ABSTRACT
The tsunami that rolled across the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004, affected several countries. Although Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and South India were hit hardest, several other countries, including Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, and Somalia, sustained damage. The tsunami's epicenter was off the coast of Acheh in West Sumatra, in Indonesia, north of Simulue Island, at a depth of nineteen miles. It took a toll of more than 250,000 people in eleven countries. The word tsunami comes from Japanese, tsu meaning "harbor" and nami meaning "waves." There is possibly only one other language that has a word for the phenomenon. The word aazhi peeralai in the Tamil language in South India speaks of the devastating waves that rose some seven hundred years ago, among the structures affected being the famous Mahabalipuram temples near Chennai. Tsunamis are caused by submarine earthquakes. The event of December 26, 2004, is now known as the Great Sumatra–Andaman earthquake (GSAE), or the Asian Tsunami.
