We feature interviews with Aitape survivors both in the refugee camps and in the decimated villages. Surrounded by fallen palm trees, a women describes how everyone ran to the beach when they heard the roar of the tsunami - they thought it was an interesting plane. A Doctor breaks down as he tries to explain how he had to amputate a boy's gangrenous leg. The deserted villages are in stark contrast to a tourist's high-quality video of the bustling fishing communities before the disaster struck. While survivors pick through the debris of their homes, the beach fills-up with the stiff bodies of their neighbours waiting to be buried. In the medical centres aid workers report on the struggle to care for the survivors and deal with the health threat of the unburied corpses. Moving footage of a shell-shocked population struggling to survive in the aftermath of the tsunami.

Produced by ABC Australia