News:

December 26 , 2005

Tsunami Anniversary

Today marks the anniversary of the devastating 2004 indean ocean tsunami that swept away nearly 300,000 lives. Memorial services and a moment of silece were held in the countries worst hit by the tsunami.

New Video Added

I added the full version of the video showing a man being engulfed by the tsunami in Khao Lack Thailand. The video is more than 15 minutes long and shows the whole secuence of the tsunami from it's arival to it's aftermath and includes grim close ups of a number of bodies left by the tsunami as it retreats. Be warned, this is very graphic footage.

Download Video

Older News

Tsunami Memorial Video

A very touching tsunami memorial video made by Chris Valentine featuring most of the videos available on this site. A must see video, please share it with as many people as possible to create awareness about this disaster.

High Quality (49.8MB)

Medium Quality (32.8MB)

Location: Patong Beach, Thailand

Video Description: Taken by a local resident who was about to film a marathon, the video captured the massive earthquake as it shook the town of Banda Aceh. Participants and spectators of the marathon could be seen holding onto the ground as they waited for the quake to subside. Cars were jolted from side to side by the 9.1-strong quake.

Residents soon rushed their way inland as they heard news about the tsunami. The cameraman also captured survivors climbing on the piles of debris gathered by the flowing river, some of whom managed to escape by reaching the river bank.

Download

Video size (4.32 MB)

Location: Patong Beach, Thailand

Video Description: Standing in the water and debris left by waves on Thailand's Patong beach, people at a construction site looked on unaware as larger, deadly waves swept towards them.

Download

Video size (6.38 MB)

Location: Khao Lak, Thailand

Video Description: Shot by a Finnish tourist this footage shows the tsunami arriving at a beach in Khao Lak. The height and power of the tsunami featured in this video is truly amazing.

Download

Video size (2.21 MB)

Location: Koh Phi Phi Island, Thailand

Video Description: Shot by an American tourist the video shows the tsunami waves getting dangerously close to the cameraman and his family who luckely are staying in the 3rd floor of their hotel therefore only experience a big scare. The same cannot be said about other tourists who stayed in lower floors.

Download

Video size (11.9 MB)

Location: Similan Islands, Thailand

Video Description: Shot by a tourist in the island of Mu Koh Similan shows the 2nd wave enter the camping and headquarters of the National Park which is located very deep inside the island.
Virtualy no place in the island was left habitable after the tsunamis struck and destroyed most of the infrastructure and swept away nearly all of the food and drinking water.

Download

Video size (28.3 MB)

Location: Kandholhudhoo, Maldives

Video Description: This video was aparently shot by a local from the Maldives Islands. Although it is not very dramatic one can clearly see how the sea literaly sweeps through the whole island.

Download

Video size (6.26 MB)

Location: Thailand

Video Description: This is a long video shot by Israelis and it shows the tsunami flood ariving and battering the city. There are amazing shots inside a building showing the water flood the first floor taking everything in it's path. At the end of the video there are a couple of shots of the destruction left by this devastating tsunami.

Download

Video size (21.6 MB)

Location: Aceh, Indonesia

Video Description: Shot by a wedding photographer perched on a rooftop in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, the tape shows a torrent of dark brown water flowing fast and furious down the street below. The water, which came about 15 minutes after a massive undersea quake rocked the area, turned the street into a river which carried planks, mattresses, cars, appliances and uprooted trees, and sent people scampering up the sides of buildings. The only sounds were those of people screaming as the surging torrent picked up everything in its way and flowed as high as the second floor of the buildings.

Download

Video size (4.48 MB)

Location: Phuket, Thailand

Video Description: Amateur camcorder footage of the 2004 tsunami disaster shot from the balcony of a motel. The cameraman (father) is with his wife and son looking towards the beach and are at first amazed to see a very large wave come crashing in the beach. A short while later a much larger wave suddenly apears and can be seen breaking right in front of the beach and has such force that part of it proceeds right into the resort instantly filling it with water and doing a lot of damage.

Download

Video size (10.2 MB)

Location: Kanyakumari, India

Video Description: Amateur camcorder footage of the 2004 tsunami disaster. The footage captures the sudden crashing of a giant wave against the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, situated at the southern tip of Kanyakumari. The video was shot by Aniket Kale. After visiting the memorial, the 16 year-old and his family were waiting for a ferry to take them back to the mainland when the tsunami suddenly crashed into the memorial and the sea wall beside it. Hundreds of other tourists were around at the time. Kale and his family are from Pune in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, The devastating tsunami of December 26 which destroyed lives and property in several countries around the Indian Ocean, killed more than six thousand people in Tamil Nadu.

