Inside the killer tsunami of zoo

Unseen archival footage, survivor testimonies, insights from scientists.

- Hein Kaiser

Natural disasters come and go but the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was a catastrophe that's joined the ranks of the most vicious of nature's wrath. Just like Mount Vesuvius decimated Pompeii, the ocean turned a festive season into a giant funeral procession across 14 countries. Now, nearly 20 years later, National Geographic will premiere Tsunami: Race Against Time next Thursday. It's a documentary series that promises to be the definitive recounting ofthis catastrophic event. With unseen archival footage, survivor testimonies and insights from scientists and rescuers, the series will unpack the disaster minute by minute. For producer Tanya Winston, revisiting the tsunami was more than piecing together a timeline; it meant telling the human story. "It affected so many people, countless nationalities," she said. "And it's personal because the sea, which most of us think of as a safe space, turned into a force of destruction. "All of us go to the beach, take our children to the sea, thinking it's safe. Watching this, you think what if that happened to me?"