up next on a second look, the earth shook and then the ocean rose up. creating a tsunami that left hundreds of thousands of people dead. remembering the toll in the indian ocean region nearly a decade ago and the story of those who came to help afterward. all that straight ahead on a second look. hello everyone i'm frank somerville and welcome to a second look. tonight we remember one of the

worse -- worse disasters of the 21st century. the earth shook and triggered a tsunami that killed two thundershower 600 people. and the worse hit was srilanka. >> it was like an ocean coming at us. >> reporter: before december 26th most sri lankas has no idea what a tsunami was. >> we never heard the word. >> reporter: they had never heard the word until the waves came crashing down on them. like so many places along the coast, the waves overtook the small town of baticalo. which sits on the east side of sri lanka between the indian ocean and a lagoon. it was a morning after

christmas not a day unlike others because there was a full moon that's celebrated as a holiday in sri lanka. before noon, this temple was bustling with people. people were cooking food to celebrate. on the other side of the world christians were resting after the celebration. a shallow gush of water, no warning for what would happen next. >> it was a sight i will never forget in my life. it was a 30-foot wall of water from one end of the beach to the other end of the beach. >> reporter: pastor lanla and the rest of his people at the temple were rescued because they jumped into a boat. down the beach, people would

not have the same fate. they were taken in by the water. it was then they learned something they never wanted to know. >> carrying the body is very heavy. really heavy. six people need to carry one body. >> reporter: while everyone on this beach has a terrible story to tell they cannot ignore the numerous stories of selflessness that have surfaced. the first was of this boy who was buying fish at the beach when the waves surfaced. >> it was not like other waves it was bigger. so i knew that it was coming to get us and that's why i went running. >> reporter: instead of running for his life, crismas says he ran to the neighbors throwing stones at their windows and

doors screaming for people to get out. >> reporter: what made you think to throw stones? >> i thought it was my duty to save other people's lives as well. it wasn't right to just think of myself. >> reporter: this teen teenager says he saved 20 people that day. he never wanted to return here after what he has witnessed. but he is back again for his family's sake. >> my family is in a school, but today i came to collect whatever i can salvage from my house. to sell it to a shop in town. get some money to give to feed my sisters and mother. >> reporter: in a place that used to give him comfort, all the comforts of home have been swept away. he finds only two things that remind him of what was.

his little sister's fancy blue dress and a video tape. a reminder of the family's prized possession, a vcr. crishnar now daydreams of leaving this place but at night the memories of what he saw that day haunt him. >> reporter: what do you dream of at night? >> i see that the wave is coming and my, everyone is being swept away including my family. >> reporter: although his family was spared his friends were not. >> all my friends are dead except for maybe a couple, two or three. so i don't have anyone to play with. >> reporter: he is no longer drawn to the beach where he used to happily play soccer with his friends. for now the 15-year-old's only mission in life is simple and self-less. >> so what do you do for happiness? >> my task is to make my sisters happy. i tried to make my sisters

happy. >> reporter: a noble but difficult task here. even the animals seem to wander listlessly in a once bustling neighborhood that has become a waste land by the sea. >> reporter: the destruction was spread across the entire region of the indian ocean. it seemed that wherever there was a coastline there was devastation. bob mackenzie brought us this report only a few days after that massive quake in december of 2004. >> reporter: each passing day brings more news of suffering and uprooted lives around the indian ocean. villages were so thoroughly destroyed that there was nothing to stay for. >> there are entire family that is have been wiped away. children have been separated

from their families. there's bodies everywhere. >> reporter: but at the hospital, all the rooms are filled, with lines of people waiting outside. in sri lanka thousands are sleeping on the streets no closer to having shelter than a few days ago. people are found buries under the rubble of their homes. in thailand a 30-year-old woman cries i lost everyone and everything. my four children and my husband are gone. all the world's relief agencies and many governments have geared up to help. but health experts say the situation is entering a dangerous new phase. a race against time to head off epidemic disease. in indonesia bodies are decaying faster than they can be buried even in mass graves and the stench can be overpowering. these bodies have been laying

