Just two years after this project was consummated, in 2004, a massive undersea earthquake of magnitude 9.1 or more occurred and tsunami attacked the western part of the Pacific Ocean and almost every coastal area of the Indian Ocean including the Maldives. This enormous tsunami killed 230,000–280,000 people in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Madagascar, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and the Maldives outside Malé Island. Nevertheless, in the Maldives, the anti-tsunami barrier built by collaboration between both of the island countries, protected those who lived in Malé without any deaths.