10 Years Later — Amazing Before and After Photos of the Thailand Tsunami Devastation
(Photo: Barcroft Media)
By: Rebecca Rosenberg
Photos taken ten years apart show the immediate devastation of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on one Indonesian town and how much it has been rebuilt since the tragedy that claimed 230,000 lives in 14 countries.
In the country’s hardest hit town of Banda Aceh, a haunting photo taken days after the Dec 26 earthquake shows a lonely minaret peaking above an endless sea of rubble.
It was one of the only structures left standing in the city leveled by the 9.1 magnitude quake that caused a series of freak waves.
Al-Tawhid Mosque seen in 2005, left, and now in December 2014. (Photo: Barcroft Media)
Ten years later, the same minaret triumphantly stands beside the newly erected Al-Tawhid Mosque where thousands gathered for prayer Thursday on the eve of the anniversary of one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history.
Indonesia, which was closest to the quake’s epicenter, lost the most victims – nearly 170,000.
Menacing waves, as a tall as a hundred feet, swallowed entire towns dotting the coast of the Indian Ocean.
Authorities in the southern coastal province of Phang Nga, Thailand released heartbreaking photos of victims’ unclaimed possessions including gold wedding bands, engagement rings, rusting watches and key sets and Buddha pendants.
What a difference ten years can make. (Photo: Barcroft Media)
Thailand has focused on rebuilding after the devastating tsunami ten years ago. (Barcroft Media)
This month Thai police opened the massive shipping container filled with plastic police evidence bags – each one containing the belongings found on the body of a victim – and photographed them.
Many of the items came from foreign tourists who once flocked to the region’s numerous beachfront resorts.
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