The Indian Ocean Tsunami

On boxing day 2004, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2 struck with an epicentre off the coast of Banda Aceh in Indonesia.
This undersea earthquake caused a massive Tsunami with waves 100 ft high that devastated communities along the surrounding coasts of the Indian ocean region killing an estimated 278,000 people in 14 countries; making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.

The images below are from a cover feature commissioned by the Observer Magazine interviewing and taking portraits of a cross section of the survivors and those who helped them in the immediate aftermath of this tumultuous event.