20 years since the devastating 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami

On December 26, 2004 a tsunami in the Indian Ocean devastated the coastlines of 14 countries, killing 227,898 people, including 26 Australians.

Transcript

00:00On December 26, 2004, a tsunami in the Indian Ocean devastated the coastlines of 14 countries.

00:15It killed 227,898 people, including 26 Australians.

00:22It cost $10 billion in damages and is considered the deadliest natural disaster of the 21st

00:30The youngest Australian victim was Melina Heppel, who was just six months old.

00:35She was swept out of her father Peter's arms when the tsunami hit Patong Beach in Thailand.

00:41Melbourne AFL player Troy Broadbridge died on Phi Phi Island while on his honeymoon with

00:47his new wife, Trisha.

00:49Moy Vogel was also on her honeymoon when she died.

00:53She had called her family on Christmas Day to give them the news that she was pregnant.

00:58The tsunami was caused by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Aceh

01:04in northern Sumatra, Indonesia.

01:07That earthquake was the third most powerful in history, behind the 9.5 magnitude earthquake

01:13that hit Chile in 1960 and Alaska's devastating 9.2 earthquake in 1964.