GIANNI MAIANI
Tsunami in Mu Koh Similan




    Description of the contents
     
     Departure from Khao Lak
    A group of tourists for a one-day trip to the Similan Islands. Everybody went back to Khao Lak, except two of us. That was our salvage, since Khao Lak was the place in Thailand where the destruction reached the top.
     Generation of Tidal Waves
    3d graphic animations simulate the generation of Tidal waves and emphasize the extension of the fracture. Oppositely to what was mistakenly reported by many media (*), the video shows the correct direction of the two main wave fronts. Still with the support of 3d graphic, it is suggested the reason why the occupants of the Similans had much better luck than those staying in Khao Lak.
     The Tsunami
    The clip comes back to the real images with the second Tidal wave entering in the habitable area of Koh Miang, constituted essentially by a small camping and few bungalow made of wood. (in the island, which is part of a National Park, roads and buildings are absent).
    Similan islands, left without running water, without communications and without connections with the coast, are suddenly cut off from the rest of the World. All the accommodations of the camping, same as great part of food, are swept out to sea.
    The video portrays the disoriented occupants wearing lifejackets and reaching the topmost spot of the island. Downwards, the sea continues to retract and extend. The weird behaviour of the sea is underlined by a vortex and strange patterns made out of water and sand.
    In the evening is it distributed the food left, then, people sleep in the border of the tropical forest.
     Rescue and return to Khao Lak
    The following morning, a military unit of the Royal Thai Navy comes to rescue the occupants of the Similan. The last series of pictures show the sea in front of Khao Lak populated by military units in search of bodies.
    After the view of the first floating bodies, and with the understanding of the entity of the devastation (which in Khao Lak was unimaginable), the videocamera was turned off.

(*) According to what many media reported, the waves would have been generated concentrically from a single point (the hypocenter). Instead, Tidal waves of 26 December were generated along a fault line of about 1200 Km.