The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed more than 300,000 people, according to the US National Geophysical Data Center. The deadliest tsunami in recorded history was triggered by the second-largest earthquake in recorded history, at magnitude 9.3, in the ocean near Indonesia's Sumatra island. The wave measured higher than 80 feet, which is still much lower than the 1,742-foot-high Lityua Bay tsunami of 1958, considered the tallest-ever.
Amid the devastation, the Monitor reported how 59 people in Aceh, Indonesia, were saved by a veritable Noah's Ark. "In water up to their necks, they embraced, prayed and said their goodbyes. Then the boat came flying through the air and, with a sound like a thunderclap, crashed to a halt on top of the building."
None of these tsunamis listed, however, wiped out an entire culture. That responsibility goes alone to the tsunami of 1628 BC, which submerged the entire eastern Mediterranean coast and is believed to have destroyed Minoan culture, according to the National Geophysical Data Center.
