The Tsunami, Satellite Images, BEFORE AND AFTER. AMAZING!! (Warning: Graphic images downthread)

crushelits | Dec. 30, 2004 | crushelits

[crushelits]

A satellite image taken Dec. 29, 2004, shows an overview of Aceh province in the western Indonesian island of Sumatra. The area absorbed the double shock of the world's worst earthquake in 40 years coupled with the resulting catastrophic tsunami
BEFORE: This detailed view of the northern tip of the island was taken on Jan 10, 2003	AFTER: A photo taken of the same area on Jan. 29, 2004, shows the extreme destruction caused by the earthquake and tsunami. On Thursday, Indonesian officials issued a new death toll of nearly 80,000 for that country alone.
BEFORE: This detailed view of northern Banda Aceh was taken on Jan. 10, 2003	AFTER: News services on Thursday reported that pilots in Sumatra had discovered about 28,000 more dead in Banda Aceh while dropping food to remote villages still unreachable by rescue workers.
BEFORE: This detailed view of the island was taken by the IKONOS satellite on Jan. 10, 2003	AFTER: Some officials said there was dismal coordination among the Indonesian military, civilians and foreign governments. "We haven't gotten any help at all, nothing, said a resident who was camped out five miles from the airport in Banda Aceh.
BEFORE: This detailed view of the west of the island was taken on Jan. 10, 2003	AFTER: As of Thursday, several governments had pledged $500 million in emergency aid for stricken areas.
BEFORE: This detailed view of the west of the island was taken on Jan. 10, 2003	AFTER: On Wednesday, the Indonesian military finally reached the Sumatra town of Meulaboh, closest to the epicenter on the massive earthquake. A bulldozer dug a mass grave the size of a swimming pool in which to pile corpses covered only by plastic sheets.

[Andy from Beaverton]

speechless

[Ginifer]

Thx for the post. Totally heartbreaking...

[BCrago66]

Cool. What's the link to the site providing these pics?

[to_zion]

It actually looks like the ocean level went up in those after pictures.

[geopyg]

Prayers for these people. Note the size of the area in the first picture that shows where these smaller detailed photos were taken. And this is still just one small part of the whole thing.

[crushelits]

Different sources.

[GeronL]

wow.

[DSBull]

If you on Drudge and look for Videos there are links to vids of the wave coming in, they are very shocking so be warned.

[Quix]

AWESOME.

THANKS MUCH.

[sinanju]

The horror, the horror.

[A. Morgan]

I think I've found it.
http://www.digitalglobe.com/tsunami_gallery.html

[RayChuang88]

speechless

Understatement of the year.

I am just stunned at how much some of the towns were obliterated by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami waves from these pictures.

[dandelion]

It is truly hard to bear. May God have mercy...

[kayak]

Amazing photos. Prayers for the survivors of this catastrophe and those involved in relief efforts!

[KoRn]

mark

[TLI]

Me too. DAMN WOW.

[Cobra64]

speechless

Yes it is. As are the satellite pics I have from from the USGS of the World Trade Center still smoking. I'd post them but I do not know how, and they are only on my home PC.

[F16Fighter]

Amazing

[kipita]

Words cannot describe the suffering the people must have gone through and are going through.

[Bryan]

[Old Professer]

The beach sand was washed away.

[Squantos]

Wow.......

[GeronL]

yikes. that pic needs a warning...

[arasina]

Whew. Really makes one think a little differently about any of their own troubles. Such devastation.

[crushelits]

I agree. That picture is also amazing but brutal and should no be here.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Oh my... : (

[Scothia]

You should've posted some kind of disclaimer along with that graphic of a picture. Those are human beings, not beach toys.

[Silver Bird Worker]

Why bother repair this mess. Mother nature pissed off and is going to retake what's hers..
Hurricanes, flooding in LAX.. It's just the begining

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

Thanks for the post.

