Quake kills 2,000

last updated 8 January 2015

Sumatra, Indonesia

A large underwater earthquake struck near Indonesia this week, raising fears of another tsunami like the one that killed 300,000 people in December. The 8.7 magnitude quake was nearly as strong as the one that triggered the tsunami, and U.S. earthquake monitors sent warnings to Asian governments within minutes. In Indonesia and Sri Lanka, thousands of people still traumatized by the earlier catastrophe fled in terror to high ground. But this time, all the damage was caused by the quake itself, not by waves. The death toll, estimated at around 2,000, was highest on the small island of Nias, where most of the buildings collapsed.