Claim:   Photograph shows a large pile of debris and corpses created by the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Status:   True.

Example:   [Collected on the Internet, 2004]

(Click photo to enlarge)

Origins:   This photograph of a shoreline debris field serves as a grim reminder that not only did the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 destroy a tremendous amount of infrastructure, buildings, and property, but it wreaked a terrible toll in human lives as well.

The picture displayed above was taken near the port at Banda Aceh in Indonesia on 29 December 2004, and a cropped version ran on the front page of The Guardian the following day (credited to photographer Darren Whiteside from the Reuters news agency). A close-up photograph of the same area can be viewed here.

Last updated:   7 January 2005

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