… 20 Years Ago … this Boxing Day marks the twentieth anniversary of the largest tsunami disaster of modern history … the Asian tsunami that took the lives of near a quarter of a million around the Indian Ocean in 2004.
I photographed the aftermath in Thailand, Myanmar and the epicentre of Banda Aceh Indonesia for the UK Sunday Mirror alongside gun Brit journalist Susie Boniface. Yes … it was harrowing work that greatly impacted the media contingent covering the disaster.
In Khao Lak, Thailand we told the story of Patrice Fayet and his fruitless search for his wife Samantha and six month old baby Ruby Rose amongst the many thousands of bodies. It was heart breaking watching Patrice search the tiny body bags rising on dry ice in a Khao Lak temple morgue. Samantha’s remains were discovered months later … Ruby Rose was never found …
The story and my images of Ruby Rose and Patrice’s fruitless search also featured in the tenth anniversary documentary “After the Wave” in 2014.
In Banda Aceh … amongst total destruction … we covered the stories of now parentless children amongst the survivors. Getting there was a twelve hour overnight drive with a well rewarded local, much of it through civil war rebel held territory. We arrived in the decimated city centre at dawn. The only building we could see still standing in the early light was the Grand Mosque, floodlit by a bank of generators. As we settled down to try and get an hours sleep in the car the call to prayer peeled out from the mosque. Nobody came …
The worst affected countries were India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Thailand and Somalia.
Certainly, it was an assignment that one would never forget.
Here are just some of the images from my coverage … and a warning some are indeed graphic. (and Yes … some were far too graphic to be shown anywhere)
Fom top – 1, Banda Aceh orphan – 2. Banda Aceh – 3. Khao Lak – 4. A Banda Aceh child victim – 5. Patrice Fayet searches for his wife and baby in Khao Lak – 6. scenes from Phuket, Khao Lak and Banda Aceh
More of my images from the Asian tsunami and the earlier tsunami in Sissano Papua New Guinea may be found on my web site here … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/photographs/tsunami/ .
Images © Brian Cassey
