As the tsunami warnings are being issued by the Indonesian government on Wednesday following a massive 8.7 magnitude earthquake, the coastal regions across the Indian Ocean are evacuated. As the authorities certainly believe the earthquake has the potential to cause a huge devastation, here is a good reason why.

Take a look at some of the deadliest tsunamis which were triggered by similar earthquakes in the past.

27 August 1883 - The tsunami was caused by the eruptions from the Krakatoa volcano. The volcanic eruption in turn triggered a deadly tsunami which killed 36,000 people in the Indonesian islands of western java and southern Sumatra. The killer waves washed ashore coral blocks as large as 600 tons.

20 September 1498 - The tsunami was estimated to have killed at least 31,000 people. An 8.3 magnitude earthquake caused powerful waves across Enshunada Sea of Japan affecting the coastal areas of Kii, Mikawa, Surugu, Izu and Sagami.

28 October 1707 - A lethal earthquake with a magnitude of 8.4 triggered a tsunami in the Pacific coasts of Kyushyu, Shikoku and Honshin. Almost 30,000 people were killed and which also caused significant damages to nearly 30,000 buildings.

1 November 1755 - This was again caused by an earthquake of magnitude 8.5 and reportedly killed more than 60,000 people along the west coast of Portugal and Southern Spain few other parts of Europe.

13 August 1868 - This was caused by two different earthquakes of an estimated magnitude 8.5 in coastal regions of Africa and Peru. The deadly waves from this tsunami killed more than 25,000 people across the region and also causing a huge damage to the properties.

15 June 1896 - The coast of Sanriku, Japan experienced a deadly tsunami, which killed more than 22,000 people and left another 11,000 homeless. Further reports also suggest that a corresponding tsunami hitting the east coast of China also killed more than 4,000 people and causing an extensive damage to local crops.

28 December 1908 - This disaster witnessed the killing of more than 120,000 people in the Messina in Sicily and Italian coastal regions.

1 September 1923 - This not so famous tsunami killed more than 145,000 people across areas such as Sagami Bay, Kanto Plain, Atami and Nebukawa and Japan.

24 December 2004 - The tsunami estimated to have killed more than 230,000 people and left millions of others homeless across 11 countries. This tsunami was triggered by an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 with the epicentre at the west coast of Sumatra islands, best known as the Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Sources: USGS, NOAA, Australian Geographic.

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