Global seismographic network records the Great Sumatra‐Andaman earthquake

On 26 December 2004 the Indonesian sub-duction zone near the northern end of Sumatrabegan to rupture at 58 minutes,47 secondspast midnight Greenwich Mean Time.The rup-ture continued for approximately seven min-utes,extending northwestward along the SundaTrench for roughly 1200 km to the AndamanIslands.The seafloor displacement generateda massive tsunami that swept ashore with 10-mamplitude in northern Sumatra and expandedacross the Indian Ocean and Andaman Sea,striking Sri Lanka and Thailand within twohours of the rupture.Confirmed deaths alongthe coastlines of 11 Indian Ocean nationsexceed 220,000,marking this as one of themost lethal natural disasters in human history.The 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake isthe largest event since the 1964 Good FridayAlaskan earthquake (