Photos: Before, after images compare and contrast scenes from Indian Ocean Tsunami
Pictures of devastation in Banda Aceh, Phuket and Khao Lak are a distant memory two decades later.
ByBenarNews staff
Read about tsunami preparedness 20 years later at BenarNews
Faced with the daunting task of reclaiming neighborhoods, beachfront properties and areas around mosques, repairs began quickly in sections of Indonesia and Thailand devastated by the deadly Dec. 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.
A 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck in waters off Sumatra, generating a giant tsunami where waves topped over 160 feet (48.7 meters) in Indonesia’s Aceh province.
After the waters finally calmed down, the death toll globally climbed to about 230,000, including about 167,000 in Aceh, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which estimated damage at U.S. $13 billion.
Within a few years, life returned to a semblance of normal because of efforts to reclaim and rebuild what was lost in the two countries hit hard by the wall of water. In many places, few signs of the destruction are visible in 2024.
Those efforts are captured in a series of before-and-after photos:
tsunami-banda-aceh-phuket-before-after Top: Motorcyclists ride past debris and a fire in Meulaboh, Aceh province, Indonesia, in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Jan. 9, 2005. Below: The same street is seen on Nov. 17, 2024. (Philippe Desmazes & Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP) tsunami-banda-aceh-phuket-before-after Left: People salvage belongings amid rubble along a street in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, just days after the tsunami, Dec. 29, 2004. Right: The same street on Nov. 25, 2024. (Bay Ismoyo & Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP) tsunami-banda-aceh-phuket-before-after Top: The Indian Ocean Tsunami left vehicles stacked on top of each other on Patong Street in Phuket, Thailand, Dec. 28, 2004. Below: The same street on Nov. 18, 2024. (Manan Vatsyayana & Ali Ozluer/AFP) tsunami-banda-aceh-phuket-before-after Top: Construction equipment is used to remove debris from a street in Phuket, Thailand, following the tsunami, Dec. 28, 2004. Bottom: The street seen on Nov. 18, 2024. (Romeo Gacad & Manan Vatsyayana/AFP) tsunami-banda-aceh-phuket-before-after Left: People walk through debris created by the tsunami at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Dec. 28, 2004. Right: The mosque as seen on Nov. 27, 2024. (Bay Ismoyo & Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP) tsunami-banda-aceh-phuket-before-after Top: Damage from the Indian Ocean Tsunami is seen in the courtyard of the Orchid resort at Khao Lak, Thailand, on Dec. 29, 2004. Bottom: The same location on Dec. 24, 2009. (Saeed Khan & Christophe Archambault/AFP) tsunami-banda-aceh-phuket-before-after Left: Nearly everything around a mosque in Aceh province, Indonesia, was destroyed by the December 2004 tsunami, Jan. 15, 2005. Right: New houses surround it on Dec. 8, 2006. (AFP) tsunami-banda-aceh-phuket-before-after Top: Wreckage from the tsunami is seen in Meulaboh, a city in Aceh province, Indonesia, Dec. 31, 2004. Bottom: The same area is seen on Dec. 4, 2005. (Agus & Jewel Samad/AFP)
