Wave of Destruction

The Stories of Four Families and History's Deadliest Tsunami

This exquisitely written book puts a human face on the tragedy of 2004's Southeast Asian tsunami through the heartbreaking and heroic stories of four who survived this cataclysmic natural disaster.

Erich Krauss arrived in the Thai village of Nam Keam on a relief truck 12 days after an underwater earthquake of unimaginable magnitude erupted across the ocean floor and unleashed a tsunami that destroyed millions of lives and decimated the coastline of Southeast Asia. Wandering around the wreckage in a contamination suit, trying to deliver food and water, he found survivors desperate to tell him what their village had been like and how their lives had been changed forever. In Wave of Destruction, Krauss shares the pain and privation of four villagers who made it through alive only to bury their family and friends.

Beginning with their fight for life as a 40-foot wave crashed down upon their community, and ending with their slow, confusing quest to rebuild after the last of the bodies had been buried, Krauss unveils the actions and thoughts of ordinary people who were forced to brave extraordinary circumstances. Krauss, a gifted writer and expert in Thai culture, allows the reader to experience one of the worst disasters the world has ever known—through the eyes of those who will never be able to forget.