Asian Tsunami Videos December 26,

India Ocean World-wide

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 luckily 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Location: From Penang, Malaysia Video Description: 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.