Tsunamis: the deadliest waves in modern history

THE tsunamis that claimed thousands of lives across the Indian Ocean this week are the deadliest great waves in over a century and probably in modern history.

More than 36,000 people were killed by tsunamis following the explosion of the volcano Krakatau in the Sunda Strait near Indonesia’s Java island on August 27, 1883. Many estimates of the number killed in that disaster were even higher.

The death toll from Sunday’s tsunamis looks set to top 100,000 in 12 nations.