Wave of Destruction: The Stories of Four Families and History's Deadliest Tsunami

Author: Erich Krauss    Rating: 2/5

    Who does not remember the devastating Tsunami of December 26, 2004. To me that was the first time I was hearing the word Tsunami. Around fifteen countries were devastated by that Tsunami.
Approximately 250,000 people were killed. Majority of the damage was caused in Banda Aceh in Indonesia. I got to know, through wikipedia, that a village in Tamilnadu India, although was in the line of the wave, did not get affected as much because of a huge line of trees. So, since we cannot prevent Tsunamis from happening may be we could plant more trees to fight them. It could fight two problems at the same time, Tsunami and global warming.

    This book specifically deals with destruction caused in Nam Khem, Thailand. Story is about four families who survived the Tsunami. Book is divided into four parts, before the catastrophe, when tsunami hits the coast, how the families survived and searched for other family members and finally the rehabilitation. Author goes back and forth between the four families. Story starts with how these families came to that island to earn their livelihood to one of the victims actually taking up the rehabilitating efforts for other victims as a way to come out of her own loss. As Leo Tolstoy once said, all the happy families are alike but the unhappy ones are unhappy in their own way. Book mentions how in the times of such devastations unknown people come forward and offer their help and on the other hand there are people who take advantage of the situation and exploit others. Government machinery also comes to a stand still.
   
    No matter how much we read or watch about such catastrophes we could never come even close to experiencing the pain of the people who are actually suffering. What we could have, is just a glimpse of that. As much as I am saddened by the destruction, I was not very impressed by the book. Book does not evoke any different feelings from what I already have. I probably would have liked it more if it had more information about Tsunami, interspersed with the personal stories. It is a very easy book to read.