4.9 magnitude earthquake

According to the report of the National Center of Seismology (NCS), an earthquake of 4.9 magnitude occurred in the Indian Ocean on Sunday morning.

The NCS, sharing details in a post on Twitter, said the quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres.

NCS said, “EQ of M: 4.9, Date: 12/04/2026 08:10:38 IST, Latitude: 1.806 N, Longitude: 94.924 E, Depth: 10 km, Location: Indian Ocean”.

Shallow earthquakes are generally more dangerous than deep earthquakes. This is because seismic waves from shallow earthquakes have less distance to travel to the surface, resulting in stronger ground shaking and potentially greater damage to structures and more deaths.

A magnitude 9.2–9.3 earthquake struck at 07:58:53 (local time) on December 26, 2004, with its epicenter off the west coast of Aceh in North Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the scientific community as the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, was caused by the rift between the Burma Plate and the Indian Plate, and reached Mercalli intensity IX in some areas.

The earthquake caused a massive tsunami with waves up to 30 meters (100 ft) high, known as the Boxing Day tsunami or Asian tsunami after the Boxing Day holiday, which devastated communities along the coasts around the Indian Ocean, killing an estimated 227,898 people in 14 countries, notably Aceh (Indonesia), Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu (India) and Khao Lak (Thailand).

The direct result of this was severe disruption of living conditions and commerce in the coastal provinces of these and surrounding countries. It is the deadliest tsunami in history, the deadliest natural disaster of the 21st century, and one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.