Download

Video size (2.3 MB)

Location: Khao Lak, Thailand

Video Description: Amateur camcorder footage of the 2004 tsunami disaster. Obtained by APTN shows the devastating effects of the tsunami on the Thai holiday resort of Khao Lak. The pictures show a man on the beach being engulfed by water as the overpowering waves rush towards the shore. Anukul Charoenkul - who owns the Viewpoint Restaurant - shot the video. He said his restaurant was full of tourists when the tsunami struck at around 1030 local time (0330 GMT) on 26 December. He explained he had received an early warning of the impending disaster from his brother, who was at a different location along the coast which had already been struck. Charoenkul therefore had time to prepare his camera and catch the moment the tsunami hit Khao Lak from the third floor of the building where his restaurant is located. He said that he shouted at the people on the beach to warn them, telling them to run, but they could not hear. Immediately after the waves had struck, dead bodies could be seen washed up on the shore. The beach was covered in huge piles of debris.

Download

Video size (1.73 MB)

Location: Khao Lak, Thailand

Video Description: Amateur camcorder footage of the 2004 tsunami disaster shot by a German tourist. It starts like a normal day at the beach only the tide is extremely low and completely unaware of the incoming Tsunami people are wondering about exploring this fenomenon and some even are scooba diving. Then the cameraman starts noticing some huge waves in the horizon which start to break and he describes them as "extraordinary" several times. As the waves get closer he also notices that the ships are trying to escape them at full speed and when the first wave finally reaches one ship and swallows it whole does he and the tourists on the beach start to realize the magnitude of what is comming directly at them. Screams can be heard from the tourists in the background and he starts showing increasing concern repeating the phrase "what is that" untill he finally panics and tries to flee for his life.

Download

Video size (10.0 MB)

Location: Koh Lanta, Thailand

Video Description: Amateur camcorder footage of the 2004 tsunami disaster. Shot on beach level in Koh Lanta, Thailand; several people watch as first wave grows and crashes, before cameraman's frantic retreat away from the shore.

Download

Video size (4.73 MB)
Copyright Rene Kragelund

Location: Phuket, Thailand

Video Description: Amateur camcorder footage of the 2004 tsunami disaster. Shot from inside a quickly-flooding restaurant in Phuket, waves engulf older couple clinging to railing outside before flooding entire room.

Download

Video size (11.5 MB)

Location: Patong Beach, Thailand.

Video Description: Amateur camcorder footage of the 2004 tsunami disaster. Rooftop view of two huge waves battering buildings along coastline of Patong Beach, then zoomed-in footage of flooding of city streets.

Download

Video size (10.00 MB)

Location: Tsunami - Sri Lanka

Video Description: Amateur camcorder footage of the 2004 tsunami disaster. Upper balcony view of Sri Lanka hotel swimming pool area getting flooded as observers run away. Woman with camcorder is frightened, asking "How high will it go?" before retreating into hallway.

Download

Video size (7.6 MB)

Location: Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Video Description: This one starts with semi-grainy footage from inside the house of an Indonesian government official. Looks like some people were filming and then noticed noise outside, so they go to their window/balcony and you can see huge masses of water rolling by the window. Note: this is not the footage with the couple clinging to the wall in what looks like a swimming pool.

Download

Video size (3.4 MB)

Location: Thailand

Video Description: A really quick shot of the wave coming in and crashing into a garden between two large hills. Three people are standing in the garden as the wave comes in, and the video stops as the wave gets close to them.

Download

Video size (1.6 MB)

Location: Sri Lanka Resort

Video Description: Amateur camcorder footage of the 2004 tsunami disaster. Shot from an upper level hotel balcony, overlooking a restaurant, pool area, and umbrella-filled deck. Entire area is quickly flooded as people cling to trees to survive. Two men narrate their concerns and observations throughout.

Download

Video size (6.18 MB)

Location: From Penang, Malaysia

Video Descriptoin: Amateur camcorder footage of the 2004 tsunami disaster. Shot from walkway above the Penang Beach shore, long shot of ocean before three men are caught in battering waves.

Download

Video size (783 KB)

Location: Kenya

Video Description: Amateur camcorder footage of the 2004 tsunami disaster. Fishing boats being tossed around like toys in the water.

Download

Video size (1.38 MB)

Location: Unknown

Video Description: Amateur camcorder footage of the 2004 tsunami disaster. Filmed by a British tourist.

Download

Video size (2.69 MB)