It’s been more than a generation since the last seriously devastating tsunami hit the Hawaiian Islands, and most residents have no memory of the threat.
We should remember—so that next time we can protect ourselves and the people for whom we are responsible.
The 1946 April Fool’s Day Aleutian quake sent a tsunami that devastated Hawaiian coastlines from Hawai’i Island to Kaua’i. The 1957 Aleutian quake’s tsunami caused significant coastal property damage in the Islands. Both destroyed homes and ran up rivers, taking out bridges. The 1960 Chilean quake's tsunami swept in from another direction. Between them, those three events killed more than 200 Hawai’i residents.
The history of the tsunamis of the Hawaiian Islands is kept by Hilo’s Pacific Tsunami Museum.
Now a new series of films from National Geographic graphically reminds us of the hazard. It is a warning built on the biggest tsunami disaster in centuries—the Christmas tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which hit December 26, 2004.
The series is Tsunami: Race Against Time.
That series of waves was generated by one of the largest quakes in recorded history, undersea off Sumatra, Indonesia. It was an unbelievably massive event, calculated at magnitude 9.1. The 1960 Chile quake was larger at 9.5, but did not cause as much death and damage.
I reviewed the film series. It contains footage you’ve never seen, and graphically describes the events that killed more than 200,000 people in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and other islands and coastlines struck by the tsunami.
It contains first person interviews with survivors, heartbreaking stories, often with real-time imagery of those same people. It describes helplessness and heroism in the face of overwhelming conditions. And the desperate effort of Hawai’i’s tsunami scientists to warn the residents of a different ocean.
“The pure carnage of rushing water,” says one orphaned survivor, who lost his parents in the tsunami.
Among the most tragic images are of families holding each other and then torn apart by swirling gray water. Or of the clueless people who wait too long to run, or who watch until the water washes them away. Of bodies drifting in the water. And of wounded people who die in the aftermath, because the disruption was so severe that it was not possible to get medical care in time.
Most of us followed news footage of the quake and its tsunami in the final days of 2004 and early 2005. But that coverage could not provide the perspective of time. Twenty years later, survivors and rescuers and scientists provide that perspective.
Here is how the film’s producers describe their project:
“Marking 20 years since one of the deadliest natural disasters in history which spanned 14 countries, TSUNAMI: RACE AGAINST TIME provides a 360-degree view into the heart-stopping events of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
“The powerful series, from executive producers Tanya Winston and Danny Horan of multi-award-winning Blast Films and directed by Daniel Bogado, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker of Nat Geo’s ‘9/11: One Day in America,’ features personal accounts from survivors, scientists who raced against time to understand the catastrophic disaster and warn the world, journalists who broke the shocking news, and the fearless rescuers who risked their lives to save others.
“Told through harrowing video and gripping stories of survival and courage – some both seen and heard for the first time – the four-part series offers a comprehensive and immersive look at the destructive wave as it surged across the ocean, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.”
The four-part series premieres Nov. 24 at 4 p.m. (Hawai`i time) on National Geographic and streams starting on the 25th on Disney+ and Hulu.
© Jan TenBruggencate 2024
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