Okay, so I got this idea in my head the other day. I wanted to find some real footage of the 2004 tsunami. Not the news reports we all saw, but like, actual videos people took as it was happening. Felt this urge to see it unfiltered, you know?
First thing I did was just hop on my computer and start searching. Pretty basic stuff. Went to the usual big video sites, typed in things like ‘tsunami 2004 footage’, ‘Indian Ocean tsunami video’, that sort of thing. You get a lot of hits, sure.
But man, sorting through it was a pain. So much stuff wasn’t what I was looking for. Lots of documentaries about the tsunami, news clips I’d already seen, even simulations or unrelated wave videos. Some real low-quality clips too, shaky and hard to see anything.
Digging a Bit Deeper
I realized the simple searches weren’t cutting it. Had to get more specific. Started thinking about the places hit hardest.
- Tried searching for specific locations: ‘Phuket tsunami footage’, ‘Banda Aceh tsunami video’.
- Added terms like ‘amateur footage’, ‘raw video’, ‘eyewitness tsunami 2004’.
- Even tried looking through some older news archives, thinking maybe they stored stuff differently.
It took a while. Clicking through pages, watching previews, getting frustrated when a promising title turned out to be another news report. You really gotta sift through a mountain of digital stuff.
Eventually, I started finding some clips that seemed more like what I was after. Videos clearly taken by ordinary people caught in the moment. Some were really jarring. You see the water rising unbelievably fast, people running, shouting. It’s chaotic, messy, and definitely not sanitized like TV news.
Found one that really stuck with me, looked like it was filmed from a hotel balcony. You just see the wave coming in over the beach, covering everything. No dramatic music, just the sound of the water and distant shouts. Pretty chilling stuff.
So yeah, I managed to find some of that raw footage. Took more effort than I expected, lots of digging around. It’s weird, seeing those moments captured like that, so raw and real compared to the polished stuff you usually see. Definitely makes you think about the scale of it, seeing it from ground level like that.
