thailand tsunami

i'm sure you've seen the news about the sumatra earthquake and resulting tidal wave hitting thailand and other countries in the region. the pictures on television are amazing- everything near the shore was blasted by a wall of water, devastating the beaches.

apparently the water initially swelled high on the beach and then receded very far out, about a kilometer according to the bbc. then the swells started, one after another. the devastating one was either the second or third series- picking up cars and smashing them into buildings, knocking over houses, moving buildings off their foundations, and so on.

the destruction was limited to about 500m from the shore in thailand, but as most hotels are built as close to the beach as they're allowed, this meant a lot of people and a lot of property were involved.

things don't look good for phi-phi island, as the hotels are mostly built in the center of an hourglass shaped piece of land between two bays.

cnn is reporting between 250 and 400 people killed and many many people are missing. i've got a couple of friends down in phuket- odds are they're ok but of course it's worrying.

it's unlikely that another tidal wave will hit, unless there is another big earthquake. even so, everyone is spooked- people are leaving phuket in droves and those still on the island are trying to stay the night on higher ground.


a calm-looking patong beach shortly after the tidal wave passed.


patong beach road with a lot of standing water from the tidal wave.


patong beach road after the water receded. what a mess!


the force of the water must have been amazing to have picked up these buses and thrown them into buildings like this.


cars stacked on top of each other.


a bit difficult to see, but this haagen daaz has been stripped almost completely empty. most of the businesses facing the sea look like this, some buildings collapsed as the water knocked down supporting pillars.


some of the tourist rental jeeps smashed up by the floating debris.


a car and debris piled up down a side soi.

truly a freak occurrence as the last tsumani of this size apparently took place over 170 years ago, though this is the third earthquake felt in bangkok in the last 18 months. in the pacific there is a warning center as tsunamis are a much more common occurance. it's likely that the death toll from this disaster will warrant creating a similar system for the indian ocean region, even if such a thing only happens once in a lifetime.

* more pics here