Indian Ocean - stock photo

This August 2010 photo shows the Indian Ocean on the southwest coastline of Aceh province, Indonesia. This stretch of coastline was devastated by the great earthquake and tsunami that struck in December 2004, almost six years earlier than the photo. Not only did this 2004 earthquake generate a huge tsunami it permanently dropped large portions of the Aceh coastline around Calang by up to one metre. This caused new coastlines along most of the southwest coast of Aceh creating drowned river valleys and farm fields and the need to construct a new coastal highway further inland from the coastal subsidence.