Tsunami strikes the shores of Indian Ocean countries

The Indian Ocean earthquake on 26th December 2004, had a magnitude of 9.15.

It triggered a series of lethal tsunamis on that killed approximately 275,000 people (more than 168,000 in Indonesia alone), making it the deadliest tsunami in recorded history.

The tsunami killed people over an area ranging from the immediate vicinity of the quake in Indonesia, Thailand and the north-western coast of Malaysia to thousands of kilometres away in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and even as far as Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania in eastern Africa.

The disaster prompted a huge worldwide effort to help victims of the tragedy, with billions of dollars being raised for disaster relief.

WWF Tsunami News 2004-2005

Key links

WWF's Response

WWF called for green reconstruction, stressing that a healthy environment is key for long-term economic prosperity and security.

The global conservation organization wanted to ensure that the mistakes of past reconstruction and planning policies were not made and that we "built back better".

One year after the tsunami, reconstruction is under way. There are some "green shoots" of recovery. However, there is a serious risk that poorly planned reconstruction could end up doing as much or more long-term environmental damage than the tsunami itself did. More>>

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