An earthquake measuring 9.1 on the richter scale rocked the western half of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. If that wasn't bad enough the quake triggered a tsunami up to 120 feet high that hammered the Asian and African coasts. :(

I took a moment of silence in memory of those who were unfortunate to be in the area where the quake and/or wave struck.

OMG. That was terrible. Ten years already! Didn't seem like it was that long ago!

It was the worst natural disaster in modern history. The tsunami waves would eventually claim well-over 250,000 lives in fourteen different countries across two continents, causing trillions of dollars in damages and a staggering death toll that wiped out entire families and villages. Many cities were completely leveled by the unrelenting waves that washed miles inland. Thousands of tourists, who had planned to spend the holidays in paradise, were caught completely off guard and perished in the waves.

ikq0P7U0x4Q

The various videos uploaded on youtube showed how different these waves can be in various places. In some places you saw a towering wall of water moving in, while others showed the water coming at a slower pace, even slower than a walking pace. One video showed the waters receding (Which is a sign you should make it to higher ground) then it showed the water coming back at the same speed (One video showed people splashing about in the hotel's lobby as the rising waters made its way to them!). Then the water got high enough where they couldn't stand, and that's when all H:censored:l broke loose. Interviews with local fisherman in one village mentioned how the water got "a little choppy" for a few minutes but mentioned adjoining villages a few miles north and south of them got wiped off the map. These videos also showed why these incidents are also referred to as "Tidal Waves". :eek: