The folks over at DigitalGlobe have a series of before and after satellite pictures of areas hit by the tsunami. The two below will open into huge full-size images so you’ll probably have to scroll around a bit to see it all.

This is the Banda Aceh Shore back on June 23, 2004:

This is the same region on December 28th, 2004:

Sometimes it’s hard to grasp just how big some of these calamities really are until you see it in such startling detail. We recently had a commenter on the site rant and rave about taxpayer money going to help victims of the tsunami. Considering the billions we spend destroying other nations on questionable premises I don’t see how anyone can have a problem with a couple hundred million being devoted to what is easily one of the worst natural disasters in recent history.

Props to Claudia Leblonde for a pointer to these pics.