A comprehensive and gripping account of the disaster that devastated New Guinea in 1998, destroying towns and villages, and taking a shocking death toll. Professor Hugh Davies was there, and in this book he explains in harrowing detail the events of the earthquake and tsunami, and the recovery effort that followed. It also describes the history and geology of the area for layperson and scientist alike. Many lessons learned in the aftermath helped inform the response to earthquakes and tsunamis that followed, such as the Boxing Day tsunami and the Fukushima tsunami.