on the street for several days with no signs they'll be moved soon. in sri lanka bodies go to mass graves before they are even identified there's no time to find out who they are. all over the region, corpses lay on the street and carry illnesses. >> there's a chance we can have at least as many dying from communicable diseases as we've had dying from the tsunami. >> reporter: the clock is ticking, the situation on the coast of asian could get much worse before it gets better. >> still to come on a second look. how bay area people helped the victims of the quake and tsunami. an

welcome back too -- to a second look where tonight we're remembering a tsunami. after the disaster people from all over the world rallied to help and that included people from right here in the bay area. a month after the quake, sarah shriner brought us this report from sri lanka. >> reporter: this refugee camp is home to 900 people left homeless by the tsunami. inside the conditions are dire. only the lucky get a bed. the bathroom is a large bowl the contents which are tipped out some where. this man says he saw his entire family swept away by the wave. >> my sister and my sisters family and my sister's

daughter. and my other sister's daughter. so sorry. >> reporter: his legs were slashed so mercylessly by debris that he has not been able to walk for weeks. the thought of leaving this place is his only source of joy. >> do you want to leave sri lanka. >> in my mind. >> reporter: where would you go? >> if you ask, i come with you. >> reporter: you have a new toy. and they have long term plans to stay. kaiser permanente has agreed to

send rotating doctors for a year. >> and there's an incredible spirit here. the kids here are wonderful. they're alive, they're engaging and instead of to me it represents an opportunity for people to sort of move on. >> reporter: it may be that spirit that sustained sri lanka in the conditions they lived in even before the tsunami and that was that life like? for if majority of sri lankas the poor life was and continues to be hard. we travel to guanapua an area untouched by the tsunami. >> reporter: what's life like here? >> i work every day. i'm sad. my life is pretty sad. >> reporter: teresa violet works at a factory that makes rope out of cocoa nut husks. >> i wake up at 4:00 in the morning, 7:00 i'm at work. 12:00 i come back home. then i go back to work at 1:00

and come back at 5:00. >> reporter: do you make enough money to support yourself and your children? >> sometimes we go without enough food. sometimes we are okay. >> reporter: violet provides for her two teenage boys and her pregnant daughter. at 55, her wants are practical and simple. >> i wish for a house. a nice house. and to live in a nice house. >> reporter: do you think your dream will ever come true? >> i have a hard time believing that it will come true but i still go on dreaming. >> reporter: what she doesn't know is she is slated to get a house with the help of a bay area sponsor who adopted violet's family through world vision. >> reporter: well seeing that it's kind of confirms your worse fears almost. >> reporter: this is the first time leslie olroy of hills roy

has seen video of how violet lives. >> it's dreadful to see that we live in such luxury and how people live. when we come back on a second look. the red cross honors a bay area doctor for his service in the quake area. and elsewhere in the world. and a bit later, checking in on the victims. five years later.

tonight on a second look the deadly tsunami that hit the indian ocean in 2004. only four months after that disaster another massive quake hit that region. ktvu's john fowler brought us this report at the time of the panic that followed. >> reporter: just after 11:00

local time police warned people on the islands to flee for their lives. many needed no prompting. the earth shook violently here for more than two minutes. >> we had an earthquake. now people are, starting to get panicked and everyone is coming out from their tents. >> reporter: within 20 minutes, the tsunami warning center sent out alerts to thailand and five other nations within 600 miles of the coast urging evacuation. most of the deaths were from falling debris and collapsing building on coastal islands. there's being nothing like this in recorded history. a second great earthquake striking the same region within 99 days. >> i would certainly say they're fraternal twins. it's not a duplicate.

