THE FIGARO ARCHIVES – 20 years ago, an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia triggered a devastating tidal wave that left more than 220,000 dead in Southeast Asia. A journalist from Figaro was on site.
Waves 30 meters high, breaking at more than 800 km/h, around fifteen countries affected, more than 220,000 dead. At 7:58 a.m. (local time) on December 26, 2004, an earthquake measuring 9.1 on the Richter scale occurred 160 km off the coast of Indonesia, triggering the most powerful and deadly tsunami of modern times.
The first region affected is the north of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, which will account for more than 120,000 deaths. The wave then swept across the entire coastline of the Bay of Bengal: the coasts of Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives were devastated. A few hours later, the coasts of East Africa were reached. In Indonesia, entire villages are wiped off the map. In Sri Lanka, around 2,000 people die in a train swept away by water. On Thai beaches, stormed by tourists during this holiday period, it is desolation.
Le Figaro
“The sea is swelling so quickly. Too fast.”
Au Figarojournalist Caroline Sallé, herself on vacation in Phuket, testified the next day in the columns of the newspaper. “How can the sea recede so quickly? she wrote on the front page of the daily. A few seconds before, she was at my feet, and then there she is far away, more than a hundred meters away. No wind, such a blue sky… I then say to myself that the tides in Thailand are very curious. For a moment, everything stops on this beautiful beach in Phuket. The water seems to have frozen. Even those who frequent it here daily seem to be hypnotized. And then the panic. The sea is swelling so quickly. Too fast. A female lifeguard whistles loudly. A cry of alarm. But already, the sea is on our heels. She gets ahead of me and transforms a hundred deckchairs and parasols into so many floating obstacles to overcome before reaching the road. Stop thinking. Go straight ahead. I only hear screams, my own. The sea remains deaf. She climbs furiously. Everyone is screaming now. Those, in any case, who still have the possibility. I only think of one thing: up, up.»
Taking refuge in a high stadium, she was safe and sound and in the following days documented the tragedy experienced by the bereaved Thais and tourists.
A disaster of rich and poor
The presence of so many foreigners – half of the victims in Thailand – gives the disaster a particular resonance throughout the world, sparking unprecedented mobilization. Testimonies and images flow in, feeding the imagination of writers and filmmakers.
PRAKASH SINGH / AFP
This is not the case everywhere as reported by the correspondent of Figaro in India, Marie-France Calle, December 28. Over there, “this natural disaster, which is added to so many others, is once again a poor man's affairs” and fishermen are the main losers. “Most victims were women and childrentells him a doctor at the Kalapet hospital, about twenty kilometers from Pondicherry. For a simple reason. There was a first wave, not too bad, but strong enough to dump thousands of fish on the shore. The toddlers ran towards this miraculous catch, their mothers too. This is where the second wave, of incredible violence, engulfed them.» The survivors have lost everything and can only count on meager compensation to rebuild their lives.
Twenty years later, tributes and religious ceremonies take place throughout Asia, in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. According to experts cited by AFP, the scale of the 2004 disaster is due to the absence of an alert system. Since then, a network of stations around the world has reduced warning times after the formation of a tsunami to just a few minutes.
