I was a youngling when this happened but rereading about this event 20 years later… we’ve seen nothing like it. I think the most interesting fact from this earthquake/tsunami is that the Indian Ocean’s volume permanently decreased as a result of sea floor movement, producing a rise in the global sea level by an estimated 0.1 mm.

This event also improved tsunami warning systems throughout the Indian Ocean and Indonesia, hopefully if an event like this happens there will be a lot more notice given.

A good point. From the get-go humans have been intensely tribal and fearful of outsiders. 10,000 years of history shows we kinda bumbled our way through it with a lot of causalities but also a lot of beautiful culture, art, feats, and athletic talent sprinkled in for people who had the time. Now every part of the earth is so interconnected it is unprecedented. How we bumble through this stage is unfolding into a sad story but I can’t get too beat up about it for my own sanity.

A nuclear winter isn’t a scientific guarantee, many post-cold war models have suggested it might not happen.

That said, shit would get fucked up but for how long and what affects they have on the atmosphere is still debated.