2004 Tsunami Disaster

The BBC reported on Radio 5 Live that an American scientist who was alone at the time knew that major tsunamis were coming from the Pacific and Indian Oceans. A documentary after the disaster was also shown on a BBC 1 or BBC 2 channel, in which he said he didn't know who to tell about the data he had recorded, and the impact it would have. I can't remember where exactly he was based, but it might have been Huawei.
The odd thing is, l can't find any mention of him on the web. I don't know his name, but l do know what he looked like back then. Thin caucasian american with with a short full beard and long hair in a ponytail, about 30 - 35 years old. I'm sure he was working for an agency, or if he was a scientist working independently.

It sounds like you're remembering a unique and somewhat obscure story. I’m not sure who the scientist is, but your description fits someone possibly involved in early tsunami detection around major events like the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. If the BBC aired this, their archives or the BBC Genome project could be helpful. It’s also worth checking organizations like the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The mention of "Huawei" might be a mix-up—maybe it’s a location with a similar name. Try Reddit or history forums where people might remember niche details like this.

It was not an obscure story at all. He had the right information to make a big call on the tsunamis that killed 230,000 people. From memory l don't think he actually worked for a major organisation directly, and that he was an independent scientist working by himself.

Pretty obscure since the two posters to the thread have never heard of it and it being unfindable on the web.

That is based on your conjecture, and that of others who never saw the documentary.
The fact that the BBC aired it on their channel at all suggests it carried some weight. The man involved never got prosecuted because he did inform at least one US agency, to no avail. But he said he didn't know who else to contact. On BBC Radio 5 Live an angry person, a politician from India or Sri Lanka was fuming as to why he didn't contact CNN if he didn't know who to contact. That might have seemed logical with hindsight, but had he been wrong then he would have received unprecedented backlash for spreading a false alarm through the media, which probably wasn't in the professional protocol of scientists such as seismologists.

How do you know if didn't watch it? That is based on your conjecture.
How is it a fact that the BBC aired what you're saying? You're by your own admission an unreliable witness.

Well the obvious thing to do is to contact the BBC to identify the programme. As for your question on whether you watched it or not, that doesn't need answering, as you were too young to watch such documentaries of such prominence as far back as 2005.