All language subtitles for s01e01.The.Wave.2160p.WEB-DL.Rus.Eng.[sub.eng]-BLUEBIRD

-Hello, ladies,
what day is it today?

-It's Christmas!
-Christmas.

-Alright, can we sing,

"We Wish You a
Merry Christmas"?

-I’ll do it.

-Okay, you do it, Danielle,

you're the one with the voice.

-You join in.

♪ I wish you a
merry Christmas. ♪

♪ I wish you a
Merry Christmas and ♪

♪ a Happy New Year. ♪

-Keep singing.

I'm gonna show everyone
where we are for Christmas.

♪ To you and your kin ♪

-It's about 6:30 at night.

It is, this is our balcony.

♪ Good tidings
for Christmas and a ♪

♪ Happy New Year. ♪

-Hello. Hello.

-The 2004 Indian Ocean
tsunami was like no other.

None of us had ever seen
anything like this before.

It was the largest
rupture in history.

-A catastrophe is unfolding
in Southern Asia right now.

The strongest earthquake
in four decades.

-The tragedy of
staggering proportions.

-I can see it's moving
really fast, and then,

I heard my husband...

[gasps].

...And he was
swallowed up first.

-I heard my mom shouting,

"I don't wanna die."

I said, "Yeah, okay,
let's swim."

-I forgot about my fear.

I could not say no to
anyone calling for help.

-Yeah, you don't cry,

you're a good girl,
you're a strong girl.

-Wonderful people
stood up and were counted,

they were able to
become a hero for a day.

[♪ theme music playing]

-We arrived in Khao Lak
a few days before.

And I remember it
being very, very hot,

and we had a, a long walk
with these big backpacks.

And, after that long,
dusty walk,

getting those bags off
and getting in the sea

for the first time
was incredible.

Mai's Quiet Zone was lovely.

Very hospitable and welcoming.

It had lots of little huts just
set back from the water line.

Tourists loved it.

The morning of 26th December,

we had breakfast
with our parents.

I was 15, and my
brother Theo was 11.

Mum and Dad,
from very early age,

would love to explore.

They'd both done
a lot of traveling.

And then, once they
were together and had us,

they wanted to
instill that in us and,

and get us exploring.

Theo, as the younger brother,
would be by my side,

follow me along.

Back then, we
were best friends,

and we just did
everything together.

We just had a bit of time
before we were heading out

on a snorkeling trip
just out off the coast.

And it was another
glorious day in Thailand.

-At the time, this
region was at war.

There was a lot of violence.

There were rebels who wants
to have independence and

fight with the
Indonesian government.

I'm a cameraman and filmmaker,

and my job is to show
what happens in Aceh.

Me and my wife just
married for three months.

We still are living
at my mom's house.

I was very close with my mom.

-They closed the border,

all foreigners were
stopped from coming in.

So, I was told I could stay
as long as I stayed within the

confines of where I am here,
so that was fine.

Surfing's been a
big part of my life,

and surfing in the tropics
is as good as it gets.

Oh, it was a beautiful day,
but then the earthquake started,

and it was massive.

-People were
already on the street,

And I tried to stand,
but, but I can't.

I see my mom,

and she said to me that,

"Can you just be
with me this time?"

And I just said, "No, I
really need to film this,

and I'll be back soon
when I finish everything,"

and my mom said that,

"I'll be home
when you finish."

-In 2004, I was working at the

Pacific Tsunami
Warning Center,

and I was on duty.

I had just laid
down for a nap,

and I was sort of
on that edge of grogginess,

and the alarm went off.

And I can get some idea right
away looking at the pager...

this could be a
large earthquake.

We came up with a
magnitude of eight,

which is quite large.

And we figured
out the location,

which was about 150 miles
off Banda Aceh in

the Indian Ocean.

That spiked my adrenaline
because an earthquake that

occurs under the ocean
actually lifts the ocean bottom.

Imagine a line of 1,000
kilometers of water being

lifted vertically,
and then the water,

of course, peaks, and
then gravity pulls it down.