[backhoe]

Crosslinked:

Master source of links here, updated frequently:

The Great Wave- Sumatra Quake and tsunami of 2004

[CounterCounterCulture]

Absolutely brutal. :-(

[stlnative]

Intelligence report: Bin Laden sought Indonesian base (Aceh) Counterterrorism experts say he also checked out Yemen

http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/07/09/indo.binladen

From Maria Ressa
CNN Correspondent

MANILA, Philippines (CNN) --Intelligence officials tell CNN that Osama bin Laden wanted to move the base of operations for his al Qaeda terrorist network from Afghanistan to Southeast Asia in 2000.

The plan, according to these officials' intelligence report, was to move the base to Aceh in Indonesia, where members of the Free Aceh movement (or GAM) were working with al Qaeda.

Aceh is a remote Muslim province in which rebels have fought for a separate Islamic state for decades. Bin Laden's No. 2, Egyptian Ayman Al-Zawahiri visited Aceh with al Qaeda's former military chief, Mohammed Atef, in June 2000.

"Both of them were impressed by the lack of security, the support and extent of Muslim population," reads the intelligence report made available to CNN. "This visit was part of a wider strategy of shifting the base of Osama bin Laden's terrorist operations from the subcontinent to Southeast Asia."

[SNIP]

--------

http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/10294.htm

On 3 January 2002 the Jakarta Post reported, "The Aceh or Nanggroe Aceh Darusallam administration has officially put the special autonomy law and syariah (Islamic law) into effect." The article went on to quote Teungku Sofyan Hamzah, an imam at the grand Baiturrahman Mosque. "Asked about feelings of anxiety by some non-Muslims in Aceh following the implementation of the Islamic law, he (Hamzah) said that the minority should not worry. 'The administration will use national law for them.'"

Well - an article appeared in the Jakarta Post on 28 September 2002, detailing how under shari'a law, caning or imprisonment would be the punishment for those who "propagated beliefs other than Islam to Muslims in the province."

[Centurion2000]

Those are huge changes.

[Marie]

Dear Lord, that is horrible. Just insane.

[Mike Darancette]

bttt

[Justa]

"It actually looks like the ocean level went up in those after pictures."

I completely agree but I think it's more an issue of the land subsiding then the ocean rising. I've been thinking about this the last few days. There's been numerous reports from Indonesia of some islands off the coast literally "disappearing". Maybe they're not talking about the buildings, but the actual islands. The Banda Aceh area is to the east of the subduction zone, on the 'up' side of the fault. If there was 30m of upward thrust at the fault then I think it's reasonable to presume there might have been some downward movement further in. It would be as if the crust was tilted, or tipped upward at the faultline causing a downward tilt further in. In that case the land would subside or even "disappear".

[Ros42]

Oh my goodness! That is just awful!! God rest their souls!!

[Ruth A.]

I would imagine that the vegetation was washed away and there went the earth, too.

[MikefromOhio]

sweet jesus....

[Simmy2.5]

Whoa. The destruction is, simply horrifying! And the amount of erosion and destruction...almost unimaginable.

[1FASTGLOCK45]

Come on people!
There is a disclaimer on the title, if you bothered to read the title it will tell you "graphic images downthread". That's what made me wanna check out this thread.

[jellybean]

There is a disclaimer on the title, if you bothered to read the title it will tell you "graphic images downthread". That's what made me wanna check out this thread.

When I clicked on the thread there was no such warning...that was added later by the Mod.

[1FASTGLOCK45]

Ok Thanks, I wasn't aware. I do appreciate the fact that our fellow freepers post this kinds of pics on, I have been having a hard time finding pics like these in the regular news media.
God bless the victims and their families.

[jellybean]

Just thought you should know why everyone was reacting as they did. The death and destruction is truly unfathomable. Prayers

[Lurker]

For later.

L

[BunnySlippers]

Bumping bookmarking

[mathluv]

Thanks for those before and after. It helps in understanding the devastation. There is a lot less land, especially in the first pair.

[Nuzcruizer]

Looks like a nuke hit the place. (the digiglobe pics) Go to the site and look at them full size. (I put them in photoshop and increased the brightness, it really helps)
I don't think there will be any terrorists in Banda Aceh chopping up Buddists and Christians there for a while. Banda Aceh Looks like it was the hardest hit of all places.