In 2004, the wall of water overtook Indonesia

amsterdam - With the tsunami of today, the thoughts automatically return to Boxing Day in 2004, when the Netherlands was startled by the news of the severe seaquake near Indonesia. The resulting tsunami caused one of the biggest natural disasters of the past decades.

The earthquake with a force of 9. 3 on the Richter Scale in the Indian Ocean caused a tidal wave that reached a height of ten meters in some places. The wall of water raced at nine hundred kilometers per hour to Indonesia and India and attacked coastal villages, holiday resorts and coastal roads.

In total, about 226,000 people were killed by the natural violence. Most of the victims fell in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The worst hit was the Indonesian island of Aceh, which was close to the epicenter. Bandah Aceh was destroyed for more than three-quarters. According to the authorities, nearly one hundred thousand people were killed on the island.

The damage was also enormous in Sri Lanka. About seventeen hundred people were killed when the tidal wave dragged a crowded train. That happened near the city of Peraliya.

A total of 36 Dutch people died in the natural disaster. Twenty-eight died in Thailand, two in Sri Lanka.

An aid campaign organized by various aid organizations eventually managed to raise more than two hundred million euros. This happened thanks to television broadcasts and attention on the radio.

The tsunami disaster in 2004 thus gave the impression that several films have appeared, including The Impossible by the Spanish director Bayona from 2012.