tsunami photo sequence...

[gonzo]

so fucking scary. i guess they just found this camera. the water sucked out and formed a big tidal flat and everyone went and walked around...from cnn.com

[bigsugar]

The third photo down is where I would have considered the ceasing of photography and the initiation of firmly grasping something very solid.

[thephatkid]

thats sum scary shit i think i wouldve pooped my pants had i seen that coming at me

[splat]

I think most people's perception of a tsunami is a supertall curling breaker, whereas, from almost everything I've seen of that one, it's mostly a never-ending surge that just keeps coming inland.

[The AD]

the water sucked out and formed a big tidal flat and everyone went and walked around

The ultimate entry in "stupid things done."

[skimoore]

I think most people's perception of a tsunami is a supertall curling breaker, whereas, from almost everything I've seen of that one, it's mostly a never-ending surge that just keeps coming inland.

It doesn't help that whenever there's a tsunami in hollywood movies it's this beautiful curling tube that's just a few hundred feet tall and perfect to surf.

[mattitude]

I just saw this sequence on cnn.com. They pulled the images off of the digital camera of a Canadian couple that died in the tsunami.

cnn.com story

[Samwich]

honestly, if you were on the beach and the water level rapidly started decreasing, would you know what was happening? I mean, we all would after this tragedy, but I know that I would have had no clue. I would have been one of the poor bastards running around on the tidal flats. By the time everyone understood what was happening, it was too late.

[bigsugar]

Good point Sam.

[Lurch]

honestly, if you were on the beach and the water level rapidly started decreasing, would you know what was happening? I mean, we all would after this tragedy, but I know that I would have had no clue. I would have been one of the poor bastards running around on the tidal flats. By the time everyone understood what was happening, it was too late.

I would have but then again I love watching the Science Channel and PBS. It amazes me that people wouldn't expect something to be wrong. They even stould there and watched the thing come in!

[The AD]

I would have known, but that's because I've read about a similar thing happening in Hawaii sometime in the past. Same deal: the tide went out really quickly, people got curious and went down to the beach, and then the wave hit them before they realized what was happening.

[Big E]

honestly, if you were on the beach and the water level rapidly started decreasing, would you know what was happening? I mean, we all would after this tragedy, but I know that I would have had no clue. I would have been one of the poor bastards running around on the tidal flats. By the time everyone understood what was happening, it was too late.

I definitely wouldn't have known what was happening, but I would hope that my internal "sumthin ain't right" alarm would have gone off. I mean, it's pretty strange for the whole ocean to just get sucked back a few hundred yards from its normal shoreline. Not saying I'd have been smart enough to decide to get the hell out of there, but I hope I would have at least thought something was up.

[slim]

This photo is the one that's the most fucked up. Seconds later that wave slammed into that couple and killed them. That image is literally the last sight of their lives.

[SponsoredByDuctTape]

I think most people's perception of a tsunami is a supertall curling breaker, whereas, from almost everything I've seen of that one, it's mostly a never-ending surge that just keeps coming inland.

Serious. I saw footage of a tsunami that hit western Alaska in the 60's. The tidal surge was smaller than the one in the photos. It rose and fell, flooding up to a mile inland, every twenty to thirty minutes for like six hours. Think about that for a minute - that's like fifteen tidal waves!

[DougW]

honestly, if you were on the beach and the water level rapidly started decreasing, would you know what was happening? I mean, we all would after this tragedy, but I know that I would have had no clue. I would have been one of the poor bastards running around on the tidal flats. By the time everyone understood what was happening, it was too late.

I would agree for me and most people but wasn't there a story of a 8-10 year old Brti school girl who had just studied them in school who recognized the signs and alerted every one on the beech. Saved lots of lives.

[powder11]

I would agree for me and most people but wasn't there a story of a 8-10 year old Brti school girl who had just studied them in school who recognized the signs and alerted every one on the beech. Saved lots of lives.

ive had bad dreams that look like those pics. i saw a segment about one of the remote islands closest to the epi-center, a whole village of primitive people survived because of ancient folklore saying "if the ground moves, drop everything and run to high ground"

[mr_gyptian]

honestly, if you were on the beach and the water level rapidly started decreasing, would you know what was happening? I mean, we all would after this tragedy, but I know that I would have had no clue. I would have been one of the poor bastards running around on the tidal flats. By the time everyone understood what was happening, it was too late.

depends on what time of day. if the this sequence happened during/right before high tide. I wouldn't go out and play. but tsunami wouldn't be the first thing to come to mind.

[cmsummit]

The poor bastard in this photo has no chance.

[DougW]

[QUOTE=mattitude]I just saw this sequence on cnn.com. They pulled the images off of the digital camera of a Canadian couple that died in the tsunami.

[
I bit more detail on how the pics got back to the family..
VANCOUVER — After a call home to Canada Christmas night, John and Jackie Knill were never heard from again after the December tsunamis swept into their Thai resort. Now, as if delivering a final message from the doomed Vancouver couple, a Seattle man has recovered images from their last seconds alive.

The photos were recovered from a smashed camera discovered by an American missionary surveying the beach a week after the disaster struck at Khao Lak, one of the worst hit areas in Thailand.

After viewing the photos, Christian Pilet, 40, eventually tracked the camera's owners to West Vancouver and returned the photos to the Knills' three grown sons.

