Amazing Tsunami Picture
Emailed image purports to show the devastating tsunami of December 26, 2004 washing ashore on the Thai island of Phuket (or Indonesia, depending on version).
Description: Emailed image
Circulating since: Dec. 2004
Status: Fake
Email example contributed by Helen, Jan. 4, 2005:
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Subject: Fwd: Fw: TSUNAMI  Click to Enlarge |
ANALYSIS: Fake. Virtually everyone who has submitted this image for authentication expressed disbelief, and small wonder. Given the enormity of the real event, this represents a "Kodak moment" which, if authentic, would have appeared on the front page of every newspaper in the world. But it didn't.
In one version of the accompanying email the locale is specified as Phuket, Thailand. In another, Indonesia. Neither is plausible, however, because in both places vehicles are driven on the left side of the road, not the right, as shown here.
Nor do the form and magnitude of this wave match eyewitness accounts or authentic images of the tsunamis that actually struck parts of Thailand, Indonesia and elsewhere in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004. Those waves didn't crest at a height of twenty stories and crash down on the shoreline as depicted here. On the contrary, the waters were described as rising swiftly and steadily to a maximum height of around 10 meters (or less, in most cases) as they swept steadily inland, retreated, and swept in again.
In short, the image above represents someone's fantasy of what a tsunami looks like, not the real deal — as if the real deal and the devastation it caused weren't incredible enough in the first place.
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More tsunami lore:
Tsunami Photos
Series of emailed images purports to show people running for their lives as the Indian Ocean tsunami washed ashore the day after Christmas 2004, but it actually documents a tidal wave on the Qiantangjiang River near Hangzhou, China two years ago.Fish Contaminated with Deadly 'Zulican' Virus After Tsunami
Text messages and forwarded emails warn Asian consumers to avoid eating seafood because fish killed by the Indian Ocean tsunami are supposedly infected with a deadly virus called 'Zulican.'
Sources and further reading:
Phuket Tsunami Photo Gallery
Photos by Helmut Issels2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake/Tsunami
Wikipedia, ongoing coverageCNN.com Special: Tsunami
CNN, ongoing coverageEyewitnesses Recount Tsunami Terror
CNN, 26 December 2004
Last updated: 01/07/04