When the gravity pulls it down,

the wave separates
and spreads out in

two different directions.

And, as you get near a coast,

you're not gonna see what
we think of as ocean waves,

I think of it as more
like a steamroller of water

just shearing its way inland.

But we're the Pacific
Tsunami Warning Center,

so our focus was the Pacific,

which, in this case,
is the wrong ocean.

And we sent out essentially
a message saying,

"There's no threat
of a dangerous tsunami

in the Pacific."

But, in the Indian Ocean,
tsunamis are rare,

and so there was
just no system at all,

no warning center,

very few water level
recording systems.

There was no way to
even contact them,

but even if there had been
a means to contact them,

there would have been no way
to warn them before the wave.

[Dendy Montgomery]
We jump to our car,

and I give the camera
and tripod to my wife.

I can see so many
collapsed building,

and so many injured people.

But I'm thinking
that maybe it's over.

I'm not sure.

-After the earthquake,

all of my family went
outside the house.

I just got my birthday
present from my father,

a Handy-cam,

so everywhere I go,

I keep, shoot
everything that I think

interesting for me.

All my extended family
came to Banda Aceh to prepare

for my cousin's wedding.

We already prepare everything
with the beautiful dress,

so all the family of
the bride is together.

I look at all my family faces,
they are not feeling panic,

no panic.

[David Lines] It
was eerily quiet,

very dense feeling,

and then we heard this,
"boom, boom, boom"

coming from the sea.

Now, it sounded like bombs,
and my wife goes,

"That's gotta be waves."

And I kind of didn't
think it was waves, like,

it didn't sound like
waves to me, like, at all,

but she was right.

It was, like, white water,

and it was just full of
brown and white, yellow foam.

Stuff in it.

It was quite creepy,
and I didn't know what

was gonna happen.

But I knew I had to go.

[honking]

[overlapping chatter]

We got into our car,

so we just floored it
and went straight up.

So, as we turned the
corner away from the beach,

I look in the side mirror,

and that's when I
actually saw the wave.

Get to a hill, and we
were completely surrounded by

raging water within
seconds of arriving.

[Dendy Montgomery] So, we're
filming at the Grand Mosque.

And then suddenly,
my wife yells to me.

-And, it's already, like,
I'm confusing me a lot.

And then suddenly I can
see the first water coming.

And the direction is
going to my house.

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

So, I jumped in the jeep.

And then, people started to
climb on the back of the Jeep.

I can see two old women
in the middle of the street,

confused and scared,

and I can see one
of them is blind.

So, I jump out from the car.

I did it.

I jump off of the car
and then grab them, like,

really quickly,
maybe took one minute,

and then we go.

[Dendy Montgomery]
I remember my mom.

I already tell her
that I'll be back.

I'm gonna start crying, man.

I'm so sorry.

I just remember that...
I really need to save her.

She is the only one I
have after my father died.

And, um...

...we keep driving to my house.

[Dendy Montgomery]
It's already chaos.

People running in panic.

And I can hear, "Air laut naik!

Air laut naik!"

"The water is coming
from the sea!"

[crying]

We finally arrive to the
entrance of my village.

Like, everybody try to coming
out from the village, like,

really chaos and
panic situation.

Do I wait for my mom?

Or keep driving to save
so many lives in my Jeep?

So, I stop for a while.

The water is really
already close to us.

And suddenly, I see my mom.

I meet her finally.

That's the happiest
time of my life, man.

And then we keep driving,
but I can feel the water,

and I can see on the mirror of
my car it's really high water.

And I just, like, what is that?

[overlapping chatter]

[honking]

[rushing water]

[Cut Putri] My
father yelled to us,

"Go to the second floor!

Everybody!"

[speaking in foreign language]

-I saw everything
because I want this recording

to be a gift to the
world if I die today.

[rushing water]

From the balcony,
we saw a lot of people

who were asking for help

[speaking in foreign language]

[Cut Putri] We cannot help them.

It's so far away, and
the water is so fast.

[crying]

[speaking in foreign language]

[crying]

-That's why I say,
"Please forgive me,

I cannot help you."

