The earthquake that caused that devastating Tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004, had been building up under the earth’s crust for thousands of years.  When those forces were released, they caused a 9.0 magnitude quake near the coast of Sumatra.  There was a movement of several of the earth’s shelves or crusts, which are called tectonic plates, and that movement caused a vast displacement of water.  Later, the U. S. Geological Service said that this pushing up from these plates had been going on for over 10,000 years.  The water had to go somewhere and it moved like a huge ripple effect in every direction, all at once.  The hole it made in the floor of the ocean there was about 600 miles long.  When the water finally stopped moving, over 150,000 people were either dead or missing and millions of other people were homeless.