Approaching land the waves grew into a wall of water five stories high When they crashed down they leveled Jaloe’s hometown of Banda Aceh In the final count more than 250,000 people died or went missing More than a quarter of those people came from the town of Banda Aceh Within hours of the earthquake huge waves radiating from the epicenter slammed into the coastlines of 11 countries damaging countries from east Africa to Thailand 6
Jaloe was lucky He steered his boat out to sea as the wave approached He survived But other fishermen headed straight for shore They perished Along the shoreline many people had no idea what was happening Some clung to coconut trees as the waves rolled in A few scrambled to higher ground Still others rushed toward the water to capture fish flopping around on the ocean floor In the town the tsunami swept away buildings homes and schools Jaloe later found an empty lot where his home once stood He never found his wife Although there were several hours between the earthquake and the impact of the tsunami nearly all of the victims were taken completely by surprise because there were no tsunami warning systems in place 7
While the tsunami destroyed everything in its path it also dropped debris everywhere when the water receded It cast boats onto the dry ground It overturned cars Officials estimated the damage at more than ten billion dollars It took five years to clean up The tsunami left the people of Banda Aceh with 13 million cubic yards 10 million cubic meters of trash Much of it washed out to sea People burned some of the debris but other trash was recycled to build roads and buildings 8
The Indonesian tsunami of 2004 known as the Boxing Day Tsunami was by far the worst in recorded history It reached more than a dozen countries Nine hours after the earthquake the tsunami reached Kenya which is more than 4,000 miles 6,400 kilometers away Five-foot-high 1 5 meter waves dragged hippopotami out to sea and killed three swimmers What is this powerful force In Thailand waves as tall as 13 feet 4 meters hit many beach resorts causing widespread damage and injuries 9
