A seemingly benign video of a guy resting on a Thai beach recorded the first waves of a tsunami that killed over 200,000 people.

The day after Christmas in 2004 would go down in history when a massive earthquake exploded beneath the Indian Ocean.

The quake occurred near Sumatra, an Indonesian island.

As it transpired underwater, it unleashed a tsunami of ocean waves that damaged several neighboring nations.

The earthquake had a magnitude of 9.1, making it the third largest on the globe since 1900, and occurred 18 miles beneath the ocean’s surface when two tectonic plates clashed.

The break between the Indian and Burmese plates was 800 kilometers long.

Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, in addition to Indonesia, detected the earthquake.

While the earthquake was tremendous, the tsunami that followed devastated India and Indonesia.

Within 20 minutes following the earthquake, surges of water began to crash on the coastlines of adjacent islands.

Waves reached 167 feet in Aceh province, Northern Sumatra, causing three kilometers of flooding.

Including both tourists and locals, the tsunami claimed the lives of an astounding 227,899 people.

This made the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami the deadliest in recorded history.
Furthermore, an estimated $13 billion in total damage resulted in the displacement of more than 1.7 million people.

However, what became the worst tsunami of all time began with only a few modest waves.

Even more astonishingly, one uninformed visitor managed to record the first several waves on tape.

In the video, a man says, “We were going to go caving this morning and had almost booked it.

“But then, look, waves.”

He points to the ocean, where some moderate waves are building.
Later, the waves get more severe, knocking over a beach chair.

As the people start to leave the beach, one can also see a boat swaying in the ocean.

Julian Hadden, who uploaded the movie to YouTube 10 years ago, confirmed that everyone in the video survived the tsunami.
He said in the description, “In answer to the numerous queries, all of us portrayed in this film are still alive.

“We were on the landward side of Koh Ngai, Thailand, so we didn’t get a direct hit—rather, the wave washed around the island.”

It’s terrifying to think that these initial tiny waves may cause the type of damage experienced in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.