Ray Martin had not long walked off stage after hosting Carols By Candlelight in Melbourne in 2004 when he received a phone call from his bosses that would change his life forever.
A 9.3 magnitude earthquake under the Indian Ocean has caused a 30-metre tsunami that had wiped out hundreds of communities in minutes, affecting countries from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India to Thailand and all the way to Madagascar.
Despite the devastation and danger, Ray – who was working on A Current Affair at the time – jumped on a plane to Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province in Indonesia, to cover the catastrophic event.
“I had covered refugee camps, war zones, and flood disasters, but I knew this was going to be bigger, and I remember saying to the crew when we were flying there, ‘This is probably the worst thing we’ll ever see’ – and it really was,” Ray, 79, tells TV WEEK.
“The first thing we saw was a football field with hundreds of bodies on it – it was traumatic. It’s probably the most difficult story I’ve ever done.”
More than 227,000 people lost their lives that day in one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.
Despite the horrors, however, there’s also hope, and Ray gets to shine a light on a handful of those hopeful stories as he ventures back to Indonesia to film the Nine Network’s anniversary special, Tsunami: 20 Years On.
“It was remarkable,” Ray says of his return to Banda Aceh. “The last time I was at the airport it looked like a war zone – now, it’s full of people hugging their loved ones. It’s as if nothing ever happened.”
Ray is reunited with locals he’d interviewed after the tsunami had torn through their communities and says he was astonished by their resilience and strength.
“They were all so lovely, welcoming us in and feeding us – I’m not sure I would have done that if I’d lost all my family,” he says. “They’re just incredibly grateful. It makes you think twice about whining about inconsequential stuff.”
One family in particularly left an impression on the veteran newsman.
“Back when it first happened, we met a man, Yunan, who had been riding his bicycle around with his two sons looking for his wife and daughter. We interviewed him and then he
kind of just went on his way.
“Amazingly, we found him and his sons, who are both at university now, through TikTok. When we were sitting with them, there was a lady and a younger woman with them, who I presumed were his second wife and their daughter, until the penny dropped: he’d found his wife and daughter and they were all sitting together now.
“That made me cry – it was just so beautiful and extraordinary. I’ve been telling that story forever and will continue to tell it forever.”
Tsunami: 20 Years On airs Sunday, 7pm, on Nine Network
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