It’s not a nice thing to do, comparing deaths, but this has to be said to truly understand the impact of the 2009 Samoa Tsunami.
The Asian Tsunami killed 230,000 people, but the disaster affected some 15 countries over three continents with a total combined population of almost 1.76 billion people (1,759,793,679 to be precise*).
The 2009 Samoa Tsunami however killed 143 people from a population of only 186,100.
The difference for the two events can be seen in the graph. Deaths in the Asian Tsunami affected one in 7644 people however this was much higher at one in 1301 for Samoa.
* SOURCE DATA:
| Indonesia | 241,973,879 |
| Sri Lanka | 19,900,000 |
| India | 1,065,000,000 |
| Thailand | 64,000,000 |
| Somalia | 8,000,000 |
| Myanmar | 47,000,000 |
| Maldives | 339,000 |
| Malaysia | 23,500,000 |
| Tanzania | 36,500,000 |
| Seychelles | 80,800 |
| Bangladesh | 141,000,000 |
| South Africa | 43,000,000 |
| Yemen | 20,000,000 |
| Kenya | 32,000,000 |
| Madagascar | 17,500,000 |
| 1,759,793,679 |