The boxing day tsunami 5 years on

Today five years ago was the day of the largest natural disaster in recent memory. More than 220,000 people perished across Indonesia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka.

I thought I would post up a few articles remembering the day.

This morning, five years ago, what became known as the Boxing Day Tsunami rolled in, devastating sections of Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Maldives and India. We were on holiday in Sri Lanka at the time and were in Colombo when the wave hit. As Sam was a wire journalist at the time, our holiday ceased immediately and we headed down to cover the aftermath. Following Sri Lanka, but before we headed to southern Thailand to cover the damage to Ko Phi Phi, Khao Lak and Phuket, I wrote an email to friends and family that encompassed some of my immediate impressions and emotions of the time. I thought, given five years have passed, others may find this edited version of the email of interest.

www.travelfish.org...

Some images here:

news.ninemsn.com.au...

"Thank God for Sunday..." Those are the words of Lailawati, the vice principal of a primary school in Banda Aceh. Lailawati is a Muslim!

She was explaining to me that Sunday is the only day of the week when schools are closed. The tsunami, which struck on Boxing Day 2004, happened on a Sunday.

If the school had been open that morning, the catastrophe would have been worse. When the huge wave came ashore, it damaged buildings. But the real damage was done as the water receded. Buildings, weakened by the initial onslaught, crumbled; cars and people were washed out to sea.

The original school on this site disappeared. Lailawati is delighted with the new building, provided by UNICEF. School Muhammadiyah 1 is state of the art.

But the horrors of five years ago are never far away.

blogs.unicef.org.uk...

[edit on 26/12/09 by Chadwickus]

reply to post by Chadwickus


Hey there, I was just watching the memorials for this on the news earlier ... I can't believe it's been 5yrs ... still seems such a fresh tragedy.

Woody

reply to post by woodwytch


Yeah it doesn't feel like five years at all.

To think some communities are still rebuilding too.

reply to post by Chadwickus


Just an editorial note - it was 220,000 and was, for sure, one event I will never forget even though I was nowhere near it. Horrible, devastating day in the history of man.

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


Fixed that, good pick up.

Yes it was a tragic day, I remember here in Australia they held a nationwide telethon and raised over $1 billion in aide.

reply to post by Chadwickus


I know ... it seems like the wheels are turning very slowly there.

I can't begin to imagine how the local people must feel ... such devastation ... over such a vast area.

But of course it reaches an even greater area because so many people were there holidaying/travelling etc.

I imagine in the grand scheme of things almost every part of the world was/is effected by this event at some level ... mind-boggling !

Woody

reply to post by woodwytch


A lot of the effected places were big tourist destinations too, which have been hard hit, much like Bali after the bombings, tourists just stay away when they're needed most.

I remember when this happened so clearly

I also remember the death toll rising incredibly fast

Most of all though, I remember the kindness of the people that donated money, lended their proffesions (ie doctors) for free and those on holiday that stayed to help out the local Indonesians affected by this disater.

Thanks for bringing this up Chad