2004 Tsunami

 26th December 2004 Tsunami: 16 years on 


As per the official count, 10,136 people died in India with the majority of the casualties reported from Tamil Nadu. 

On the night of December 26, 2004, a massive quake of magnitude 9.1-9.3 — with its epicentre in the Bay of Bengal — triggered one of the biggest Tsunamis the world had ever witnessed. The massive waves, measuring up to 30 meters, created havoc in 15 different countries killing more than 2,00,000 people. More than half of those who perished in the calamity belonged to Indonesia. 

In India, over 10,000 people were killed in the disaster, which is considered to be one of the deadliest in recorded history. The extent of damage it caused was attributed to several reasons, mainly poor infrastructure and warning systems and the large population living in coastal areas. 

The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami or Christmas Tsunami, caused fatalities among a large number of tourists because of the holiday season. Today marks the 16th anniversary of that devastating event. 

As per the official count, 10,136 people died in India with the majority of the casualties reported from Tamil Nadu. However, unofficial estimates believe the actual number could have been over 18,000 people. The second most affected region in India was Andaman and Nicobar islands where the official death toll reached over 1,300, with over 5,500 missing. 

Millions were displaced and subsequent research work revealed that the environment also suffered damage because of it. The only active volcano of the country, Barren 1 on Andaman Islands erupted on December 30 as a result of the seismic activity. However, nobody was harmed in the incident. 

On January 1, 2005, the Ministry of Home Affairs released a ‘Tsunami impact report’ which said: “The Tsunamis have caused extensive damage in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the States of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu and UT of Pondicherry. 97 aftershocks of intensities between 5.0 to 7.0 on the Richter scale have been reported so far. The death toll is now at 9575. This is likely to go up once confirmation regarding 5801 missing persons/feared dead (as per preliminary survey) in the Nicobar Group of Islands is received.”

According to the report, a total of 36,09,000 were impacted only in mainland states – Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry. A concerted relief and rescue operation followed the catastrophic event and the world community donated over $14 billion in 2004 as an aid. Apart from India and Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand were also severely impacted. 

Since the unfortunate incident in 2004, India and other countries along the Indian Ocean belt have now advanced their security systems to respond quickly to any such warning in the future. Meanwhile, the 2004 Tsunami remains etched in the memories of millions throughout the world as one of the most devastating natural disasters to have occurred in recorded history

Location: India

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