Asia’s Mega Tsunami, 10 Years Later

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of the devastating tsunami that killed 230,000 people in the Indian Ocean-170,000 alone perished in Indonesia.

Just two years after the tsunami, I visited the country of Thailand and stayed for one month on the island of Phuket-with out a doubt, one of the hardest-hit areas in the region.

But looking at most of the vacation destinations, you couldn’t tell that the entire area was pummeled by the flooding.

Why?

The coastal cities and towns were wiped out, but the local and federal governments quickly cleaned up and rebuilt the much-needed tourist hot spots. One native told me that the fixes in his city, Kata, left the town looking like it did the day before the tsunami hit.

The only new glaring addition to the city that was not previously there was a mammoth concrete lookout tower.

Would the tower have been able to warn enough people, if it was erected prior to the tsunami hitting? We will never know.