A tsunami warning system was built after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami catastrophe but can we ever be thoroughly prepared for such a disaster?
Chief Herald photographer Nick Moir flew into Banda Aceh the day after the Boxing Day tsunami. He found a city turned upside down,bodies lying in the streets – and a sense of vigilance that remains with him still.
Tsunamis remain uniquely devastating and impossible to predict – even for Australia.
The waves that shattered thousands and thousands of Indonesian families also led to peace in a province that had been racked by almost 30 years of war.
Buildings have been flattened in the Pacific nation’s capital,Port Vila,and several embassies evacuated.
I witnessed a wave of terrible destruction in Sri Lanka and Banda Aceh. It was met with a wave of generosity and compassion from the Australian people.
It was felt as far south as San Francisco,where residents felt a rolling motion for several seconds. It was followed by smaller aftershocks.
The journalist returned to Indonesia for the documentary Tsunami:20 Years On to find what once was a “hellhole” is now a “humble,human place”.
Daniel Bogado’s documentary tracks the trail of devastation left by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami,but also shines a light on the goodness of people in the aftermath.
Aftershocks continue to shake Ishikawa prefecture and nearby areas a day after a magnitude 7.6 quake slammed the area on Monday.