There's nothing we can do.

[overlapping foreign chatter]

[sobbing]

[Barry Hirshorn]
We're still flying blind,

and at this point,

we can't actually
observe the tsunami because

we don't have
any water level data.

So, we start
looking more closely at

the earthquake source itself,
and we thought, okay,

we have a magnitude eight,

and we're trying to
reanalyze the magnitude

with more data.

And then, we got
a magnitude 8.5.

And, although you
think of 8.5 versus eight...

...so what, .5, right?

The earthquake magnitude
scale is a logarithmic scale,

and each difference in
magnitude is about a 30-time

increase in energy.

So, we called the director
at the warning center and

basically said, "Hey Chip, this
is significantly larger than we

had thought."

-The world had not seen
an earthquake as big as

an 8.5 in 39 years.

And so, we knew there's
almost certainly was a pretty

destructive tsunami
there in Indonesia.

And at that point,

I decided I had to
get back to the center.

We were thinking, well,

what is it that we could
do in the absence of

any tsunami warning system?

And we made a few phone
calls to try and spread this

information around.

We have phone numbers for
key contacts in every country

in the Pacific,

but none of that
existed in the Indian Ocean.

And imagine at the far end
receiving a call from someone

you don't know, who
doesn't speak your language,

and then asking them
to evacuate their coasts,

and hoping they
just believe you.

[Barry Hirshorn] I believe
we reached out to Australia.

My colleague, Stuart Weinstein,

was trying to get
through to Indonesia,

but nobody was answering.

We are realizing that this
could affect many, many lives,

in the thousands potentially,

and it's kind of a combination
of horror and frustration.

And now, there could be a
much larger area affected

by the tsunami.

Instead of just affecting
the local coastlines,

we could now go 300,
400, 500 kilometers...

...or more.

[playful screams]

[laughter]

[playful screams]

-Theo and I were,
were sat on a little veranda

outside our room
playing a bit of cards and

listening to some music.

And our dad rushed
over to where we're

sat outside and just said,

"Come have a look here,
there's something,

the locals are looking
at the water line and,

and they're not sure
what's going on."

[overlapping kids chatter]

-So Theo and I had followed
Mom and Dad to the waterfront.

At this point,

the beach had expanded
by hundreds of meters and

the water had withdrawn.

And you could just see
blue sea with a little bit of

a wave in it.

It was just water on the
horizon that looked unusual.

[overlapping kids chatter]

[Louis Mullan] There were
lots of people just lined up

along the front,

people asking each
other what was happening.

[crying]

[Louis Mullan]
It was a curiosity.

It certainly wasn't a danger.

But very quickly,

that sort of curiosity
turned to, to panic.

[screams]

[Louis Mullan] And
everyone was rushing

in the other direction,
away from the sea.

And Theo and I just
joined the rush.

[heavy breathing]

[Louis Mullan] As we were
running, we were holding hands.

I do recall Theo saying,
"What about Mom and Dad?"

And I kind of, didn't
have an answer, really.

I very much felt like I
had to step up and be

the older brother.

We didn't know where our
parents were, and, yeah,

I needed to be the one that
kept him safe and protected him.

-Go! Go!

[screams]

[Louis Mullan] The
water then reached us and

knocked us off our feet and
was just moving us inland.

Theo and I were holding
onto each other.

The water was just
rushing around us.

And then, Theo and
I couldn't hold onto

each other any longer.

We were pulled apart.

And then, once I resurfaced,

I couldn't see Theo anywhere.

And then someone reached
out a hand and pulled me

into the building.

Once I got up
into that building,

I remember just throwing up.

I remember the view, the pure
carnage of rushing water.

[speaking in foreign language]

-And I was looking
out back towards the sea,

but there was no sort of
line where the sea finished.

The water was everywhere.

And I just screamed out.

The only thing I could do.

I screamed out for my
Mom and Dad and Theo,

and and just heard nothing.

[♪ ominous music playing]

[honking]

[speaking in foreign language]

-I tried to
escape from the water.

