If Srilanka didnt have the dense vegitation right on the shore, the destruction would have been even more devestating. Those swirls and under currnts
look even more deadly from above. My heart goes out to those people.
I downloaded the two pictures of Kalutara beach and noticed that, although the offshoure area is heavily damaged, the land itself isn't. Most of the
houses right along the beach are still there after the Tsunami.
If you use the large soccer-field at the lower right of the photo as the benchmark, you will be able to pick out individual houses in the before-and
after photos.
For those with torrent there is a file floating (no pun intended) around which contains several videos including actual footage, news reports and
satellite imagery:
How the heck did the satellites know to be looking at
that beach at that time to take those shots?
Except for satellites stationed to take pictures of
foreign military and sensitive areas, I highly doubt that
satellite would be sitting there taking pictures of that
beach continually.
How did it know to position itself and take shots at
those crucial times?