froginmythroat (FIMT)

Suggested music to listen to whilst viewing these pictures – something slow and contemplative.

These photos don’t really do justice to the extent of the damage. There is no real way to get a feel for the scope of devastation from just a few photos.

Crooked house

This house is the only structure standing, and barely at that, in a space that stretches pretty much as far as the eye can see.

What remains – piles of debris

Ship on land 1

One of several ships that the huge wave dumped on land. Another was a ship that is a portable power generator. It had been rented to supplement Aceh’s power needs from somewhere else in the archipelago. When the tsunami hit the captain of the ship apparently tried to navigate or surf the wave. The crew managed to rescue a few people before the ship came to its final resting place on land in the middle of a village smack bang on the front porch of several houses. Now that village has all its electricity needs taken care of. (More ships on land)

Remember! … We all must surely die

Please help me…we is tsunami child

Ulee Lheue tsunami scape

Turning 360 degrees in this spot reveals pretty much the same view – empty spaces where houses stood and lives were lived.

Decapitated car

Hundreds of damaged vehicles like this litter the streets.

I don’t have any photos of the devastated areas before the tsunami hit, but if the unaffected suburbs are anything to go by they would have looked like the BA (Banda Aceh) ‘burbs I previously posted:

BA ‘burbs unaffected by the tsunami (previously posted)