Phuket, Thailand

Credit: NASA, Posted on: Sunday, 2 January 2005, 10:48 CST Download full size image

The island of Phuket on the Indian Ocean coast of Thailand is a major tourist destination, with inviting white sand beaches and warm sunny skies. Unfortunately for those living and visiting there to escape the Northern Hemisphere's winter gloom, it was also in the path of the Asian tsunami that washed ashore on December 26, 2004. This natural-color Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) satellite image shows how the island appeared on December 27, 2000, well before the wave of destruction. The island’s allure is plain to see in the image. White beaches lines the western coast; lush, forested hills overlook the beaches and towns; and the sapphire waters of the Andaman Sea stretch out to the west toward the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

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