Is the most widespread catastrophe ni the modern age. Krakatoa's 1883 explosion, if it took place today would likely kill more but the area of tsunami damage is limited because of the location of Krakatoa. The event of this last Sunday may very well be the biggest challenge to the logistics of catastrophe relief yet. This wave is in effect a dry run for a small space object hitting an ocean basin. It will be interesting to see how this ramps up, and how the coordination works out. Most of the world's population lives close to oceans now, and a similar catastrophe near major ports, say northwestern Europe, the western Pacific, or north central Atlantic, could disrupt trade routes for many millions more than those effected by the event itself. The tragedy in the Inidan ocean stands starkly, but it is clear that this was likely the best place ni the world for such an event to have minimal impact.
I wonder if there is a way to correlate this event'swave action to an equivalent impact of a small asteroid?
Ed