Series: Waterworld
Title: Tsunami Aftermath. Seiche.
I came across this image on a strip of sand affronting a village on the North Eastern flank of Phuket island. A strong tidal surge must have washed a large quantity of builders bricks onto this section of mudflats, dotted with mangrove pencil roots. Bricks that had been randomly scattered, many or most of them half buried in the mud in such a way, that as I stood and looked at what lay before me, I saw not bricks at all, but rather an aerial view of a small town that looked like it had been hit by something akin to a tsunami. I saw devastation and destruction. It reminded me of news images I had seen of places in Indonesia, Japan or elsewhere, flattened and scraped into a hodgepodge of dilapidated homes and buildings.
The amount of energy and water contained in a huge tsunami can cause extreme destruction when it strikes land. The initial wave of a huge tsunami is extremely tall; however, most damage is not sustained by this wave. Most of the damage is caused by the huge mass of water behind the initial wave front, as the height of the sea keeps rising fast and floods powerfully into the coastal area. It is the power behind the waves, the endless rushing water that causes devastation and loss of life. When the giant breaking waves of a tsunami batter the shoreline, they can destroy everything in their path.
Destruction is caused by two mechanisms: the smashing force of a wall of water traveling at high speed, and the destructive power of a large volume of water draining off the land and carrying all with it, even if the wave did not look large.
Objects and buildings are destroyed by the sheer weight of the water, often reduced to skeletal foundations and exposed bedrock. Large objects such as ships and boulders can be carried several miles inland before the tsunami subsides. Tsunami waves destroy boats, buildings, bridges, cars, trees, telephone lines, power lines — and just about anything else in their way.
Prints available now online.
See link above. Giclee. Signed. Edition of 5. Delivered. Worldwide.
