On Sunday, December 26, 2004 a magnitude 9.0 earthquake occured about 100 miles west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
In the aftermath of the quake resultant tsunami waves have killed over 280,000 people in towns and villages along the coast of the Indian Ocean. Over 3 million of survivors have their livelihoods destroyed. For the latest count of people dead, missing, injured and displaced, and for an update on relief and reconstruction efforts see the most recent World Health Organisation (WHO) [www.who.int] Situation Report. The affected countries (in alphabetic order) are: India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Somalia.