On 26th December 2004 at 00:58:54 UTC, an undersea earthquake occurred with its epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The energy it released was equivalent to around 475,000 tons (475 kilotons) of TNT explosive.
The entire planet Earth vibrated as much as 1cm, with other earthquakes being triggered over the globe, as far as Alaska.
The overall death toll reached over a staggering 225,000 people, plus more than 500,000 injured, from eleven different countries- parents, siblings, brothers and sisters were lost.
Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India were the worst hit.
On top of this, up to 5 million lost their homes or access to food and water, 1 million were left without the means to make a living.
The disaster triggered a worldwide humanitarian response, with more than $7 billion in humanitarian aid being donated.
The recovery process is those parts worst hit still continues in places.
The Asian tsunami of December 26th, 2004 was undoubtedly one of the worst disasters in history.
