20 Years Ago on Boxing Day … the Asian Tsunami …

… 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 herehttps://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/photographs/tsunami/ .

Images © Brian Cassey

“After The Wave” – Tsunami 10 Years On …

Seems impossible that the horror of the Boxing Day Asian tsunami is now ten years past today. Still hard to believe – even after working on the aftermath in Banda Aceh Indonesia, Phuket Thailand and Myanmar – that nearly a quarter of a million died that day.

For those who worked documenting the Worlds (possibly) largest ever natural disaster, including myself, the images of death and destruction are indelibly etched.

I was tasked to cover the tsunami alongside the tough as nails and supremely talented UK journalist Susie Boniface for a British Sunday tabloid. Our immediate objective was to find the youngest UK victim and in Phuket we discovered battered survivor Patrice Fayet searching for his British wife and 6 month old Ruby-Rose. With the permission of Patrice and his family we documented his search amongst the temple morgues around Koh Lak Thailand. A eye opening unenviable task. The remains of Patrice’s wife Samantha were identified by DNA some months later. Ruby-Rose has never been found.

Ten years on and I was approached by a production company to provide my images of Patrice and the search for Ruby-Rose for use as an integral part of a 90 minute commemorative documentary film “After the Wave”. The film has already aired on SBS and the UK Discovery Channel to mark the tenth anniversary of the disaster.

“After the Wave” tells the untold story of the epic forensic operation in Thailand to identify and return home the bodies of over 5,000 victims. It has received great reviews in the Australian media. The SMH described it as ‘Haunting and Beautiful’ …  SBS stated  “The 90 minute film ‘After The Wave’ features heartbreaking first-person accounts of families torn apart when the tsunami struck. It also tells the story of the Australian Federal Police officers who led what became the world’s biggest forensic identification operation – returning a staggering 4000 bodies to families in 40 different countries”.

Around a dozen of my images from ten years ago are used in the production (with Patrice’s permission) and a further two of Patrice during his search for Ruby-Rose are being used on promotional material for “After the Wave” … and these can be viewed below (pics 2 and 3).

A collection of my tsunami photographs from both the 2004 Asian event (including those of Patrice’s search) and the Papua New Guinea tsunami in Sissano and Aitape 1998 can be found at … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/photographs/tsunami/

Patrice Fayet images © Brian Cassey

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