Incredible satellite images of Sri Lanka before and after the Tsunami hit

[rust1d]

Found these shots from space of the tsunami hitting Sri Lanka. Incredible the forces at work here!

These are natural color, 60-centimeter (2-foot) high-resolution QuickBird satellite images featuring the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka. Imagery was collected at 10:20 a.m. local time, slightly less than four hours after the 6:28 a.m. (local Sri Lanka time) earthquake and shortly after the moment of tsunami impact.



?htm">View Tsunami Image
?htm">View Before Tsunami Image
?htm">View Beach Image
?htm">View Before Beach Image
?htm">View Beach 2 Image
?htm">View Before Beach 2 Image
?htm">View Large Overview Image
?htm">View Large Before Overview Image

from http://www.digitalglobe.com/sample_imagery.shtml

Not This Time George!

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. Jesus God!

These are amazing. Thank you.

[BillZBubb]

2. Incredible!

The damage is beyond belief.

[tridim]

3. So are those "after" images

really after? Or are they during the tsunami? If they are after, it's amazing how much the ocean level receded. Did all the water fall into the crevasse left by the quake, or is it all on the land?

[rust1d]

6. Yes, slightly after main wave

They say lots of people (mainly children) ran out onto the exposed beaches to collect the fish that were stranded. Fishing is a major source of income in these areas and the free income was too tempting to resist. When the aftershocks hit they were caught unawares and not faster than the waves and most were swept away and drowned.

[Ladyhawk]

15. The same thing happened with the big Tsunami in Japan...

...when was it? Before WWII, I think. Kids ran down to the beach to gather the stranded fish. Sad. :( After seeing that documentary, I think I would have known what was coming. If you knew, how many could you save???

[lovuian]

4. Wow this is so humbling the power of Nature is Incredible

Its like so unbelievable watching that water crash on the land.

[Wilber_Stool]

5. What a find

Good show.
There was no hope for those folks.

[bpilgrim]

7. wow - anyone got any video links?

i saw some here earlier but i didn't bookmark them and some friends are asking.

tia


peace

[rust1d]

9. Here's some video links

Home Video of Tsunami Wave hitting Phuket beach

Raw Footage of Tsunami

Tsunami-indonesia animation (traveled 750 miles in 100 minutes!)

[Ladyhawk]

16. The raw footage put my heart in my throat.

Can you imagine being one of the people inside a bus? It looked to me like one man was reaching through the window trying to save people drowning in the bus.

We all definitely need to send some aid. I'm sickened.

[Ima]

8. Bay of Bengal

http://www.pbase.com/issels/phuket_tsunami&page=1

[Old and In the Way]

28. Those were amazing pics.

I just read the comments. I cannot believe that there are American posting as "Barbara Streisand", Micheal Moore, Hillary Clinton" and making really obscene comments. One poster had it right, these are freerepublicans who can't get their stunted little minds around a world event like this. Seeing that stuff really makes me embarrassed to call myself an American.

[FloridaPat]

10. Wow. Thanks. Amazing how little time it took to destroy all this.

[cliss]

11. Wow. Incredible.

Thanks for posting, Rust. It's amazing that even one single person made it out alive.

[Isere]

12. Many thanks!

These are the best visuals I have seen so far. Humbling in every way.
Thanks.

[sundog]

13. thanks for the link

[rust1d]

14. my pleasure

[AgadorSparticus]

17. good god. that is just unreal. those poor, poor people.

[rust1d]

18. Go Here for More

more links in my diary at DKos...

http://wwww.dailykos.com/story/2004/12/28/221529/32

[lostnfound]

19. Self-delete

oops

[wicket]

20. wow- those are amazing!

n/t

[mhr]

21. Conservative Blog With Many Videos

http://jlgolson.blogspot.com/2004/12/tsunami-video.html

[Palacsinta]

22. I was caught , briefly, in some savage surf........

in Hawaii. Of course, that is barely-not-maybe-even-remotely analogous........but, for a couple of seconds I was completely panic-stricken and helpless. It becomes, very quickly, a matter of succumbing to the force and whether you live or die is a matter of chance. I felt like my limbs were going to be ripped off of my body. No air. Horrible. I was tossed back on to the shore and my husband caught me.

[B Calm]

23. I had to save these pics, they are the best I've seen!

[s-cubed]

24. links don't work now, could you please fix?

[rust1d]

26. Can't Edit main post - go here

http://www.digitalglobe.com/tsunami_gallery.html

[RedRogue22]

27. rust1d

Could you direct me to where you found all of those? I, for whatever friggin' reason (argh!!!!!) can't get those to open for me when I click on them.

Thank you :yourock:

[MissBrooks]

25. Words... can't describe...

[Tinoire]

29. My God. Seeing that...

:(

and yet the coronation is more important.

[Karenina]

30. View before Tsunami Image

Showed me what I needed to see. Trees to give a sense of proportion, a strip of beach and the WALL OF WATER.

Some years ago I walked across a glacier in Switzerland. We hiked for hours and the ONLY human presence we saw was a SUV W-A-Y down in a valley. Park Rangers doing their thing. Woulda made a great commercial.
I almost lost it climbing over the last peak as the stones fell away from my feet... As I scrambled to safety a reality washed over me... DO NOT FUCK WITH MOTHER NATURE. Always knew that, but this experience was somehow different. I then carefully watched the gathering clouds as my bf insisted we engage the ice. There came a moment when my "country girl" instincts said, "WE'RE OUTTA HERE NOW." He followed me with nary a word. We reached high ground as the rain began.

Mother Nature is impersonal. She is a harsh mistress. SHE is in charge.