Measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale, the sub-Ocean quake, just off the coast of Sumatra, triggered mountaineous tidal waves sweeping away everything in their path
Countries including Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Thailand, the Maldives and India were today reeling from the effects of the quake.
Waves as high as 18 feet ripped across the ocean hitting towns, villages and tourist hotspots.
In Sri Lanka at least one million people had to flee their homes and head for high ground, some carrying dead and injured loved ones.
More than a thousand miles of south east India was battered by waves as high as 12ft as the tsunami tore ashore.
In Thailand cars and debris littered the shore, while hospital wards, especially in the tourist hotspot of Phuket, were crammed with bloodstained victims.
The huge waves pounded the provinces of Trang, Songkhla, Phuket, Krabi, Ranong, Phang Nga, Satun and Surat Thani, which draw thousands of tourists every year.
Rescue teams were today searching beaches throughout the region for missing people, with many British holidaymakers among those unaccounted for – as further reports came in of huge seas now hitting the Seychelles and Somalia.