Rare footage shows terrifying reality of beginning of Tsunami that saw more than 220,000 lives lost

Terrifying footage of the beginning of one of the deadliest earthquakes and tsunamis of the 21st century has shocked viewers online.

There is nothing quite like seeing the start of something so awful and knowing exactly what’s about to happen when those in the footage are none the wiser.

The clip, which was taken from a 7 Plus documentary, was shared on Reddit which explained that it captured the early stages of a 2004 tsunami. A tsunami that would go down in history as one of the deadliest events to occur in modern times.

It showed tourists on a beach in Thailand as the tide began to rapidly retreat as waves grew bigger and bigger.

Even locals were unsure of what was happening until they noticed the water was beginning to come back towards the shore and attempted to warn tourists to run and get away from the beach.

The footage shared was of the Boxing Day Tsunami (7Plus)

From there, you can see hoards of people running, boats being carried off and destroying wooden piers, flooding resorts and more. Sadly, the devastation would only get worse from there. This is because the footage is that of the Boxing Day Tsunami.

On Boxing Day 2004, those on the coast of South and Southeast Asia were sadly in the path of a destructive force.

Ultimately, it claimed the lives of 220,000 people, while injuring thousands more in the third largest earthquake since 1900.

Affecting Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, it wreaked havoc on 139,000 homes, 74,000 hectares of agricultural land, thousands of schools, hundreds of health facilities and eight airports and airstrips.

The reason for the quake and tsunami was due to the Indian and Burma plates subducting 20 miles below the ocean floor.

As the tectonic plates collided, an 800-mile rupture was caused, causing an earthquake so significant it was said to have released the same energy as 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs.

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was 9.1 on the Richter Scale, which is used to measure the magnitude of an earthquake.

Essentially, anything between 7.0 to 7.9 is categorised as a 'major earthquake' which will cause 'serious damage'.

The earthquake caused a tsunami so big it decimated 14 countries and their beaches (7Plus)

Quakes 8.0 or greater can 'totally destroy communities near the epicenter.'

Because of the plates colliding, it caused the ocean floor to rise 40 metres, triggering a tsunami that would destroy several coastal areas, as tourists unknowingly filmed the beginning of the disaster.

The 7 Plus documentary of the events, titled Tsunami: The Wave That Shook The World, shows real footage of the events, which you can view some of here, as well as heartbreaking interviews by survivors and their loved ones.

The Reddit clip, which was taken from the doc, shocked and upset many who watched it.

One person wrote: “A Sri Lankin friend of mine was in elementary at the time. They were on a field trip to the beach and a museum. Half the class went to the museum, the other half to the beach and they were to switch later on. He went to the museum, no one on the beach survived.”

Another said: “jesus christ that was so terrifying - i remember when it happened but never saw footage holy s***.”

Someone else wrote: “This was absolutely insane. I feel that people don't bring it up enough when talking about natural disasters.”

In total, there were almost 230,000 fatalities across the 14 affected countries, which included approximately 9,000 foreign tourists.