The boxing day

Tsunamis are a natural hazard in the form of composed of series of waves, called a wave train that can form in a large body of water. The waves and can be very destructive when waves reach shore. They are caused by undersea earthquakes, undersea volcanic eruptions or landslides and don‘t stop until they have hit shore. The speed of the waves can travel across the sea fast as jet planes, or up to 805 kilometers and hour. The waves travel faster in deep water and slow down when approaching shoreline which makes them barely noticeable above the waterline on the other hand the waves begin to grow in height when approaching the shoreline and get reach a height of 30 meters, onto land. The height of the waves depend on the dept of the water and are usually not more than 3 meter.

Also known as Boxing day

On 26 December the year 2004 the Jakarta`s Geo-Physical Center registers an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter and ends at measuring 9.3 on the Richter, at local time 7:58 am local time (00:58GMT), being the biggest eartquke registered in the world for 40 years

The earthquakes epicenter was undersea in the Indian Ocean. The earthquake‘s focal point was at a depth of 30km and the epicenter was 155km from the west coast of Northern Sumatra, which is an Island in Indonesia and 255km south east of Banda Aceh, which is the capital city of the Aceh Province 

The eartquake triggered a series of tsunami waves that are to this day the most destructive and deadliest in history taking 230.000 lives in countries around The Indian Ocean, both locals and tourists. The tsumani affected 18 countries, the hardest-hit and most severely affected countries were India, Indonesia, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Malaysia, Myanmar, Seychelles, Somalia and the United Republic of Tanzania were also affected.  

The waves were hitting the countries coastlines in matter of hours and ending in South Africa more than twelve hours after the earthquake, killing two people. At this time the beaches of these countries are filled with tourist relaxing and enjoying the good weather. 

The city Banda Aceh is the capital of the Indonesian province of Aceh on the island of Sumatra and is located on the north-western tip of Indonesia. The city is known as one of the most cultural- and historical-rich city in Indonesia and had a population of 252.917 per the 2004 census.

The city Banda Aceh was the first location to be hit by the tsunami waves and bore the brunt of the disaster. The massive tsunami waves traveled to the coastline of Banda Aceh at the speed of order of 500–800 km/h reaching it in 15-20 minutes, the second and the third waves being the most destructive. The waves grew up to 30 m (100 ft) high once heading inland

The damage from the tsunami had not only devastating impact on the people but also the structures, infranstructure and on the nature of the areas, with the most impact on areas closest to the fault lines. Wildfires and flooding can also follow tsunamis and can cause exstensive damage. The damage left 1.5 million homeless and 5-6 million in the need of water, emergency aid and food. The greatest impact was on rural costal communities but the civilians from the countries could this terrible event to new design critical structures and important infrastructure to survive future tsunami effects.

The tsunami affected the tourism industry in the most affected countries. Banda Aceh  got attention and rose to international prominence following the tsunami. A location rising up to prominence after natural disaster has occurd is not a unique situation, it can sometimes play a role as a motivating factor for tourist to visit the area. Even though the city got more international attention the tourism in these countries were negetively affected. If looking at tourist arrival numbers from 2004-2005 we can see decrease in tourist arrivals in almost all the countries. Natural disasters can have can have profound effects on individuals and society. It can impact travel behaviour in tourists and their destination choices.