flagger Posted December 31, 2004 #1 Share Posted December 31, 2004 This was posted on another board to which I belong. Anyway one of the poster's friend's brother a sis-in-law were on holiday on the island of Phuket. They were just waiting to leave for the airport when: For those of you that don’t know we arrived in Phuket, Thailand on Dec. 16th and were planning to leave on Dec. 26th from the Kamala Beach Hotel and Resort. We are still in Thailand. We are trying to get a flight out tonight. We had a floor level bungalow on the Kamala Beach in Phuket. We felt a slight movement around 8am and didn’t think anything of it. Quickly after we heard screaming and people running from outside our window. Immediately after water started pouring into our room. Jimmy and I jumped on top of the furniture and luckily he unplugged the TV that was on before the water hit it. Within three seconds our entire room was filled with water. I had a hold of the doorway and Jimmy kept being pushed back by the strong water and floating furniture kept appearing in front of him (I thought for sure we were going to die). I reached out my arm and some how Jimmy got enough strength to swim against the water and debris and grab my arm. We went under the water to get out of our room and the current swept us inland. Jimmy yelled, “grab onto anything you can.” He grabbed a tree branch and I came right behind him and luckily grabbed onto the same tree. I got some footing onto a cement block and Jimmy pulled his way towards me and we climbed the tree. There was an elderly man in his bathing suite with blood on his face in the same tree. We climbed the tree and the water went back to sea pulling everything (cars, people, debris), I remember Jimmy saying that he remembered watching the Discovery Channel on Tsunamis and he said that we need to climb the tree because a second wave will come. Quickly Jimmy, the elderly man and I climbed the tree, then the second wave came and it was 10 feet higher than the first. We clung onto the tree and waited for 2 hours as we watched cars and larger trees get swept away, Jimmy saw people attempting CPR on others but it was too late for them. People from the hotel were trying to get us to jump into the current and swim to them, but the water was going out to sea to fast so we stayed in the tree. After the third wave hit there was a moment of silence and still water, we told the elderly man to grab the rope made out of bed sheets. He grabbed it and the hotel staff pulled him in. We couldn’t go that way because the current picked up again right after he was pulled up to safety. After awhile we climbed down the tree and found a lifepreserver and lounge chair matt. We grabbed them and started to run into the city. There were puddles of water and one of them pulled us both under because the sea had taken the cement from the pathway. We then ran towards town, Jimmy had no shoes and there was glass everywhere. We ran up to a second floor apartment where we met several people (one woman had a 8 month old baby and a two year old, she was glad that this happened on a Sunday because normally her two year old is at preschool which is located on Kamala Beach) the water did not reach there apartment so they were all okay, but unfortunately their neighbors were not as lucky. Their neighbor lost an infant as the family was visiting the beach that day. They gave us water and dry clothing and a pair of sandals for Jimmy. We heard more screaming that more water was coming we started running through the streets for the mountains trying to wave down cars. We asked a man to take us with him in his pickup truck. We jumped in and more people were running to the truck a Swedish family climbed in and we made a pac to stay in a group with them for safety. We stayed in the mountains with the Swedish family and local Thai people. The Thais gave us water and plastic Baggies full of rice. We stayed there for about three hours and we figured with all of the cobras, spiders and other dangerous wild life that we would walk down to the apartments and stay in an unfinished one that was being built. We went to the apartment area and met a man named Michael who owns a real estate company (he is an aussie) he gave us and the Swedish family food, water, a place to sleep and let us bath in the pool. At night Michael and a man named Jason took Jimmy back to Kamala Beach Hotel and Resort to search for our luggage (we wanted to find our passports), luckily he found one shoe and three out of four bags with our passports. Some beach chairs got inside the room and wedged the door shut. It was dangerous for them to be there, since people were looting and the worry of after shocks. He said there was a speedboat in the reception area and cars in the pool. The next day Michael arranged for one of his employees to take us to Phuket City Hall so that we could register with our embassy. From there, Dulwich International College gave us a free room, shower, clothes and food (we are emailing you from here). We have talked to several people and feel that we are the fortunate ones. One injured lady is here with her daughter and they don’t know where the husband is. The flights are full and we are trying to get off the island. Hopefully we can get out tonight or tomorrow. We are so lucky to be alive and that we were able to stay together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mii Posted December 31, 2004 #2 Share Posted December 31, 2004 Unbelievable. I live on the west coast where right now it is pouring rain so obviously we have nothing, nothing to complain about. All I have is a flooded side yard. Marilyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C 2 C Posted December 31, 2004 #3 Share Posted December 31, 2004 Until now another Indonesian disaster was known to almost all: Krakatoa... excerpts from a book: The legendary annihilation in 1883 of the volcano-island of Krakatoa -- the name has since become a byword for a cataclysmic disaster -- was followed by an immense tsunami that killed nearly forty thousand people. Beyond the purely physical horrors of an event that has only very recently been properly understood, the eruption changed the world in more ways than could possibly be imagined. Dust swirled round die planet for years, causing temperatures to plummet and sunsets to turn vivid with lurid and unsettling displays of light. The effects of the immense waves were felt as far away as France. Barometers in Bogotá and Washington, D.C., went haywire. Bodies were washed up in Zanzibar. The sound of the island's destruction was heard in Australia and India and on islands thousands of miles away. Most significant of all -- in view of today's new political climate -- the eruption helped to trigger in Java a wave of murderous anti-Western militancy among fundamentalist Muslims: one of the first outbreaks of Islamic-inspired killings anywhere. Watch for this disaster to inspire similar hatreds.. http://www.simonwinchester.com/books/k_description.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollfan Posted December 31, 2004 #4 Share Posted December 31, 2004 What an amazing account. It is so easy from the comfort of our family room recliners to listen to the evening news reports and feel sympathy for those who have lost loved ones, but to read your account adds more depth to those feelings. You will forever be changed by this experience that the two of you came through together. I wish the best to you both. Toni Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbie Posted December 31, 2004 #5 Share Posted December 31, 2004 Kinda puts things in perspective. I thought we had it bad here when Ivan destroyed Grenada and my house was torn down around me, but it's nothing like what those folks in Asia just went through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hummer Posted December 31, 2004 #6 Share Posted December 31, 2004 This personal account really helped me envision what people experienced - better than the overwhelming footage and sound bites on television. Thank you so much for sharing and send back our prayers and thoughts for the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sea Island Lady Posted December 31, 2004 #7 Share Posted December 31, 2004 Thanks for posting this Flagger! :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honor Posted December 31, 2004 #8 Share Posted December 31, 2004 So many of the people working on the cruise ships are from Indonesia. These hardworking crew members, many behind the scenes and below decks, are far away from their families so we can spend special times with our families. I imagine communication is difficult and the uncertainty about the safety of their family members almost unbearable. For me, it would be difficult to continue to do my job when I knew of such horror and destruction back home. I have been thinking about and praying for them and their families. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midwestsunshine Posted December 31, 2004 #9 Share Posted December 31, 2004 Flagger, Thank you for the sharing the post with us. I have to agree with Hummer. This post has made everything more real. Our prayers are with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol Anne Posted January 1, 2005 #10 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Flaggler, I also want to thank you for sharing that email. What a story. God Bless all the people who are living this nightmare. Life is so fragile. You leave on vacation and wake up in a nightmare. I've read your cruise is right around the corner. Have a safe and happy cruise with your wife and daughter. Carol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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