Up to 4,000 people were evacuated from low lying areas of Thailand for fear that the second Indian Ocean earthquake – 8.7 on the Richter scale – in three months would spark another tsunami.

Authorities were not taking any chances and although, in the event, the area was unaffected by giant waves the governments of Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India all put out tsunami warnings. This was in contrast to the Boxing Day quake – 9.3 on the Richter scale – when no warnings were issued and up to 280,000 people were killed.

So far the death toll is up to 300 on the island of Nias off the Indonesian island of Sumatra: mostly killed as buildings collapsed.

Yachting Monthly carried a special report in the April issue when two staffers chartered the first Sunsail yacht following the Boxing Day quake to see how the area was recovering.