2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
The magnitude 9.2 to 9.3 earthquake off Sumatra on 26 December 2004 ruptured roughly 1,600 kilometres of fault and sent tsunami waves as high as fifty-one metres near Banda Aceh across fourteen countries, killing an estimated 227,898 people in the deadliest tsunami on record. No tsunami warning system existed in the Indian Ocean at the time, since major tsunamis there had been rare since Krakatoa in 1883, so most victims had no warning despite gaps of fifteen minutes to seven hours between the quake and the waves reaching different shores. The response eventually raised over ten billion dollars, though aid officials at the time criticised both slow-moving pledges from wealthy governments and, separately, misdirected donations that left affected countries with unneeded supplies rather than what they actually required.
