Understanding of the Sumatran subduction zone and its hazards has increased since the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

Christmas in 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake under the Indian Ocean triggered tsunami waves that killed some 230,000 people across a dozen countries.

One was about tsunami hazards of San Francisco Bay and the other a poster on a new method of tsunami hazard mapping. There were roughly 30 people in the oral session, pretty typical for tsunami meetings at the time,