Seismic investigation of the Great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake

Some of the first seismic survey research* aimed at understanding the 2004 tsunami which caused so much devastation in SE Asia has been completed. This is the progress so far. The tsunami from the Great Sumatra earthquake of 26 December 2004 killed approximately 300,000 people in South East Asia and caused unaccountable loss of property. The main earthquake (Mw~9.2-9.3, pure thrust focal mechanism) was the biggest such event for the last 40 years and occurred along the Sumatran subduction zone. It was followed by hundreds of aftershocks and by an Mw=8.7 earthquake to the south on 28 March 2005.