maldives, flooding almost the entire archipelago including the capital Male.


• By 1 pm (IST) the waves hit Africa's east coast leading to damages and casualties across the Somalian and Tanzanian coastline. Strong waves are also reported from areas as far as Mauritius in Southern Indian Ocean to South America.

The fact that it occurred during the Christmas vacation when thousands of tourists from across the globe had come to the South Asian coastline made matters worse. The relative inexperience of the local population who did not have any experience of such a disaster also aggravated the situation.

The tsunami also made a lasting impact on the planet and shifted the North Pole by about 2.5 cms. Later, Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System was constituted the very next year to provide early warning against Tsunamis in the region.

Millions who faced the horror still remember the ill-fated day. While the bulk of the settlements have been rebuilt, showing no visible trace of the disaster, the mass panic that any rumour of an earthquake causes even to this day still shows the scars it has left.