TSUNAMI: RACE AGAINST TIME
ON BIG BLEND RADIO: Marking 20 years since one of the deadliest natural disasters in history, National Geographic has premiered TSUNAMI: RACE AGAINST TIME, a four-part documentary series providing a 360-degree view into the heart-stopping events of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that took over 225,000 lives. Barry Hirshorn, the seismologist who, in 2004, was tracking all the data as it trickled in. During the chaos, Hirshorn had to make sense of data so extreme as to be unreal. In 2004, Indian Ocean countries lacked the technology that could warn them, so Hirshorn knew that, based on his data, untold numbers of deaths were happening live. He raced to get the message to the remaining countries oblivious to the imminent calamity. Watch here in the YouTube player or download the episode on Podbean.
From executive producers Tanya Winston and Danny Horan of multiple award-winning Blast Films and directed by Daniel Bogado, Emmy® Award-winning filmmaker of Nat Geo’s “9/11: One Day In America,” the series weaves newly discovered footage with never-before-heard personal accounts from survivors, scientists, journalists and fearless rescuers who were all witnesses to the tragic event. TSUNAMI: RACE AGAINST TIME premieres across two nights, beginning Nov. 24 at 9/8c on National Geographic with two back-to-back episodes. All episodes are out now on Disney+ and Hulu.
Three years in the making, producers unearthed approximately 300 hours of archival footage, including many never-before-seen moments, from around the world and conducted interviews with over 100 individuals, some speaking on the record for the first time about their experience. As a result of this massive effort by the filmmaking team, TSUNAMI: RACE AGAINST TIME tells a definitive story of the devastating events of Dec. 26, 2004.
In addition to expertly connecting archival footage with first-person testimony, TSUNAMI: RACE AGAINST TIME used billions of raw data points provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to create a high-resolution, moving simulation seen throughout each episode. They also worked in careful collaboration with scientists, local experts and survivors to establish timings for the arrival and spread of successive tsunami waves on the day across multiple affected coastlines.
“TSUNAMI: RACE AGAINST TIME is a visceral, sensitive and gripping retelling of the terrible events of the Boxing Day tsunami. I’m immensely proud of the lengths the production team went to find never-before-seen archives, interview people who have never spoken before, and the great care with which they tell their stories,” said Tom McDonald, EVP of Global Factual and Unscripted, National Geographic. “National Geographic is the storyteller of record for historic events of global significance, and following our award-winning series on 9/11 and the assassination of JFK, this series cements our commitment to telling these stories in new and surprising ways.”
Photos: Top image – Water and debris surround Banda Aceh’s Grand Mosque in the aftermath of the tsunami (Hotli Simanjuntak); and seismologist Barry hirshorn (National Geographic/Charlie Laing/Alec Davy).
