LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Two decades ago, a devastating earthquake and tsunami rocked the Indian Ocean the day after Christmas, killing more than 230,000 people across 15 countries. 

A Louisville high school teacher who survived the disaster said it was a harrowing experience.

What You Need To Know

  • A devastating earthquake and tsunami rocked the Indian Ocean the day after Christmas in 2004 

  • It killed more than 230,000 people across 15 countries 
  • Louisville teacher Ned Berghausen, who at the time was teaching English in Bangladesh while in the Peace Corps, was staying on a remote island off of Thailand when the disaster struck

  • He recounted the experience as harrowing and said he is fortunate to have survived 

Twenty years ago, Ned Berghausen traveled to a remote island off of Thailand, taking a break when he taught English in Bangladesh while in the Peace Corps.

The day after Christmas has left a mark on his heart.

"I noticed the owner of the guesthouse got up and left in a hurry and stood up and looked down the street and saw more people running," Berghausen said. "And at the end of the street, I saw this dark mass, this gray body of I didn't know what. And at that moment, the people I was with and myself, we just got up and started running with the crowd." 

A 9.1 magnitude earthquake in the middle of the Indian Ocean caused the 2004 tsunami.

"I didn't know what was happening, but I was feeling very panicked and scared," Berghausen said. "We'd moved from this really peaceful morning, this day in paradise, to this inexplicable event, this strange phenomenon." 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported more than 230,000 people lost their lives in the deadliest tsunami in history. 

"I think the tsunami is one that wakes people up because the scale of the disaster was so huge," Berghausen said. "We've rarely seen a disaster that took the lives of so many people in such a short amount of time." 

NOAA experts said there was no warning system in place when the tsunami struck. People living in the region didn’t have the proper education on how to react when massive waves flooded coastlines around the Indian Ocean basin. 

"I think the lessons for me, for the tsunami, are about opening our hearts and recognizing the fragility of of our lives, evaluating what we care about and who we care about and recognizing that the people on the other side of the planet are connected to us, that what happens to them does impact us, and it should impact the decisions that we make," Berghausen said.

Berghausen now teaches theology at Assumption High School.

The NOAA Center for Tsunami Research reports if an earthquake is triggered now, tsunami warning centers in Alaska and Hawaii could issue warnings within minutes of an earthquake.