🌊 2004 Tsunami: 230,000 Dead in One Day On December 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.1–9.3 earthquake off Sumatra ripped open the seafloor and launched a tsunami that killed around 230,000 people across 14 countries. Many of those people never felt the earthquake. They were on beaches, in trains, in fishing villages and resorts. Hours later, the ocean rose up and erased their world. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Somalia, Tanzania and more — all hit by waves born f