ジョン・スタンメイヤーのインスタグラム(johnstanmeyer) - 12月31日 07時47分

10th Anniversary #2004tsunami #2004IndianOceanTsunami @descrottes —
As word spread via a BBC radio report that another tsunami was heading towards the east coast of #SriLanka, people run away from the ocean towards higher ground near #Peraliya. An hour later it was discovered to be a false report — no more waves from aftershocks post Indian Ocean tsunami that occurred on Boxing Day, 2004.

Personal Notes: Ten years ago today, the sun poured waning shadows in the late afternoon along the east coast of Sri Lanka. Friend & @VIIphoto colleague Gary Knight (then on assignment with @Newsweek) and I (then on assignment for @TIME Magazine) traveled together that day to this beachfront area where a massive wave on Boxing Day had slammed into a train, killing over 1,700 on board.

We had spent a few hours photographing the wreck, twisted by the incoming water, like a miniature train set had been kicked by an entire soccer team.

Walking back to where we had parked — 1 kilometer inland, behind impassable debris and numerous corpses floating in the inland pools of water — we were chatting when behind us came a stampede running in our direction, away from the ocean.

Without a clue what was happening, by instinct I picked up the camera, taking only a few frames, finally tuning into the words being expressed by the sprinting masses: “TSUNAMI, RUN!” (If you look closely in this photograph you’ll see the back of Gary’s wonderfully fuzzy hair)

Run? To where?

With direct access blocked back to the car, the highest ground we could find was a Buddhist stupa temple. It was here that myself, Gary Knight and around 20 others stood, clinging to the highest reachable lip of the temple.

Repeated calls back at Time offices in Hong Kong, we began to learn it was a false tsunami report — there was no wave.

We had clung to that stupa for nearly an hour.

I look back at that afternoon, tens years ago this afternoon, in both comical disbelief combined with reverence to nature and the innate fear of the unknown. Pondering further, I still can't fathom how it must have been four days earlier when those in that train had no warning whatsoever, a stupa temple too far away to reach.

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• Newsweek
• TIME Magazine
• VIIphoto