More than 12 300 people were killed and tens of thousands left homeless after a powerful undersea earthquake unleashed giant _ waves that crashed into the coasts of south and southeast Asia. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra early on Sunday was the biggest in 40 years.It triggered waves that reared up into walls of water as high as 10 meters(30 feet) as they hit coastlines in Indonesia,Sri Lanka,India and Thailand. Aid agencies rushed staff,equipment and money to the region,warning that bodies rotting in the water were already beginning to threaten the water supply for survivors. Rescue workers also spoke of bodies still caught up on trees after being flung inland by the waves. "I just couldn't believe what was happening before my eyes,"Boree Carlson said from a hotel in the Thai resort of Phuket. "As I was standing there,a car actually floated into the lobby and overturned because the current was so strong,"said the 45-year-old Swede. "I heard an eerie sound that I have never heard before.It was a high pitched sound followed by a deafening roar,"said a 55-year-old Indian fisherman who gave his name as Chellappa. "I told everyone to run for their life." In Indonesia,an archipelago of 17 000 islands,one official said nearly 4500 people had died.The worst affected area was Bands Aceh,the capital of Aceh Province,where 3000 were killed.More than 200 prisoners escaped from a jail when the tsunami knocked down its walls.In Sri Lanka ,the death toll also reached 4500 and 1 million people,or 5 percent of its population,were affected.It was the worst natural disaster to hit Sri Lanka.Hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans sheltered in schools and temples overnight,and officials expected the death toll to rise further once rescuers resumed searches after daybreak.In southern India,where at least 3000 were estimated to have died,beaches were littered with submerged cars and wrecked boats.Shanties on the coast were under water. Thai government officials said at least 392 bodies had been retrieved and they expected the final toll to approach 1000. The earthquake,of magnitude 8.9 as measured by the U.S. Geological Survery (news-web sites),struck at 7:59 a.m.(1959EST).It was the world's biggest since 1964,said Julie Martinez at the USGS(news-web sites). The tsunami was so powerful it smashed boast and flooded areas along the east African coast,3728 miles away. What does the passage mainly talk about?
Asian tsunami kills many people,and many more become homeless. An earthquake happens. The tsunami was so powerful that it smashed boats and people. It was the biggest earthquake in 40 years.