It is not very likely that the majority of us will ever experience what it is like to live through a powerful tsunami like those poor souls who did back in 2004. This is one of the most powerful tsunamis ever recorded in history and it destroyed so many lives as well as left millions homeless with no where to go. This horrible hazard delivered by Mother Nature has to be one of the worst disasters that the modern world has ever seen and what we did see was absolutely unbelievable.



The reason that tsunamis happen is when there is some force that disrupts the water and causes a rollicking wave that can literally travel for miles and miles. The cause of the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean was an earthquake that was over a 9 magnitude. This is a tremendously powerful earthquake. Since it took place under the water, it caused a large bump, for lack of a better term, to rise up in the ocean that created the monster wave that eventually affected eleven different countries.

These people had no idea when they woke up that morning that before the day was over they would be living in a hell like existence. Everywhere the tsunami came ashore there was mass destruction of homes, businesses, and lives were lost. Livestock and people alike were simply swept away. The waves reached as far inland as six miles in places and that is a long way from the shore. The only people within the reach of the wave that had hope of survival were those that were in taller buildings that withstood the wave or some that were on more elevated ground. There were a lot who just got lucky and were able to keep from drowning as they were swept along with the water as it came in or receded.

The effects of this tsunami are still being overcome four years later. Many of the people that were so devastated were those who had little or nothing in the first place, but many more that did have homes or businesses are still struggling to recover. Money and supplies were sent by many other countries, but was no where near enough to get these places back to normal very quickly.

Just imagine if we were to experience a horrible tsunami on the shores of California that might be caused by an underwater earthquake near Japan. How in the world would we react to and survive such a devastating event? It would have economics effects nation wide, but as we are Americans, we would eventually recover and rebuild as damaging to us as it would be.