Indeed. One of my parents' relatives live in that area and we still cannot contact them...
Tsunami is nothing compared to normal waves. Some people have the idea that small tsunami is nothing and just like a normal wave but it really isn't. The whole mechanism or tsunami and wave is completely different and the damage it can give is really significant.
This site is the satellite images of before & after. It really shows how much damage there's been due to earthquake and tsunami.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/...