Approximately 35,000 people died in Sri Lanka as a result of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Sri Lanka suffered the second-highest national death toll after Indonesia, even though it was hundreds of kilometers from the earthquake’s epicenter.
The undersea megathrust earthquake occurred off northern Sumatra on 26 December 2004. Its seafloor displacement sent tsunami waves across the Indian Ocean, striking Sri Lanka’s eastern coastline first and later reaching southern and southwestern shores after refracting around Dondra Head.
The eastern coast faced toward the tsunami’s source and experienced especially severe flooding. Coastal communities lost homes, fishing boats, roads, and water supplies. Saltwater also contaminated wells and farmland, while about 1.5 million people were displaced from their homes.
The death toll is sometimes given as roughly 31,000 confirmed deaths plus several thousand missing, while broader contemporary estimates combine deaths and missing people. That is why quiz references commonly round the figure to approximately 35,000. One of the disaster’s most infamous episodes was the destruction of the Queen of the Sea train near Peraliya, where at least 900 people died and estimates may be higher.