December 26, 2004 M9.1 Earthquake & Indian Ocean Tsunami In the early morning hours of December 26, 2004, the Earth unleashed one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded. A massive M9.1 megathrust rupture off the coast of Sumatra violently displaced the seafloor, sending walls of water racing across the Indian Ocean. Within minutes, coastlines were swallowed. Entire communities vanished. Waves traveled thousands of kilometers, striking country after country with almost no warning. By the

2.1M views · 17K reactions | After a massive earthquake triggered the...

Precisely 20 years ago, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami struck Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand, claiming the lives of 225,000 people. Young Martunis Sarbini managed to defy the odds and survive alone for 21 days. He was eventually found by cameraman Phil Hooper and his team—making Martunis the last survivor to be rescued. #TsunamiRaceAgainstTime is now streaming on Disney and Hulu. | National Geographic TV

In 2004, a large earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggered the largest tsunami in recorded history. One of the countries hit by the tsunami was Sri Lanka, where the wave caused one of the worst train disasters in human history when it hit the Queen of the Sea passenger line, which was carrying 1,500 passengers along Sri Lanka's west coast. Watch Destruction Decoded on Wednesdays at 8pm on National Geographic UK. | National Geographic UK