This earthquake generated a tsunami which devastated
the shores of the Indian Ocean. Within 30 minutes of
the earthquake, the tsunami first attacked Banda Aceh
and other coastal villages of Sumatra Island in Indonesia
causing 160,000 casualties. The tsunami then reached the
coasts of Thailand (casualty 8000), Sri Lanka (35,000) and
India (16,000) within approximately two hours. About a
half of tsunami victims in Thailand were foreign tourists.
The tsunami further propagated and reached the east
coast of Africa where it caused 300 casualties in Somalia.
The total casualties of the Indian Ocean tsunami were
more than 200,000.