I'm finding it all very emotional: know people involved but luckily no deaths. But I can't get over how stupid most of the people filming it seem to be. It seems very obvious to me that if the sea suddenly goes out, then it is def going to come back in very very fast. And if you see a big wave on the horizon, then running is the only option, not standing on the beach. Is anyone else a little confused by how stupid they all seem?
It seems very obvious to me that if the sea suddenly goes out, then it is def going to come back in very very fast.
But can you honestly say you knew that before the 2004 tsunami? I did not have knowledge of how they worked, I would have been very cautious around the initial flooding. So in answer no they don't seem that stupid.
@tails: surely if you saw the sea go out very quickly, you would assume that it would come back in equally as quickly? Or would you think it'd just stay out?
It destroyed a village that i was in the prevous boxing day.
My GF woke up on the day saying that she had been dreaming about being in the village and that she could smell the sea..
@tails: surely if you saw the sea go out very quickly, you would assume that it would come back in equally as quickly? Or would you think it'd just stay out?
Well now yeah i would know for sure, but then I had very limited knowledge of sea, tide, tsunami, so may well have stayed until I saw the wall of water.
It destroyed a village that i was in the prevous boxing day.
My GF woke up on the day saying that she had been dreaming about being in the village and that she could smell the sea..
watching it now – still in disbelief when watching the film footage, been to many of the resorts (phuket, Phi Phi) that were hit in recent years since the wave and the recovery from the devastation is incredible. but the vast loss of human life on that one morning is hard to grasp and its emoitional to watch.
Sad stuff. Dragged out a lot, into wrist-slittingness.
Amazing nature shots, fascinating and love the power of nature despite its bad side.
I've spent enough time around the sea since my youth to know that that wasnt normal and that I'd be getting the hell out of there if I saw the sea retreat that fast.
Getting on a boat wouldn't help unless it was a BIG boat and skippered by someone who knows how to handle a boat in really rough seas, not likely in normally calm equatorial waters.
I find it hard to believe that people didn't realise what was happening when the sea went out. I learnt that's the warning for a tidal wave when I was at school.
It's such a shame that all the cleverdicks on this thread weren't out there at the time instead of all the children who died.
YOU would have been able to save yourselves.
Mrs Stoner and I were in Thailand on our honeymoon 5 years ago. On boxing day morning we went for a swim in the sea at our resort in Khao Lak before breakfast.
At breakfast on the spur of the moment we decided we would check out and move on to explore somewhere else. We packed our bags and paid our bill then wandered up to the main road a little after 9am. We had no idea when the next bus was due but one turned up before long and we got on heading for Trang on the other side of the country. The road took us up over the headland and away from the coast. The wave hit Khao Lak shortly after 10am and destroyed it. It was one of the worst hit areas and many families died – predominantly Scandinavian and German. Our resort was wiped out and I found out later that almost everyone there died. There were a number of young families there and I still think of them.
We didnt realise what had happened until we got off the bus hours later and watch the BBC World channel news in a bar in Trang.
We decided then to head back to Bangkok and think about heading home. In Bangkok we read in the English language papers that the Red Cross were desperate for European blood donations. They were massively understocked of blood group types with much higher incidences in white European populations than in the far east. Luckily Mrs S is loaded with super blood O- so her donation was of great value.
We've still got a folder of clippings from newspapers but havent look at it since 2005. We dont really think about it much, but when it comes round in the news now and then I always think of those families at Khao Lak.
aye, really sad wasnt it. my parents and bro live in phuket, and were going to the beach that morning too. only reason they werent on it when the wave hit was cos my sister in law needed to pop to the shops first.
they were on their way back when they saw all the coast roads shut by the police. they asked them why and were told thered been a hurricane or something.
you cant really blame everyone for standing there looking when the sea went out cos i think id have been doing the same. and even if id thought that if the sea had gone out so quickly, then itd have to come back just as quick, you wouldnt expect it to come back that much! just to where it had been in the first place.
good programme tho. probably the best programme ive seen on it. brought it home just what a huge loss of life there was 🙁
Me too, and no doubt I wouldnt have had the first clue what was going on if the sea suddenly disappeared, those who think its obvious must be very clever people.