December 24, 2004 an undersea mega thrust earthquake hit the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia with a magnitude of 9.1, making it the third largest earthquake in history, and also the longest. It took over 8 minutes, causing the whole earth to shift, triggering other earthquakes as far as Alaska and killing over 230, 000 people in 14 countries. It even caused at death at Port Elizabeth in South Africa, 8,000 miles away from the epicenter.

It was caused when the Indian plate was subducted by the Burma Plate and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most land masses.