9 Years Ago Today

[pdogg]

Nine years ago today was the devastating Boxing Day Tsunami which claimed the lives of thousands. Hardest hit was Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India.

 

Let's hope early warning systems are now enabled to save future lives.

[JaiDee]

Remember it well, PD......was back in the states for Christmas, having just left Phi Phi island 3 weeks earlier.  My Mom called me and told me to turn on the news and it was shocking to say the least.

 

    If I had remained on Phi Phi I'd be dead now, as the resort I was staying in was literally swept out into the ocean. Thankfully we now have that early-warning system,  but also thankfully that tsunami may have been a once -in -500 -year wave which hopefully will not come again for a long, long while.

[Tomcat]

i remember it , i was in the Tara Hotel on Patong Beach.. i woke up, walked downstairs and see planks of wood and debris in the swimming pool ,  turned around and the breakfast bar was gone and a pile of rubble.(i assume it was the breaky bar as i had arrived the night before so not sure) I was saved only by the fact i was on the second floor and dont get up early for breakfast. It was awfull  (it could be the Thara Hotel i cant remember now)

 

The manager run off with till and a few saintly girl staff stayed behind

 

The Hotel was built on a slope and those on the bottom got the full brunt. The reception was at the top of the slope and so was saved. i was about the middle

 

I dodged a bullet on that occasion

[JaiDee]

wow, you really DID get lucky TC!

 

Very sad day for all involved.......

[rxpharm]

Unfortunately it was reported several months ago that the Thai early warning system has not been maintained, resulting in it not working.

[Lefty]

It was Dec 26, 2004? I thought it was 2005. Hmm, memory failing me I guess. It seems I did the ATS shoots in Nov 2005, and the Tsunami was after that. 

[azza33]

i remember it , i was in the Tara Hotel on Patong Beach.. i woke up, walked downstairs and see planks of wood and debris in the swimming pool ,  turned around and the breakfast bar was gone and a pile of rubble.(i assume it was the breaky bar as i had arrived the night before so not sure) I was saved only by the fact i was on the second floor and dont get up early for breakfast. It was awfull  (it could be the Thara Hotel i cant remember now)

 

The manager run off with till and a few saintly girl staff stayed behind

 

The Hotel was built on a slope and those on the bottom got the full brunt. The reception was at the top of the slope and so was saved. i was about the middle

 

I dodged a bullet on that occasion

 

Amazing stuff TC.

 

Luv to read what happened from the moment you realised what you were in until you made in out of there.

[Tomcat]

Thara Hotel Patong Beach

 

I was only woken by a racket going on  outside my room and i thought it may be the end of an all night party or something so i got up to see what was going on outside. When i opened the door a girl was running along the outside walkway that joined all the rooms and an Asian guy was chasing her . As she run past i see a big chunk of flesh hanging out of her shoulder and ducked back in the room as she run past as i thought the guy behind must have stuck a meat cleaver into her or something... holy shit this is serious , im in some Hotel Horror Flick for real

 

Five minutes later i came out of the room again and i see some Thai guy shouting "Tsunami" and i thought what the fuck is one of them , i really had no idea but thought better go to the reception to check it out. On the way down i noticed that lower of the two swimming pools was filled up with wood and towels and other debris and that some towels on the walkway were covered in blood and when i looked further back i see the breakfast room was destroyed...seemed to be a lot of water around as well .

 

Upon entering the reception i realized that some serious shit had happened as it was like a Hostpital Emergency room with people standing around crying and with cuts and open wounds. The TV was on and CNN has a bulletin that a wave had hit Patong and other places and that the death toll was only a 150 and then they wheeled on some expert on Tsunamis who explained what had probably happened and that the death toll may rise to 500.

 

When i walked out on the road it was very surreal and it was completely clogged up with trees , boats , cars , wood and the roofs of buildings and stood around 8 feet ( 2.5 metres for fellow europeans..oopps). In fact it was so high that someone had made a tunnel /walkway through it so one could cross the road .Also present were the grave robbers stealing whatever they could off bodies and cars etc

 

II thought jesus i better get up the hill in case this fucker hits again so i collected my bags , gave my room keys to some couple who has their room trashed, and crept under the make shift tunnel to the other side of the road and walked up the hill where i booked in some small Hotel whos name escapes me. All the phone lines were dead and my Mobile phone was cut off that same morning due to my credit card expired however eventually i borrowed a mobile phone and phoned home and told my brother what had happened and he told me that it had been on the news but around 1500 dead now.

 

I spent three days drinking in the Royal Paradiso Complex as this was the only place open for action due to many LBs had retreated there for business or live nearby. I had no news of the airport as many phone lines were broken or it was engaged permanently when you got one . The Hotel owner had by now hired himself out as a taxi driver and so i used him to get to the airport which resembled a Hospital with guys on crutches and people wrapped in bandages etc. All the regular Taxi drivers had left for higher ground.

 

The flight was exactly on time and no delay which was a miracle considering how many were trying to leave and the chaos.

[JaiDee]

wow, what a story!

 

you got lucky TC, lots of people died in Patong that day......I remember thinking about an underground grocery store I used to visit, the name escapes me now but it was directly across from the beach.....that place was completely flooded and anyone inside would have been killed/drowned instantly. 

[azza33]

Thanks for writing TC. You are one lucky bugger(er)!

 

You are right JD, Ocean Plaza i think it was called... many bodies pulled from that premises.

 

A used to be a very regular traveller to Phuket - many friends i had made along the beachfront disappeared that day... sad memories indeed.

[JaiDee]

Yeah, I used to go in there quite often as my hotel was very close to that store......I remember being safe and sound in my home back in the states thinking how damn lucky I was and how horrific it must have been for the people who were trapped down in there.

 

 A Thai girl I knew lived in Patong at the time and sent me photos she had taken from beach road just a few hours after it all happened, it literally looked like a war zone.

[Lefty]

Guess it was 2004. But 11 months later before I went there next. So it was pretty well cleaned up I guess. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami