Three forces are combining with deadly effect on the Indian Ocean island, which is incalculably rich in wildlife but impoverished in basic infrastructure.
But a week later, tracking data released by Malaysian authorities revealed the plane had flown up to eight hours in the opposite direction before crashing in the Southern Indian Ocean of the coast of Western Australia.
This one's in the Bay of Bengal, in the northern Indian Ocean, and it could cause catastrophic problems for northeastern India and the nation of Bangladesh.
The 10th anniversary last month was marked in the rebuilt city by a UN conference on how to reduce the risks of disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis of the type that battered the Indian Ocean in December.
The group recently helped Ingrid Gudmundsson confirm that her pregnant daughter and her one-year-old granddaughter were killed in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.