--- description: Read TIME's report on the tsunami that struck a decade ago title: Boxing Day Tsunami: TIME's Cover Story image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltece63ec9c8b90638/69876f2fcd6848dbc6098a8a/1101050110_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [natural disaster](/tag/natural-disaster/) ## natural disaster Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # What Caused the Boxing Day Tsunami  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 26, 2014 2:00 PM CUT  The Jan. 10, 2005, cover of TIME The Jan. 10, 2005, cover of TIMETIME  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 26, 2014 2:00 PM CUT The day of Dec. 26, 2004, started with an earthquake, off the coast of Sumatra, and only got worse as the resulting tsunami hit coastal nations throughout the Indian Ocean. As TIME explained in a special issue devoted to the devastation, the geology behind the tsunami caused a chain reaction of disaster: --- > “” --- **_Tiina Seppanen survived, but more than 100,000 others did not._** **_Read the rest of the special issue, here in the TIME Vault, to learn more about what happened:_** [Tsunami](http://time.com/vault/issue/2005-01-10/page/1/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3636613/what-caused-the-boxing-day-tsunami/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3636613/what-caused-the-boxing-day-tsunami/"},"headline":"What Caused the Boxing Day Tsunami","datePublished":"2014-12-26T14:00:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:54:57.546Z","description":"Read TIME's report on the the natural disaster that struck ten years ago.","url":"https://time.com/3636613/what-caused-the-boxing-day-tsunami/","keywords":["natural disaster","tsunami"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltece63ec9c8b90638/69876f2fcd6848dbc6098a8a/1101050110_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltece63ec9c8b90638/69876f2fcd6848dbc6098a8a/1101050110_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tsunami Cover","caption":"Tsunami Cover","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/natural-disaster/","name":"natural disaster"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3636613/what-caused-the-boxing-day-tsunami/","name":"What Caused the Boxing Day Tsunami"}}]}] ```