10 Year Anniversary of the Tsunami.

[bumblebee]

The 26 will mark the 10 year anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami.  For those of us who had visited the places affected it had a particular resonance.  I had been down in Penang and Krabi a just few weeks earlier and had been in Phuket and Phi Phi islands the previous year so some of the news footage meant something.

 

I was out for a stroll on the promenade in my home town when I first heard about it.  I received a text from a friend which read. "I bet you're glad you are not in Thailand right now." and I rang him back to ask why....

[BigTel]

I had just returned from a trip to Pattaya in mid Dec, a good friend of mine had to return early for work from Phuket, I often think if He hadn't had that call, that might of been when His number was up.

[Tomcat]

 i was in it.. stayed in Thara Hotel on Patong Beach and woke up next day with the back of the Hotel missing and thought WW3 had started.. it was pretty bad and the debris in the side road so high a tunnel was dug underneath so one could cross the road. The Hotel is on a slope and so i was lucky on the 2nd flloor.. others were not lucky , especially those in the breakfast bar

 

People walking around covered in blood and gaping flesh wounds. The manager fled with the takings and only some GG staff stayed behind

 

The looting was rife and just shows that civilization is but a thin veneer

[xyzzy]

I didn't arrive in Thailand for the first time until January 2006. On my 2nd trip a few months later I spend a week in Patong staying at the a certain hotel. I picked that hotel as I was a newbie and was more comfortable as there was an American owner. Chatting with the owner one day at the bar he recounted the details of that day. He said they didn't even realize it was so bad until they walked down toward the beach and saw bodies. According to him the Thais pretty much packed up and left leaving most everything closed. He kept the kitchen open that night at his hotel until they were pretty much out of everything. FWIW    

[deepthroat]

I still think it's hard to grasp just how devastating the wave was. I remember thinking "wow, no big deal, I'd just swim on top" until I saw video footage of what looked like a mudslide coming down one of the streets. There was so much debris and the water was moving so fast, I finally realized how horrific an event it must have been.

 

I had a friend here that had close friends that were lost in the disaster. He said it changed his entire perspective on life, and made him reassess many of the things he'd been wasting his time with once he realized that they were petty and insignificant in the big picture.

[pentire]

I had been sat on the beach in Pattaya that Boxing Day morning for a couple of hours eating breakfast and reading. Of course the Gulf of Thailand waters were completely unaffected by the wave and I remained oblivious to what was going on. It wasn't until I returned to my beach front hotel room around 13.00 hrs and noticed there were over fifty missed calls on my UK phone and a string of SMS messages did I realise something terrible had been going on merely a few hundred miles from where I'd been relaxing in a deck chair.

My vacation was already ticketed to shift over to Phuket on January 2nd, I remained in Pattaya and not for the first or last time in my life did I realise timing is so important.

[Quinn]

I was with my chum - he on his first trip to Thailand. I had decided against going to Pi Pi (too busy) and against Khao Lak (lots of building work).We booked in a holiday village on Kho Lanta. Christmas night we had a great time at a beach bar. i was getting on well with a bargirl and my chum wandered back to the cabin. The GG - I never knew her name was just looking for "lomance" as she said, having just run away from cruel Thai husband. The bar closed and she dragged a mattress out and we slept (!) all night on the beach. Next morning woken by the crack of dawn I said farewell and promised to see her that night.
I headed back to the cabin where my chum was still asleep. I grabbed my cozzie and a book and went down to the beach. This was about 8.30. I setled down to read with my back against a bank of sand that was on the edge of the village. After a while decided it was time for a swim. Looked up and thought "F**k me" "Where's the sea gone"? Return to reading. Looked up a while later and saw a rapidly approaching wave - not huge. "Hello - Surfs Up". I thought. The wave rushed in maybe 3 foot high and broke at my feet. Watched a while as the sea receeded and then it came back bigger and faster. It overturned fishing boats and the locals were soon there wondering the same as me no doubt. I ran to our cabin and roused my chum saying "Something is happening out here - check it out" Back to the sea and this time the wave came full tilt - maybe only 5 foot high but enough to set everyone dashing thro' the village. It wrecked cabins overturned 'fridges and anything in its path. There was a slope in the road leading up to the main road (rough red earth) and the wave stopped short. After a while we waded (foolish maybe) back to our cabin - flooded and retrieved our belongings. Back to the main road wondering what to do next. A Thai girl from the local pharmacy pulled up in a truck and told us to get in as another wave was expected. She drove us up to a high headland near another holiday complex. There must have been a couple of hundred of us all camped out. Nobody seemed to know what had happened. (Another friend of mine was out on the sea birdwatching and had to be rescued by the Thai Navy - tho' out there was the safest place - he knew what had happened). So we settled down for the night. within the first half hour the local Thais had set up a free food stall, brought sheets and blankets and soon after a beer bar.
Next morning still not much news what had happened. We eventually got a ride back to the main town. The roads were packed with people trying to get away from the island. Some were saying the ferry was not crossing. I managed to sort out a private car to take us to the small jetty and thankfully soon on board and over to the mainland. We had tickets for the overnight train to Bangkok and it wasn't till we reached there we knew the full worldwide story.
On Khao Lanta I believe, about 12 people had died nearly all local fishermen. I hope the girl I met was safe.
Every Boxing Day I always go down to a quiet stretch of beach wherever I am in Thailand and have a quiet moment. Thanks to Buddah (?) and thanks to the Thai people who were amazing in the way they took care of us.