# Are there any videos of the tsunami actually rushing ashore? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704 "2005-01-08T04:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/1 "2005-01-08T04:17:39Z")
I seen lots of photos of the devastation, but haven’t seen any videos of the actual giant tsunami wave rushing inland. Do any exist? ---
**Author:** ![jester21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed655f/32.png) [@jester21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jester21)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/2 "2005-01-08T04:21:04Z")
i was gonna say: Watch CNN or FOX news. They show it every hour everyday… but then i realized you MIGHT mean: from when the continental shelf was exposed to when the water (Tsunami) returned… There IS a video of that… i saw it on one of the news channels… a guy was walking on the ‘beach’ (exposed shelf) when smashed by the first wave… the wave was quite large in comparison to the person. Not sure if it was the 30’ variety or if the waves get bigger as the waves come in. Anyway, yes, videos do exist. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/3 "2005-01-08T04:23:22Z")
Ebaumsworld has some [http://www.ebaumsworld.com/tsunami.html](http://www.ebaumsworld.com/tsunami.html) ---
**Author:** ![Blown\_Injected](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@Blown\_Injected](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blown_Injected)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/4 "2005-01-08T07:31:49Z")
Good downloads even with my dial up! It did not have one like the OP was asking about and I have seen it once. They did not show the water receding, but it did show what looked like over 200 yards of ocean floor and some dude standing in the extended beach just watching the first wave crashing in - ain’t no way that cat lived. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/5 "2005-01-08T20:33:55Z")
This site has lots: [http://www.asiantsunamivideos.com/](http://www.asiantsunamivideos.com/) The one from Banda Aceh (near the bottom of the page) just defies belief. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/6 "2005-01-08T21:32:20Z")
[More.](http://www.waveofdestruction.org/videos/) ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/7 "2005-01-09T14:24:23Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > The one from Banda Aceh (near the bottom of the page) just defies belief. I just watched that clip, **Colophon**. Words fail me. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/8 "2005-01-09T15:39:10Z")
I haven’t yet seen any still picture sequences taken from a webcam. These would be more likely to record the wave going out – the videos all start too late, as no one knew it was going to happen before the event. My own webcam (on [Lake Michigan,](http://doorbell.net/lakecam.htm) not the Indian Ocean) snaps a pic every ten minutes and I store them perpetually, so if anything happens I can go back and look at the archives. As long as the computer equipment survives the wave, that is. So if the Great Lakes ever has a Tsunami, I’m ready. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/9 "2005-01-09T16:36:36Z")
Being landlocked in Indiana, I didn’t have an appreciation for the power of the ocean until we visited the east coast. I was in awe of the strength of a few (small) waves as they struck a seawall. I can’t even fathom the power in a tsunami. The video clips are amazing, stunning, horrifying. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/10 "2005-01-09T16:43:36Z")
\ > [@musicat](#): > > So if the Great Lakes ever has a Tsunami, I’m ready. 🙂 I realize you were being facetious, but there’s a similar phenomenon called a [seiche](http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2004/alm04jun.htm) that has been known to happen on Lake Michigan and other Great Lakes: > [@](#): > > On June 26, 1954, a seiche 2.44 metres (8 feet) high and 40 km (25 miles) wide hit Chicago’s lakefront. Eight people were killed, most of whom were swept into the water and drowned while fishing in Montrose Harbor. On July 4, 1929, at least ten beach-goers were killed in a similar incident along Lake Michigan’s eastern shore. > > On July 13, 1995, a Lake Superior seiche of about a metre (3 ft) in amplitude left boats hanging on their mooring lines from the docks when the lake water suddenly retreated. This seiche, with a period of fifteen to twenty minutes, touched Ashland, Wisconsin, Marquette and Point Iroquois, Michigan, and Rossport, Ontario. ---
**Author:** ![Sandy\_Price](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Sandy\_Price](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandy_Price)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/11 "2005-01-09T16:54:18Z")
I just emailed an attachment to the webmaster to use on this thread. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/12 "2005-01-09T21:55:37Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > Being landlocked in Indiana, I didn’t have an appreciation for the power of the ocean until we visited the east coast. I was in awe of the strength of a few (small) waves as they struck a seawall. I can’t even fathom the power in a tsunami. The video clips are amazing, stunning, horrifying. The one I found scariest was third from the bottom in Colophon’s link, from Penang, the one with the big woman on the beach who was pretty obviously killed. It was scary because you can see why people might not have run away in time. The first waves didn’t seem all that dangerous, in fact, they were kind of cool. There wasn’t some 1000-foot-tall wave like in Deep Impact. The water just got… bigger. It was more like the tide just rising up twenty feet than a wave. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/13 "2005-01-09T23:19:52Z")
the great lakes get what the people in the area call “slosh.” lake erie tends to have the most due to it’s lack of depth. seiche is the lake geneva term. much grander sounding. either term is correct for large enclosed bodies of water. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/14 "2005-01-10T17:21:26Z")
Possibly the most amazing video yet - [Banda Aceh](http://katc.static.worldnow.com/images/incoming/wmv/KATC_tsunamidebris_11005_web.wmv) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/15 "2005-01-10T17:37:06Z")
> [@Lamar Mundane](#): > > Possibly the most amazing video yet - [Banda Aceh](http://katc.static.worldnow.com/images/incoming/wmv/KATC_tsunamidebris_11005_web.wmv) That’s the one that finally gave me an impression of just what those poor people were up against. A wave breaking way into on the beach is scary and deadly, but that is just _stunning_ in its horror and power. Like a gigantic freight train, hundreds of miles wide, just pushing relentlessly. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/16 "2005-01-10T17:52:43Z")
> [@Lamar Mundane](#): > > Possibly the most amazing video yet - [Banda Aceh](http://katc.static.worldnow.com/images/incoming/wmv/KATC_tsunamidebris_11005_web.wmv) Good Lord. That was terrifying. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-videos-of-the-tsunami-actually-rushing-ashore/283704/17 "2005-01-10T18:38:05Z")
> [@Lamar Mundane](#): > > Possibly the most amazing video yet - [Banda Aceh](http://katc.static.worldnow.com/images/incoming/wmv/KATC_tsunamidebris_11005_web.wmv) Jesus. There are no sufficient words. ☹