Magnitude 9.3: at the heart of the Tsunami

On December 26, 2004, while the whole world had just finished the Christmas holidays, an unprecedented natural disaster struck the countries that bathe in the vast Indian Ocean. Many Westerners deserted their daily lives to recharge their batteries in the sun, on the other side of the world.
We met up with family, friends or on honeymoon, for magical moments, in the most exotic destinations. But fate had other plans. At 7:58 in the morning, the earth began to tremble off the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Magnitude 9.3 on the Richter scale. Unheard of in living memory. A gigantic wall of water began its deadly journey on the west coast of Sumatra, to end up at the edge of the Indian Ocean, sowing death and despair.
It would leave 200,000 dead in its wake. The whole world became aware of the scale of this disaster almost instantly. Tourists' amateur cameras record live images, images that will travel around the world. Our documentary unfolds minute by minute the fate of these families who, through their holiday films, make us live their particular experience. The testimonies are poignant.
Destinies intersect. The victims are forever linked together in life and in death. We tell their stories.
Author: Patrice Lucchini.