In 2004, a devastating event occurred that would change the face of natural disasters forever. Early in the morning on December twenty-sixth, 2004, the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami began. While the event itself was not long in duration, the effects that it had on society and the Earth will last a lifetime. The Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, more commonly known as the Sumatran Earthquake or The Boxing Day Tsunami, caused catastrophic effects in the area, but also around the globe.
The Indian Ocean earthquake occurred at almost one o’clock in the middle of the night. The epicentre was located off the West coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, and expanded 30 kilometres. It is one of the largest and most devastating natural disasters in history with a magnitude of 9.1. The tsunami had massive water surges up to twenty metres high, and it travelled as far as three thousand miles to Africa and still arrived with sufficient force to kill people and destroy property. (National Geographic News, 2015). The tsunami resulted in at least 227,000 fatalities, destroyed 141,000 houses and took away the livelihood of more than 600,000 people. (The Bolton Council of Mosques, 2015). The force of the earthquake was thought to have had the energy of 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs.
The cause of the earthquake and
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. The scale of the generous public response was unprecedented, not only in the amount of money raised but also in the proportion of funding from the general public, and the speed with which money was pledged or donated. $ 2.5 billion USD at least, was added to the above amount by Governments of affected countries. $190 million USD was donated by the population of the affected countries recorded through formal channels. There is no reliable estimate of the economic value of the contribution of the affected population to their own survival. (Tsunami Evaluation Coalition,