The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami is a story that didn’t need to be overdramatised. But Channel 5 appear to have missed the memo with this formulaic, melodramatic mess
The colossal scale of the Boxing Day tsunami – a 9.1 magnitude earthquake under the Indian Ocean displacing 30tn litres of seawater that hit the coasts of mainland Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India in waves that rushed at 500mph – would compel even if it were not for the human catastrophe that accompanied its incomparably destructive force. A quarter of a million people were killed. Entire towns and communities were wiped out. Survivors’ stories are uniformly harrowing.
There have been a number of dramas – most notably the Abi Morgan-scripted miniseries Tsunami, the Aftermath in 2006 – but Channel 5’s three-part film, following the minute-by-minute progression of the tsunami from the moment the two tectonic plates 19 miles under the sea finally ruptured at 7.58am on 26 December 2004, is one of only a few documentaries about it. Dr Xand van Tulleken presents the main thrust of the story – travelling to the affected areas as he outlines the terrifying phenomenon’s journey and interviewing those who were caught up in it. Raksha Dave visits scientists who explain the facts behind the waves’ emergence, evolution and effects.
