On Dec 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck the eastern rim of the Indian Ocean. It, along with the resultant tsunami, devastated coastal areas in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka, leaving nearly a quarter of a million people dead, and making it one of the worst human disasters in over a century. The third strongest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph, it triggered quakes as far away as Alaska. It had the longest duration ever observed, between 8 and 10 minutes.