On Boxing Day 2004 enormous stresses at the boundary between Australian and Eurasian crustal plates were suddenly released beneath the Indian Ocean. As one plate slid past the other the shifts generated an earthquake of magnitude 9.3 – the largest recorded anywhere in 44 years.

The earthquake disrupted the seafloor, creating a tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean claiming more than 230,000 lives. Could the catastrophe have been predicted and many lives saved? And are we better prepared should such a tsunami strike again?