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

[Raycpa]

Both the woman and her family did exactly the wrong thing. She should have run away to higher ground and her family would have been better off swimming out deeper and diving just before the wave hit letting it pass over their heads.

I suspect her family was drawn off shore when the water receded. They would not have had enough time to go out that far on their own and they seem to be heading toward shore. She probably went to meet them to help.

[jayef]

Dude . . . please! You have no standing here.

[Godebert]

Yup....same land mass as seen in the Tsunami photos. From your link:

[jayef]

Thank you! Somebody who understands the dynamics. This was getting as bad as the creationism threads.

[coloradan]

I was thinking that too, but they're so close to each other... if they had been swept away in the initial drawdown, and then when it went to sea floor level they started running on dry land, I don't think they would have been so close together. I think they went out there to explore, tragically.

[rwfromkansas]

NOW THIS IS STUNNING:

Aceh, Sumatra BEFORE:
http://www.crisp.nus.edu.sg/tsunami/IK_Aceh_zoom_in_old_d.jpg

Aceh, Sumatra AFTER: http://www.crisp.nus.edu.sg/tsunami/IK_Aceh_zoom_in_new_d.jpg

[monday]

"You keep referring to tsunamis as waves when they're actually energy-surges caused by the displacement of the earth's crust."

Which are transmitted as waves, albeit waves of longer duration than wind driven waves.

"the energy transmitted through the ocean by a 9.0 earthquake is several orders of magnatudes greater than the wind-generated waves your basing your advice on."

True.

"Would you similarly advise someone to 'duck under' a storm surge? How about a dam burst?"

If there was breaking water on their faces and there was calm water beneath them.

"Have you seen any of the videos?"

Yes. As I have said, diving under the breaking face is impossible if there is no deep calm water beneath it.

"It ran the entire length of the video. No one was going to be holding their breath under that."

No need. All diving under the breaking face does is allow one to skip the spin cycle of the breaking face. As I said in #231 it won't do much good unless far out in deeper water.

If on the beach or in shallow water it is best to run for higher ground. It is impossible to dive under a wave from the beach or from shallow water.

Once you dive under the breaking face you may surface behind and be carried along by calm water, relative to you, on the back of the tsunami.

If it carries you all the way onto land you will have to contend with trees and buildings but at least you won't be battered by the wave face and all the junk caught up in it.

I suppose all the confusion means I have explained it poorly. Sorry.

[coloradan]

Oh my God!! People on the beach at least could see it coming. There, people inland by a good part of a mile or more had NO IDEA they would be swept away.

[jayef]

Anyone have any idea how many square miles are represented in that shot?

[rwfromkansas]

According to the site: 2.59 km x 2.59 km

[Godebert]

Unbelievable. Those satellite images really illustrate the power of this Tsunami.

[Justa]

Understanding the power of the ocean is tall order sometimes.

Gee, maybe they ducked under the surge and held their breath.

[Wolfstar]

Wow! The contrast in those two photos is truly STUNNING. Thanks for posting the links.

[benice]

I work with a couple Indian's who said there families are fine....but one guy told us that the people who actually run into a tsunami have a much better chance or surviving than the people who run from it. He said if you swim past the waves you are better off....don't know how he knows that....but it sounds like it could be logical. I know of one couple that were just scuba diving right before the waves hit and were fine.

[benice]

They say the waves were up to 500 mph in the deep ocean...but slow to about 30mph when they reach shallow water.

[Baraonda]

"The blue shape behind the breaking white water is not a hill it is the tsunami wave."

Those are hills, and the waves were not "several stories tall."

[PleaseNoMore]

That made me gasp.

[coloradan]

That said, you can't run 30 mph, you can't swim 30 mph, and you can't survive impact with trees, walls, boulders, or vehicles at 30 mph. Whitewater rafting kills a lot of people here in Colorado every year, and they have boats, lifejackets, paddles, and some even have padding. Some guy walking down the street - or asleep in his bed, or sunbathing, or drinking a martini as the side of a pool - who is suddenly in 6 feet of whitewater rushing past him has to be pretty lucky to remain alive.

[Godebert]

"but one guy told us that the people who actually run into a tsunami have a much better chance or surviving than the people who run from it. He said if you swim past the waves you are better off....don't know how he knows that....but it sounds like it could be logical."

You might want to read the rest of the thread before you start to believe that "advice".

[cyborg]

Ummmm...that advice sounds an awful lot like the 'stay in your office' advice from the WTC disaster.