Presents a minute-by-minute account of the most destructive tsunami in modern times ... present in Thailand and Sri Lanka on December 26, 2004.

Sadly, the 2004 tsunami showed up this lack all too well in the Indian Ocean. In Thailand, for example, seismologists knew early on how big the quake was and that it probably spawned a big tsunami.

THAI tourism industry icon Wichit Na Ranong, managing director of the luxurious Indigo Pearl resort at Nai Yang Beach in Phuket, says, “I would say we had a very fast recovery after the tsunami.