it occurred further south. today there was no major tsunami. today's great quake and continuing aftershock are frightening indonesians who continue to struggle. >> we see this as a mentally scared population. >> reporter: seismologists are know debating whether today's quake was a quake of its own or a aftershock of the first quake. scientists say each was along the so called sunda trench,

where it added stress. >> sarah sidner told us about kaiser permanente's commitment to send medical personnel to the area in the months following. five months after that disaster the bay area red cross honored one of the physicians sent there. >> reporter: when dr. bryan hurt says pictures of suffering no matter where it's from he wants to do something. but unlike most of us he does it by showing up in person to help. >> it's such a beautiful thing to actually go to a place where the world knows there's a problem and to be physically present to provide support for someone else and to be able to talk with them and show that level of human respect and dignity for them being there and know that other people in the world are aware of their situation and want to help. he's been using his hands and heart to heal people around

the world for 20 years. six years as a member of doctors without border. this year as a kaiser permanente -- he helped coordinate a trip to sri lanka after kaiser permanente made a commitment to send doctors for a year. dr.hurt's trip came later. >> the third day we were there there was a grenade attack at one of the offices across the street from the hospital. >> reporter: instead of just helping the tsunami survivors, dr. hurt and his fellow doctors were soon helping bomb victims. >> two fatal casualties and two chest wounds. i was in the hospital when the patients were treated for their chest woods. with little to no security. a warning from the u.s. department of state and most of

the immediate medical needs of tsunami victims taken care of. dr.hurt and his team decided it was time to leave. in the three months that the teams rotated in and out they did make a difference. as for the humanitarian hero award he received today. dr.hurt said he felt a little strange accepting it. >> when i first heard about this. i actually felt a little guilty because having done separatic work and resource for environments around the world i think about people i've met over the 20 years who have given their lives or have made major sacrifices and i don't feel i'm in that category of persons. >> reporter: but the american red cross thinks other wise as do those who he's helped nows of miles away in countries most of us will never visit. when we come back on a second look, the tsunami zone five years later. [doorbell rings]

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we're taking a second look tonight at the 2004 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the region around the indian ocean. just last year mike mibach told us about a pair of earthquakes that revived memories of that disaster. >> reporter: there was fear and panic in indonesia as two earthquakes hit the region. and today's quake sent them running into the streets. >> authorities issued a tsunami alert touching mass evacuations. and families packed into cars and on to motor bikes to flee to safety. >> reporter: but the killer wave that was feared never materialized and the tsunami alerts were lifted. the only wave that hit was less than 30-inches high and no deaths or serious injuries have been reported. in 2009, reporter shubert traveled to the region to see how people had recovered in the

five years after that quake and tsunami. they came with their families. the ones that survived. to pray at mass graves. they can't know for certain if their loved ones are buried here. there were too many bodies, too few identified. this woman lost her parents. every december 26th we wonder if it will happen again she says. it is so overwhelming the loss. i can't find the words to describe it. but on the surface at least life has returned to normal in ache. the great mosque once surrounded by southwesterlying -- surrounded by swirling water and debris now clean. but now that aid agencies have pulledded out their jobs done, they wonder what will replace reconstruction as the area's

economic engine. unemployment is high. and despite hopes for tourism and other industries, business is slow. this is one of the hardest hit areas of banda ache it's right next to the shore. this entire area was completely devastated. many of the fishermen came back to find that their families had been swept out to sea. all of these boats and houses here are brand new built by an aid agency. and officials tell us they didn't go out to fish today in remembrance of the victims of the tsunami. anda lost his wife and two children. only his son then 2 years old somehow survived. ana found him eight days later living in a camp. he still cries out for his mother. it depends on help coming from outside ache. we've already had some help but only 50%. we haven't recovered 100% yet. anda says, he tells me later the tsunami took away my wife,

children and livelihood. the only thing i have of value now is my son. there's nothing more precious to me. this is ulele and it's one of the places where the waves first hit. it's also one of the few places you can still see debris and destruction. in the last five years it's also become a family for families to come. bring their children, let them swim in the water. while their parents sit on the shore, look out and try to put the tragic past of the tsunami behind them. but that may take many more years yet. >> that is it for this week's second look. i'm frank somerville. we'll see you again next week.

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