In December 2004, King traveled with Secretary of State Colin Powell to Indonesia, Thailand and other SouthAsian countries, and then remained in the region to cover the disaster and aftermath of thetsunami that took more than 175, 000 lives in the region.
After theAsiantsunami ESRI India set up, for free, a center in Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu in thesouth to map the villages that were affected and offered information on the population of each village and the damage sustained.