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A giant earthquake occurred off Sumatra Island of Indonesia, on December 26, 2004. The earthquake, an interplate event, caused by the subduction of Indo-Australian) plate beneath the Andaman (or Burma) microplate was the largest in size (Mw 9.1) in the world for the last 40 years. While the epicenter was located west off Sumatra Island, the aftershock zone extended through the Nicobar to the Andaman Islands. This earthquake generated a tsunami which devastated the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South India, and Thailand as far as the east coast of Africa. More than 200,000 people are thought to have died as a result of the tsunami. In Myanmar, however, the damage and casualties were relatively small compared to other countries that were impacted.This report summarizes the results of a survey to documents the effects of the tsunami along the Myanmar coast and seeks to identify why the damage was much smaller than the neighboring Thai coast, and how vulnerable the Myanmar coast may be for future tsunamis.
