2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and Earthquake

Nineteen years ago, on 26th December 2004, the world saw one of the most catastrophic natural disasters to ever take place. On the morning after Christmas, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1- 9.3 struck the Indian Ocean, affecting 14 different nations. This earthquake came to be known as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake or the Boxing Day earthquake. This earthquake triggered a tsunami that ended up taking over 2.2 lakhs of lives from several nations. 

South Asian and Southeast Asian countries were affected the most including Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Maldives. Tamil Nadu and Andaman and Nicobar were deeply affected by this event. The tremor was felt by the entire world. As per reports, the earthquake was so strong that it was one of the few occasions when the entire world trembled and no area of Earth remained motionless. It was the most powerful earthquake that took place in the 21st century. 

On this day, people from around the world come together to remember the lives that were lost on this dark day of history. Following the earthquake and the tsunami, multiple international organisations came together to start one of the largest emergency release funds. Over 14 billion US dollars were collected to take care of the aftermath of this disaster and to help those affected by it.