In 2004, a large earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggered the largest tsunami in recorded history. One of the countries hit by the tsunami was Sri Lanka, where the wave caused one of the worst train disasters in human history when it hit the Queen of the Sea passenger line, which was carrying 1,500 passengers along Sri Lanka's west coast. Watch Destruction Decoded on Wednesdays at 8pm on National Geographic UK. | National Geographic UK

🌊 The Deadliest Tsunami in Recorded History On December 26, 2004, the world witnessed the most deadly tsunami ever documented. A massive 9.1–9.3 magnitude undersea earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. It was so powerful it shifted the Earth’s axis and created a series of tsunami waves that spread across the Indian Ocean at the speed of a jet plane. Within hours, coastlines in 14 countries were hit — including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and the Maldives. The Impact

🌊 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