Tidal Waves Kill More Than 3,300 in Asia

The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into villages and seaside resorts across Asia on Sunday, killing more than 3,300 people in five countries.



The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into villages and seaside resorts across Asia on Sunday, killing more than 3,300 people in five countries. Tourists, fishermen, homes and cars were swept away by walls of water up to 20 feet high unleashed by the 8.

9-magnitude earthquake, centered off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

A police spokesman in Sri Lanka said 1,677 people were killed in that country.

Officials in India reported 1,100 dead.

More than 400 were reported killed in Indonesia, 168 in Thailand and 28 in Malaysia. Hundreds were reported missing, and the death toll was expected to rise.

The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at a magnitude of 8.

9. Geophysicist Julie Martinez said it was the world's fifth-largest since 1900 and the largest since a 9.2 temblor hit Prince William Sound Alaska in 1964.

"All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysi