PADANGSIDEMPUAN, Indonesia, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- An earthquake hit southern Asia Sunday, killing more than 10,000 people in massive tidal waves, the BBC reported.
The 8.9 magnitude quake struck under the sea near Aceh in north Indonesia, generating a 30-foot-tall wall of water that sped across thousands of miles of sea and washed away entire villages. More than 4,100 died in Indonesia, 3,500 in Sri Lanka and 2,000 in India. Additional casualties were reported from Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and the Maldives, Sky News reported.
In Sri Lanka, where a state of emergency has been declared, more than 200 prisoners escaped when the huge waves swept away a high security prison in Matara, CNN reported.
The quake was the strongest in 40 years and the fifth most powerful since 1900.
The European Union has sent $4 million in aid to the region.
Geophysicist Don Blakeman with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center said the earthquake was classified as "great" -- the strongest possible classification -- and all of the tidal waves were triggered by the initial quake, and not the nine aftershocks, CNN reported.
