How the Boxing Day tsunami changed the way we respond as we detect catastrophic weather

The Boxing Day tsunami caused catastrophic devastation and there were unexpected ways in which it changed the world. See how in these harrowing before and after photos.

Twenty years on, the Boxing Day tsunami is being remembered for the extraordinary devastation it unleashed, the incredible generosity it prompted, and the unexpected ways in which it changed the world.

World Vision Australia CEO Daniel Wordsworth, who was in Sri Lanka within 48 hours of the disaster, said Australia’s response was an “outpouring of generosity we had never seen before”.

An aerial view of destruction of buildings on Koh Phi Phi on December 28, 2004 after the December 26, 2004 tsunami (top) and the same view on November 22, 2024. Picture: AFP

World Vision Australia’s CEO Daniel Wordsworth

“This generosity has rebuilt lives and livelihoods, roads, infrastructure and entire communities, ensuring they can operate a life of normalcy again,” he said.

In the aftermath of the disaster, Mr Wordsworth said he saw “communities wiped out, roads destroyed, places unreachable and desperation for food, water and shelter”.

But recent visits have revealed “a very different and inspiring place”.

“Communities are thriving and incredibly hopeful for the future,” he said.

An estimated 230,000 people from 15 countries died. Picture: ADH/Stefan Trappe

The tsunami as it unfolded across the world.

Villages were swept away after the killer wave hit.

People looking at debris caused by damage from the tsunami strewn on the coastal railway line in Lunawa on December 26, 2004 (L) and a view of the same railway track on December 1, 2024. On December 26, 2004. Picture: AFP

The Australian response in 2004 was swift: the government spent nearly $70 million on our largest overseas aid effort ever, while ordinary Australians donated $330 million through non-government organisations.

This was followed by a $1 billion reconstruction and development package for Indonesia over the next five years. Among other things, it created 3700 scholarships for nurses, midwives and healthcare students, and built modern medical laboratories at universities and hospitals.

People salvaging belongings amid the rubble of collapsed buildings along a street in Banda Aceh on December 29, 2004 after the December 26, 2004 tsunami (L) and a view on the same street on November 25, 2024. Picture: AFP

This combination photo shows people walking through debris strewn around the Baiturrahman grand mosque in Banda Aceh on December 28, 2004 and the same scene on November 27, 2024. Picture: Chaideer Mahyuddin and Bay Ismoyo/AFP

People walking through floodwaters on a street in Galle on December 26, 2004 and a car driving past shops on the same street on December 1, 2024. Picture: Ishara S. Kodikara/ AFP

Cars left on Patong Street in Phuket on December 28, 2024 and the same street on November 18, 2024. Picture: Manan Vatsyayan and Ali Ozluer/AFP

People searching through rubble of buildings destroyed in the December 26, 2004 tsunami in Galle on December 29, 2004 (top) and a three-wheeled taxi driving past the same area on December 1, 2024. Picture: Raveendran and Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP

An aerial view of a mosque in an area that was affected by the December 26, 2004 tsunami in Kuala Bubon on the outskirts of Meulaboh, Aceh province on January 19, 2005 (top) and the same mosque on November 17, 2024. Picture: Chaideer Mahyuddin and Adek Berry/ AFP

Australia’s assistance “transformed our relationship with Indonesia,” the government concluded in a 2014 report.

“Our close co-operation in reconstruction and rehabilitation linked our people and institutions in a way that they had never been connected before,” the report stated.

UNICEF’s Roberto Benes, was Chief of Child Protection based in in Banda Aceh, between 2005 and 2008. Picture: Supplied

The tsunami also changed the humanitarian sector forever, enshrining the concept of “building back better,” said UNICEF’s Roberto Benes, who was Chief of Child Protection in Indonesia’s Aceh province for three years after the disaster.

Some of that was structural, he said, pointing to the work UNICEF did to develop Indonesia’s social welfare and judicial systems.

Vehicles damaged in the December 26, 2004 tsunami around the main bus terminal in Galle on December 27, 2004 (top) and buses at the same terminal on December 1, 2024. Picture: AFP

An aerial view of an area affected by the December 26, 2024 tsunami in Sampoiniet in Aceh Jaya regency, Aceh province on January 6, 2005 (top) and the same area on November 16, 2024. On December 26, 2004. Picture: AFP

A resident walking past a railway track, which was damaged by the December 26, 2004 tsunami, in Sinigame, near the tourist town of Hikaduwa on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka on December 29, 2004 (top) and boys walking along a railway track in the same location on December 1, 2024. Picture: AFP

An aerial view of Rahmatullah mosque in Lhoknga, Aceh province on January 14, 2005 amid destruction after the December 26, 2004 tsunami (top) and the same mosque on November 27, 2024. Picture: AFP

“We worked with the local Acehnese authorities, the police and the judicial system to set up a Child Family Court, training police and judges in child-friendly procedures. It was a dedicated shift from what was just a ‘one size fits all’ judicial system, where children and adults were basically assessed in the same way,” he said.

World Vision staff member monitor the construction of transitional centers as the region rebuilds from the tsunami. Picture: World Vision

Grace Hokum, director of the Child Friendly Spaces, surrounded by children at the Gedung Sosial Center in Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia. Picture: World Vision

Building back better also applied to infrastructure, Mr Benes said, with schools and other structures rebuilt to withstand future natural disasters. When Banda Aceh was shaken by a 6.7 earthquake in 2013, schools rebuilt with UNICEF support did not suffer any damage.

The scale of the 2004 disaster also supercharged international efforts to improve future monitoring of tsunami events.

The Global Tsunami Warning System, overseen by UNESCO, utilises the resources of tens of thousands of seismometers, 74 deep-ocean buoys, 1200 sea-level observation stations, and a network of 12 regional service providers.

While tsunamis remain a unique challenge – they have been clocked at moving at 800km/hr – the warning system has been credited with saving immeasurable lives.

In January 2022, a tsunami caused by an erupting undersea volcano near Hawaii was as high as two metres and penetrated 100 metres inland in some areas. The material damage in nearby Tonga was significant, UNESCO reported, but that tsunami claimed just four lives.

Originally published as How the Boxing Day tsunami changed the way we respond as we detect catastrophic weather