? A massive earthquake of magnitude 9.0 hit Indonesia off the west coast of Sumatra on the morning of December 26,2004, at 6:58 a.m. Another earthquake of magnitude 7.3 occurred 81km west of Pulo Kunji (Great Nicobar, India) at 9:51 a.m. on the same day. The earthquakes set off giant tsunamis three to 10 metres high, which travelled 2,000km across the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal.