Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition Â© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 Â© HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Cite This Source
According to Oxfam, five million people were affected of which 1.7m were made homeless, half a million were injured and more than 230,000 were killed. The TEC said 40,000 to 45,000 more women than men were killed in the tsunami.
In addition, while thousands were killed in Japan because of the twin disasters, the March 2011 tsunami is not the world's deadliest. Throughout history there have been many earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other disturbances that have caused very large tsunamis that have killed hundreds of thousands of people.