A massive earthquake has hit South Asia near the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. CNN is reporting that the death toll has already risen to about 11,000. The magnitude of the destruction has been felt even as far as a thousand kilometers away in India. Coastal areas of India and Sri Lanka have been hit by massive waves resulting in entire villages being washed out.
All the news channels are hooked onto the story and as the communication links get restored coverage of this catastrophy is bound to increase.
Selva has a link to the earthquake measurements. He correctly points out that our knowledge of the planet has not yet progressed to a level where earthquakes of this nature can be predicted. We have a long way to go.