Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
Although National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in Hawaii eventually issued warnings of a possible tsunami from the large earthquake off Sumatra, the waves outran notification systems at jet speeds of 500 mph (804 km/h), catching hundreds of thousands of people unaware. The following is a timeline of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. All times are Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), on Sunday, 26 December 2004.