On the western coasts of Indonesia, the waves reached a height of 34 metres, causing the total destruction of the infrastructures on the coast and of the vegetation, while the waves that hit the Maldive islands, were about 1 to a maximum of 3.5 metres high. The Maldives archipelago is to the West of Sumatra, thousands of kilometres away from the epicentre of the earthquake, and the tidal wave reached at low tide and therefore the damages were remarkably reduced. If the tsunami had struck the Maldives at high tide, probably the damages would have been much greater. The government declared there were 82 dead and 26 missing persons, approximately 4000 homes destroyed, while 72.5% of the tourist islands remained totally operative, (63 islands out of 87). From local evidence gathered directly in the Maldive islands, apparently the greatest damages were caused by the rapid outflow of water after the passing of the wave, which also carried with it debris of various kinds, such as boats, lumber, furniture, plants, etc.

The sea inundated most of the Four Season Resort Maldives at nearby Kuda Huras

The White Sands resort & Spa was one of the worst hit islands. A two-meter-high tsunami wave appeared suddenly and was strong enough to send a surge of water through the resort and push guests against the walls of their rooms. Six people were injured but no one was killed.

Beachfront bungalow were flooded; their windows and balconies were shattered

While there was not the huge loss of life like that suffered in other areas, buildings and infrastructure were badly damaged. One in three people and half the homes were affected. Infrastructure in some places was completely destroyed