Diego Garcia, a 10-square-mile British island leased to the U.S. Navy, sits in the middle of the Indian Ocean, just south of the hard-hit Maldives... With an average height of 4 feet above sea level and a high point of only 22 feet, the island would have seemed to be as vulnerable as many other Indian Ocean islands to the tsunami that smashed into the coastline of Southeast Asia Christmas night... Yet favorable ocean topography, including that deep underwater trench, and a fortunate decision by the Navy to place key facilities at the northern end of the island shielded Diego Garcia from major damage. While a 6-foot-high wave did hit the island, the underwater canyon essentially bore the brunt of the assault.
“There was no impact to facilities or personnel there,” one Navy official told NBC News, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There was minor debris and beach erosion at other areas of the island, but nothing significant.”
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