The footage filmed on a beach captures one of the earliest visual records of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, recorded shortly after a powerful undersea earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra. At first, the scene does not appear immediately catastrophic. The shoreline looks calm, though the ocean begins to behave in unusual ways, with the water withdrawing from the beach and then returning in fast, uneven surges. These early movements were not the largest tsunami waves, which made the danger d