A member of the boat crew told me it was an earthquake. I didn’t know at the time, but it was a 9.1 magnitude earthquake third in power, external ever recorded in the world – and remains the largest and most destructive in Asia.
Occurring off the coast of northwestern Sumatra in the Indian Ocean, it triggered a devastating tsunami that killed an estimated 228,000 people in more than a dozen countries and caused massive damage in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, and Thailand.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located about 100 km north of the epicenter, suffered severe damage when a wall of water up to 15 meters (49 feet) high crashed onto land about 15 minutes later.
The official death toll was put at 1,310, but more than 5,600 people are missing and presumed dead, more than 7,000 islanders are believed to have died.
However, being on the boat, we were oblivious to the extent of the destruction around us. Our cell phones didn’t work on the water and we only got bits and pieces of information from the crew. We have heard of damage in Sri Lanka, Bali, Thailand and the Maldives, as well as Nagapattinam in southern India.
