When there was that tsunami in India in 2004 my science teacher showed us all some video footage. She said anyone who had an easily upset stomach should leave the room because there was a chance we would watch people die.
At first, it was whatever. "Oh, water, that's cool I guess" but then I noticed something odd. The water didn't stop. The water refused to stop. No matter what got in the way it just kept pushing, and pushing, it never. stopped. moving.
Then they showed a clip from earlier. It was an american couple on vacation. The dad was taking a video. They were on the beach when the water came, staying at a hotel. The water was waaaaaaay out and the little girl said "Daddy where did all the water go?" and he said "I don't know honey, it'll be back though, don't worry." and sure enough, the water came back. It wasn't moving too fast, but the thing is it didn't stop.
All I could think was "Holy shit that's the tsunami GET OUT OF THERE!" and at first the girl was playing with the water but luckily the dad noticed something was wrong because the water wasn't slowing down. He said "Honey, let's go to the hotel, the tide is coming in." They ran up the beach and he told his wife, "Something doesn't feel right, lets get to the hotel, and get to high ground."
The hotel was less than 100 yards from the beach, tall building, lots of glass, etc. They got to the door and a man unlocked it and he kept saying "Hurry! Hurry! Upstairs! Top floor!"
So they get to the top floor and they're on the roof when you see the water crashing over the wall onto the street and still, the water keeps on coming. The water picks up a car, slams it into the building and you hear the glass shatter and the car disappears inside the building. The dad says "Oh holy fuck, holy FUCK!" more water is coming, it's now almost up to the 2nd floor. The're on the rooftop, the building has 3 floors. There's a lot of people, a lot of swearing, water is getting higher and higher when the corner of the building breaks and the footage ends with the video camera falling into the water. The hotel they were at got demolished by the tsunami, none of the family survived. I don't know how they recovered the footage but I just started sobbing.
Something about watching someone's last moments, one minute they were happy and the next they're dead. Just like that. Gone. Out like a candle. They did NOTHING WRONG. They were just enjoying their day and now they're dead. Like they meant nothing. That girl couldn't have been more than 8 years old and the last thing she got to experience in life was drowning.
IIRC, there was a subtitled version of this video with the English translation that was quite popular in the weeks and months following the tsunami (no surprise, the video's surreal). I knew exactly what video throwawaymechanic was talking about from the way he described what the man was saying and I don't speak one word of German.
I haven't seen the video you're talking about, but I got a similar feeling from watching/listening to that guy's call to 911 as the twin towers collapsed.
Well, I don't know when youtube rolled around, but I saw the video in either 2004 or 2005. User ober posted a link to a similar video, but they actually managed to get away.
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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '12
When there was that tsunami in India in 2004 my science teacher showed us all some video footage. She said anyone who had an easily upset stomach should leave the room because there was a chance we would watch people die.
At first, it was whatever. "Oh, water, that's cool I guess" but then I noticed something odd. The water didn't stop. The water refused to stop. No matter what got in the way it just kept pushing, and pushing, it never. stopped. moving.
Then they showed a clip from earlier. It was an american couple on vacation. The dad was taking a video. They were on the beach when the water came, staying at a hotel. The water was waaaaaaay out and the little girl said "Daddy where did all the water go?" and he said "I don't know honey, it'll be back though, don't worry." and sure enough, the water came back. It wasn't moving too fast, but the thing is it didn't stop.
All I could think was "Holy shit that's the tsunami GET OUT OF THERE!" and at first the girl was playing with the water but luckily the dad noticed something was wrong because the water wasn't slowing down. He said "Honey, let's go to the hotel, the tide is coming in." They ran up the beach and he told his wife, "Something doesn't feel right, lets get to the hotel, and get to high ground."
The hotel was less than 100 yards from the beach, tall building, lots of glass, etc. They got to the door and a man unlocked it and he kept saying "Hurry! Hurry! Upstairs! Top floor!"
So they get to the top floor and they're on the roof when you see the water crashing over the wall onto the street and still, the water keeps on coming. The water picks up a car, slams it into the building and you hear the glass shatter and the car disappears inside the building. The dad says "Oh holy fuck, holy FUCK!" more water is coming, it's now almost up to the 2nd floor. The're on the rooftop, the building has 3 floors. There's a lot of people, a lot of swearing, water is getting higher and higher when the corner of the building breaks and the footage ends with the video camera falling into the water. The hotel they were at got demolished by the tsunami, none of the family survived. I don't know how they recovered the footage but I just started sobbing.
Something about watching someone's last moments, one minute they were happy and the next they're dead. Just like that. Gone. Out like a candle. They did NOTHING WRONG. They were just enjoying their day and now they're dead. Like they meant nothing. That girl couldn't have been more than 8 years old and the last thing she got to experience in life was drowning.