violent earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale off the western coast of Sumatra triggers tsunamis traveling at 800 km/h; upon reaching the coast, the wave slows down and rises for a good 10 meters, causing a catastrophe in the entire area: Indonesia (200,000 deaths), Sri Lanka (42,000), India (12,000), Thailand (6,000), Bangladesh, Myanmar, Maldives and even dozens of deaths in Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania; the deaths from the earthquake, the tsunami and the epidemics will be hundreds of thousands; the earthquake was caused by the subduction of the Indian plate under the Burma Plate for a good 30 meters; enormous and unprecedented international solidarity from private and state sources.
