Tsunamis are large waves caused by earthquakes or landslides that displace large volumes of water, and can travel thousands of miles inland. The deadliest tsunami on record was in 2004 in the Indian Ocean, killing over 250,000 people in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and other areas due to a lack of early warning systems. Other destructive historic tsunamis include the 1908 Messina tsunami in Italy that killed around 70,000 people and the 1979 Tumaco tsunami in Colombia that killed 259 people.