The pictures finally provided the answers the Knill brothers were searching for about their parents' last moments.

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John Knill, 54, was a songwriter and studio owner. He and Jackie, 54, travelled frequently to Thailand and considered it a second home. After the couple vanished, John Knill's brother-in-law travelled to Thailand to search for the couple.

Their bodies have been recovered and recent autopsies provided the family with official confirmation that they were killed. Still, the sons always wondered about the couple's last moments.

Mr. Pilet has provided those answers. This month, he drove from his home in Seattle to Vancouver and hand delivered the photos to the Knills in an emotional meeting.

The photos include a string of standard holiday shots of the smiling couple followed by a succession of more ominous photos taken early on Dec. 26 as the giant waves advanced toward land.

Mr. Pilet said David Knill, 25, looked at the photos and asked: "Dad, why didn't you run? "

Mr. Pilet had a different take. The Baptist missionary, who toured Khao Lak in the days after the tsunamis, said the waves destroyed everything in their path for more than two kilometres inland. No one on the beach that day could have survived. He thinks John and Jackie sensed this, which is why they snapped the photos.

"I think it took a lot of courage to take those pictures," said Mr. Pilet, who was stationed in Mongolia but was home in Seattle for Christmas when the tsunamis struck.

Mr. Pilet said his church asked him to go to Thailand to survey the damage.

A week after the tsunamis, he and a colleague were walking along the beach at Khao Lak when they came upon a smashed camera. Mr. Pilet retrieved the wafer-thin disk card and viewed them on his laptop that night.

"It was stunning," he said. "I thought there was no way you could take that picture and survive."

Mr. Pilet said he was touched by the early shots of the couple who appeared happy and relaxed. He wished he could return them to family members. But he had no idea who the smiling couple was.

When he returned to Seattle, he showed the photos to his wife and she launched an Internet search. She saw a snapshot of the Knills on one of the many websites for missing travellers and the next day, Mr. Pilet e-mailed David Knill a photo from the retrieved collection.

David Knill confirmed it was indeed his parents and Mr. Pilet drove that day to Vancouver to deliver the photos.

The Knill brothers say they are deeply grateful to Mr. Pilet for searching them out. "He didn't have to do that," said Patrick Knill, 28. "It was weird to see [the photos.] But I'm glad we have them. I can sleep better at night.

By the time Mr. Pilet contacted the Knill brothers, they had received official word that their parents were dead. John Knill's body was found Dec. 31 and Jackie's was found Jan. 13.

Patrick Knill said he was especially happy to see the photographs taken in the days before the tsunamis. "They were having a great time. They loved that place. It was their great escape."

He said he still doesn't know exactly how his parents died, but now has a better picture in his mind.

"There was nothing they could do," he said. "Maybe they chose to sit there at a place they loved."

He said his parents' warm and generous nature had won them friends in Canada and in Thailand, where they loved vacation.

Mr. Knill began his recording career in the 1970s. He co-founded the Canadian jazz-fusion group Passage in the 1990s and was the producer for many artists, including Marcus Mosley, a Canadian gospel singer.

[Out_to_lunch]

I too probably wouldnt have known, but when I saw the white crest that stretching the whole horizon, I probably wouldn't have stood around much longer. I jsut dont understand how people in all but the first frame can just stand there and expect to be alright.

[cmsummit]

I too probably wouldnt have known, but when I saw the white crest that stretching the whole horizon, I probably wouldn't have stood around much longer. I jsut dont understand how people in all but the first frame can just stand there and expect to be alright.

Yeah, keep in mind how fast that wave is moving too. It moved at 500mph in the open ocean and is obviously slowing a little as it comes in, but still maybe moving at 200-300mph? If that sucker in the first photo is 1.5 miles away, that only gives a person on the beach 18-27 seconds to get to higher ground. Grim.

[Out_to_lunch]

Yeah, keep in mind how fast that wave is moving too. It moved at 500mph in the open ocean and is obviously slowing a little as it comes in, but still maybe moving at 200-300mph? If that sucker in the first photo is 1.5 miles away, that only gives a person on the beach 18-27 seconds to get to higher ground. Grim.

True, but would you just stroll around like nothing is happening? I mean if you realized that it was coming ashore, wouldnt you still try to run or find some sort of saftey?

[cmsummit]

True, but would you just stroll around like nothing is happening? I mean if you realized that it was coming ashore, wouldnt you still try to run or find some sort of saftey?

I'd have my track shoes on for sure.

[ScottG]

Gimme a break over the idea that these folks knew they were toast, so they just chilled, snappin a few photos.

My condolances to all. Big bummer.

But, if they had any clue, they would have started running for high ground.
At the least, they would have dropped the camera and held each other.

this is a case of shutterbug paralysis. Shit don't seem as real when you are focusing through a camera.

18-27 seconds - may not get to high enough ground, but might get up staircase to 2nd floor, or at least better chance of survival once wave expends some energy crashing on beach or going through trees/houses, etc.

[epic]

This photo is the one that's the most fucked up. Seconds later that wave slammed into that couple and killed them. That image is literally the last sight of their lives.

Anyone read the book "Requiem"? It's composed of the last photos from Vietnam war photographers riught before they died. Haunting.