I remember I have to
keep recording everything.

When I arrive in the bridge,

I saw everything
was flattened.

I was really shocked.

This is the moment that I
realize this is a disaster.

There must be a lot
of people dead.

And then, from the
top of the bridge,

I see people standing
on the top of the debris.

They try to escape.

Some people lived,

but some fell and
never came back again.

Gone forever.

It's very traumatic for me
because there's nothing

I can do.

But, when the water slow,

I saw someone shouting
very loudly asking help.

[shouting in foreign language]

-I saw people try
to pull something.

I, I don't want to
miss the moments,

so I keep rolling and
keep recording it.

[overlapping foreign chatter]

[♪ inspirational music playing]

[overlapping foreign chatter]

[speaking in foreign language]

[Cut Putri] When
the tsunami stopped,

I heard my father and my
brother looking for something.

I came inside the house.

I said, "What is it?"

[speaking in foreign language]

[Cut Putri] My father say,

"There's somebody
yelling for help."

[Cut Putri] I’m the first one
who saw the man under stairs

[Ahmadi] Help

[overlapping foreign chatter]

[footsteps in water]

[♪ somber music playing]

[♪ somber music playing]

[speaking in foreign language]

[Cut Putri] A lot of my
family don't survive.

They all came to Aceh
to attend a wedding,

and suddenly in seconds,
they're gone.

We don't even find their body.

[Dendy Montgomery]
Everybody lost somebody.

Myself, I lost 50 member
of my family.

Sorry.

[speaking in foreign language]

[♪ somber music playing]

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[Louis Mullan] Once the
water had retreated,

I climbed out and
went onto the road.

There's a large part of my
brain that still thought,

this is just a dream,
this is gonna reset itself,

and we'll go back to normal,

and I'll find Mom
and Dad and Theo,

and life will be fine.

And at that point,

I remembered
my brother, Theo.

I did feel like I should
have protected him,

I should have kept him closer.

But, unfortunately,

the sheer power of the
water and what happened is

out of your hands.

[speaking in foreign language]

[Louis Mullan] I met
this French family that I'd

recognized from the hotel,

so I kind of tagged on to them.

[speaking in foreign language]

[Louis Mullan] Everyone was
trying to get to higher ground.

[speaking in foreign language]

[Louis Mullan] And then there
was another group coming up.

[overlapping chatter]

[Louis Mullan] And they
had a young boy with them.

And then, they came
around the corner,

and I recognized immediately
that it was Theo.

-Someone asked me,
"Do you have a brother?"

And I said, "Yes, yes,
his name is Louis."

[Louis Mullan] I remember, like,

seeing him for the
first time, and I was, yeah,

just overwhelmed with,
with joy...

...and relief and love.

And, as soon as I saw him,
I screamed down to him and

then rushed out.

Just couldn’t,
couldn’t let go of him.

[Theo Mullan] I just
remember being so in shock.

I, I don't think I
said an awful lot,

but it was okay
'cause I had Louis.

[overlapping chatter]

[Louis Mullan] Theo and I
flew back to the UK

without our parents,

and for a while, they were
classed as missing people.

But, after six weeks or so,

their bodies were
discovered and identified.

Couldn't process it,

it was shock,
it was disbelief.

It was just a very
dark period of time.

But then, Theo and
I were adopted by a

family in Cornwall,

and for such a terrible event,

losing your parents
at that age,

we couldn't have been more
fortunate to join the family

that we have afterwards.

Since the tsunami, the
relationship with my brother

has become the most
important relationship.

He is the most important
thing in my life.

[Barry Hirshorn] At this point,

we have seen no
water level data.

We have not seen a tsunami
on a measuring device, period.

But, about this time,
something really helped us.

Chip had a code on his laptop,
and he brought it up, and he...

...built created a travel time
plot for the Indian Ocean.

This was groundbreaking
because now we could

see the tsunami.

And now we got it,
the pieces all fit,

and we realized that
there are a lot of places not

hit yet that can be warned.

We've gotta do what
we can for the people

ahead of the wave.

Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.