without warning Survivors mark 20th anniversary of deadly 2004 tsunami NatGeo's documentary, Tsunami: Race Against Time, revisits the devastating disaster that killed nearly 230,000 people. Jennifer Ouellette Nov 24, 2024 9:33 am | 5 The 2004 tsunami flooded sea-front houses, destroying everyone in its path in Maddampegama, Sri Lanka. Credit: The Associated Press/Gemunu Amarasinghe The 2004 tsunami flooded sea-front houses, destroying everyone in its path in Maddampegama, Sri Lanka. Credit: The Associated Press/Gemunu Amarasinghe Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreIn the wee hours of December 26, 2004, a massive 9.2 earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean, generating an equally massive tsunami that caused unprecedented devastation to 14 countries and killing more than 230,000. Twenty years later, National Geographic has revisited one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history with a new documentary: Tsunami: Race Against Time. The four-part series offers an in-depth account of the tsunami's destructive path, told from the perspectives of those who survived, as well as the scientists, journalists, doctors, nurses, and everyday heroes who worked to save as many as possible.Geophysicist Barry Hirshornnow with Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diegowas on duty at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii that day (3 PM on Christmas Day local time). His pager went off, indicating that seismic waves had set off a seismometer in Australia, and Hirshorn rushed to the control room to locate the quake's epicenter with his colleague, Stuart Weinstein.They initially pegged the quake at 8.5 magnitude. (It was later upgraded to 8.9 and subsequently to a whopping 9.2 to 9.3 magnitude.) But despite its strength, they initially did not think the quake would generate a tsunami, at least in the Pacific. And such events were incredibly rare in the Indian Ocean.Hirshorn and Weinstein also lacked any real-time sea level data that would have told them that a massive amount of water had been displaced by the movement of two key tectonic plates (the India and Burma plates). Four hours later, the first tsunami waves hit Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, leaving a path of destruction and death in their wake. Geophysicist Barry Hirshorn on the lack of an tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean. Credit: National Geographic What sets this new documentary apart is the emphasis on the survivors' harrowing stories. Veteran surfer David Lines, for example, was living in Banda Aceh at the time with his wife Nurma. They managed to outrun the tsunami by car, but Nurma lost 30 family members. Journalist and videographer Denny Montgomery faced a similar situation, racing against time to rescue his mother. Zenny Suryawan watched his family get swept away by the tsunami, surviving by clinging to debris. A young mother in Khao Lan was separated from her infant son and had nearly given up hope when she finally found him alive at a nearby hospital.Brothers Theo and Louis Mullanthen 11 and 15 years old, respectivelywere on holiday with their parents in Khao Lan, Thailand when the tsunami hit. The brothers tried to hold hands and run to safety, but were swept away and separated. They later reunited, but lost both parents in the disaster. Several tourists and beachgoers ended up stranded on a day trip to Emerald Cave in Ko Muk Thailand, including Olivia Soo and her entire family, who were still inside the cave when the tsunami hit; her mother later succumbed to her injuries. In Sri Lanka, the tsunami hit a southbound coastal train and knocked it off its rails in what became one of the deadliest train disasters of all time. Eranthie Mendie lost her mother on that train.There are also plenty of inspiring stories of everyday heroes rising to the occasion at great risk to themselves. For instance, a group of locals helped rescue an infant from the water in Banda Aceh. Cut Putri recalled filming the raging tsunami from the second floor of her home and helping save a man who was washed into the house the force of the flow. A police lieutenant risked his life to set on a jet ski to rescue the Emerald Cave tourists, including Olivia Soo and her family. A bellboy in a Thai hotel rescued several hotel guests from the rushing waters, while a tourist in Phuket rescued an elderly man whose wife had been swept away. And a Sky News cameraman named Phil Hopper helped rescue a young boy in Indonesia who survived on his own for 21 days in the aftermath of the tsunami. Survivors walk across debris in the aftermath of the tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Hotli Simanjuntak Survivors walk across debris in the aftermath of the tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Hotli Simanjuntak Water and debris surround Banda Aceh's Grand Mosque. Hotli Simanjuntak Water and debris surround Banda Aceh's Grand Mosque. Hotli Simanjuntak Charles "Chip" McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, cut his Christmas holiday short when the devastation hit. National Geographic/Brandon Widener/Nick Kubrick Charles "Chip" McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, cut his Christmas holiday short when the devastation hit. National Geographic/Brandon Widener/Nick Kubrick Water and debris surround Banda Aceh's Grand Mosque. Hotli Simanjuntak Charles "Chip" McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, cut his Christmas holiday short when the devastation hit. National Geographic/Brandon Widener/Nick Kubrick A resort in Phuket, Thailand, on January 11, 2005leveled by the December 26 tsunami. The Associated Press/Richard Vogel A survivor clears debris from a destroyed building in Sri Lanka. The Associated Press/Ed Wray Holiday houses destroyed on Phi Phi Island, Thailand. Picture-Alliance/dpa/The Associated Press Hundreds of lanterns