Panic before the storm (a terribly sad series of three pictures taken as the tsunami approaches)

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | 12/30/04

[dead]

Tourists run for their lives as the first of six tsunamis starts to roll towards Hat Rai
Lay Beach, near Krabi in southern Thailand. One woman runs towards the waves.
Photo: AFP

The woman continues to run as the wave advances.
Photo: AFP

With the waves engulfing boats, the woman makes contact with her group. It is not known if they survived.
Photo: AFP

[Ciexyz]

Terribly sad. A case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Charles Martel]

Is that dark blue thing way in the background the tsunami?

Others have responded in the negative, but I think it *is* the tsunami. All the water that had just been sucked out went somewhere - is sure wasn't all in the foamy crest of that wave. Undersea topography determines where the water "piles up" and where it does not, and also consider this: If that blue mound is a land mass, it's positioned like a breaker island, which *should* be taking the brunt of the tidal wave.

[libravoter]

Once you surface after the breaking edge has passed, the wave will likely move you many yards towards the beach but it will not be as rushing currents. Instead the whole ocean will move toward the beach. It will seem very calm.

I would be very interested in your opinion then of this particular video

[Centurion2000]

BUMP

[Justa]

The term tidal wave is a gross misnomer and gives a false impression. They are surges. Surges are vastly different and more dangerous than similarly-sized waves.

[Charles Martel]

Also, look at pics 1 and 2 - the extreme left end of the blue shape appears to change shape. Lots of digital artifacting on the pics, but that looks like water to me.

[Deguello]

Bump.

[Muzzle_em]

I can relate.
I was body surfing in Daytona FL.
I thought, "nice surf, bigger than normal waves, this should be fun." I too ended up with a swimsuit around my ankles and lots of seawater in my nostrils and stomach.
I remember rolling and rolling, head over feet and thinking it would slam me head first into the sea bed and I would be a quadriplegic when it was all over. And that wave was nothing compared to the waves in Hawaii.

[Justa]

Graphical representation.
Wave energy force= O

Tsunami energy force= ) ) ) ) ) ) )

[monday]

"Have you seen any of the eyewitness videos?"

Yes. Obviously it is impossible to dive under a wave once it is on shore, or even in shallow water. To do that you would have to be able to dive under ground.

[Yaelle]

I am in tears reading this. Of course ANY parent would be running toward the waves to "try and save" her children. And these people look European and probably don't know any more about tsunamis than I did last week. You'd think it's a bad wave and you could duck under it for a second and come out ok on the top.

[Airborne1986]

Each of the pictures depict what appears to be a mattress in/near the water. This makes me wonder if these pictures really depict the first wave coming in. It would seem more likely that the mattress is part of the debris from the first round. Then again, the boats seem to be in pretty good shape. Could these be fakes?

[Age of Reason]

The wave in the foreground, then, simply doesn't look that large. But, of course, as we know looks are clearly decieving in this case.

I copied the last photograph, number 3, and blew it up for a close up view of the woman and the group of people she was running towards, with the waves and sailboats in the background.

On zooming in to that group, one can have a much better idea how it looked from the perspective of the woman in the photo.

Then you can understand.

[monday]

That video shows what is happening once the wave hits land. I am talking about what happens in deep water.

PS. I hate WMV's they freeze my whole computer and I have to reboot, but yes, I have seen the video on TV many times.

[dead]

That object looks like a concrete base that was underwater before the water went away.

I would guess that it anchored something like swimming rope lines or buoys for the resort that the people are staying at.

It is definitely not a mattress.

[Periander]

I can relate

No, you cannot relate. When people say "tidal wave" or "tsunami" they expect a wave, like what you see at the beach normally but much larger. This is a totally false impression. The danger of these waves is not their height but their amplitude. There is no trough behind these crests, not for miles at any rate. The effect is not that of a "wave" but that of a flash flood. The sea level suddenly rises 10 20 30 ft or more and does not flow out again for a long time. The rise causes the ocean to overflow its normal banks and flood onto the land in a raging torrent just like a flash flood. Tidal waves are deadly for exactly the same reasons flash floods are:
1. People underestimate them, thinking they can outrun them or "dive under them" or such nonsense. 2. If swept up by them, your chances of survival are very low. People don't survive 30mph impacts with trees or brick walls. If somehow they don't hit something, they usually just drown.

P.S. If you think that dark blue in the background is the wave, you don't know anything.

[monday]

"You'd think it's a bad wave and you could duck under it for a second and come out ok on the top."

If you were in deep enough water you could have. CNN has had a couple of stories of people who have survived while scuba diving or snorkeling.

[Baraonda]

"What's most interesting to me is how far out the water line receded to."

read on FR that they receded 300+ meters.

I'm not sure how much time elapsed from the start of the receding to the time the tsumani reached shore. Most people probably would have had enough time to run a few hundred meters/yards to higher ground.

[libravoter]

Hmmm ... it must be nice for you to think you would not be helpless in that situation

[monday]

"The danger of these waves is not their height but their amplitude."

Wave hight IS amplitude. I believe you mean duration. Wind driven waves have a duration of feet or meters. Tsunami waves have a duration of kilometers or miles.