When the earthquake hit in December, 2004, off the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, the magnitude level was 9.3 making it the second largest earthquake ever recorded. This was the fourth time that an earthquake had occurred in this region.  Still there was almost no warning, and little if any time for the people in the path of the Tsunami that was created by the earthquake, to reach safety.  The Tsunami caused the loss of lives of over 225,000 people, and this is just an estimate.  In entire coastal regions (everyone and everything) of Sri  Lanka, India, Thailand, the Maldives,  areas along the cost of Asia and many small islands in between these large land masses.  Even if there had been a warning, there were only a few minutes for the people in some regions to seek higher ground.  I hope they find a warning system that is more effective, and soon!