are released during a January 19, 2005, memorial service in southern Thailand. The Associated Press/Apichart Weerawong Then there were the overwhelmed doctors and hospital stuff working tirelessly to save as many victims as they could. A nurse and her doctor husband were on a research boat when they heard about the tsunami; that boat quickly became a makeshift hospital for the injured in Koh Phi Phi. Cici Romain was on holiday with his girlfriend, Rachel Hearson, and the two were separated by the waters. He used his minimal medical experience to lead a triage station with fellow survivors while Hearson searched for him.From a scientific standpoint, there were several factors that contributed to the devastation of the 20024 tsunami. NOAA had just deployed six Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) buoys, but only three were operational. So the scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, including Hirshorn, had no real-time sea level data, and hence no way of knowing that tectonic plate movement in the Indian Ocean had triggered a powerful tsunami. So Hirshorn and his colleagues failed to release an early warning to the affected areas. Most notably, there was no warning system in place for Indonesia, Thailand, the Maldives, and Sri Lankaonly in the Pacific Basin. Even if the scientists had been able to issue an early warning, there was nobody to send it to.Also, back in 2004, scientists typically estimated a tsunami's strength by the magnitude of the triggering earthquake. That turned out to be incorrect: a bigger earthquake does not necessarily produce a bigger tsunami. It also requires huge amounts of data in order to model tsunamis correctly and there isn't much time to do so when seconds matter. The tragedy fueled global investment in tsunami research. There are now 60 DART buoys worldwide and with more data, tsunami models can run in seconds, before a tsunami can hit, thereby saving many lives. Barry Hirshorn explains why an 8.5 quake is so much more powerful than an 8 magnitude quake. Credit: National Geographic We're come a long in the last 20 years, according to Hirshorn. "This event produced a revolution in seismology," he told Ars. "Now we can say that we have a magnitude towards the beginning. There's more and more stations. So instead of an eight-minute page like we had back then, we have a page at two or three minutes. Plus we're supposed to always have someone now on duty at the warning center who's supposed to be in the operations room. They will come in, locate the earthquake, using much more data, better results to estimate the magnitude."Hirshorn is one of several scientists who worked to develop a new method of estimating magnitude that incorporates Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data as well as seismic data. "It's called a focal mechanism," he said. "So we'll know if we're dealing with a strike slip, sideways-slipping earthquake, or a tsunami-producing thrust event that moves water above the upward bound plate. That information is critical to add to the magnitude. It's being implemented now. This method will tell you that it's a 9.1 within two minutes. Instead of waiting for 24 hours to know it's greater than a nine, they'll know in five minutes."The tsunami models are also much better because there is so much more data. "They give you much more accurate results and they've been modified so they can tell you what's going on when they hit dry land," said Hirshorn. "It's always been a little difficult to determine how far a tsunami is going to 'run up' onto the coast given certain coastal bathymetry." Hirshon was on duty at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii when the 20024 earthquake hit. Credit: National Geographic/Charlie Laing/Alec Davy The other major advance in the last two decades is much, much better and faster finite fault solutions, per Hirshon. "The tendency is to think of an earthquake as a point source, which is a bad assumption, especially when you're close to it," he said. "When you get close enough to an earthquake, if you're like, for example, Sumatra, maybe you're 50 or 100 kilometers away from the trace that slipped, but it slipped over a thousand kilometers. It slipped over a length the size of California. You're getting your tsunamis not from that point, but from all the points along the fault that slipped. That kind of information is very helpful and with the GPS data combined with the seismic data, we're getting this information within 10 minutes."Hirshorn admits that marking the 20th anniversary of such devastation is deeply sobering, but finds solace in the fact that such milestones tend to make people more receptive than usual to helpful messaging concerning safety. While earthquake early warning systems have come online the US along the west coast, he has some advice for people living in coastal areas prone to earthquakesand hence risk of tsunamis."The earthquake early warning should get to you before the shaking, but if you don't get that, take the shaking as your warning," Hirshorh said. "But remember the shaking may not be strong, so look for duration. If it's not strong and you're there on the coast, look for long periods that last 30 seconds or more. If you feel that again, go inland. It might be real, it might not be, but there's a chance, so just head inland and start walking uphill. I'm not dissing warning systems, but if you've got an earlier warning, why not take it and potentially save your life?"Tsunami: Race Against Time premieres on National Geographic on November 24, 2024, and will also stream on Disney+.Tsunami: Race Against Time provides a 360-degree view into the heart-stopping events of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Jennifer OuelletteSenior WriterJennifer OuelletteSenior Writer Jennifer is a senior reporter at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 5 Comments Prev story