TSUNAMI SURVIVOR STORIES

How did an entire island SURVIVE the tsunami?

2012-04-13T03:15:00.000+08:00

This is required reading. It is a remarkable story on how did an entire population survived the 2004 tsunami.

The people of Simeulue Island are smart. And they are survivors. Most of the the people of Simeulue Island, just 40 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake, survived the 2004 tsunami. Nearby Banda Aceh lost over 100,000 people. But the people of Simeulue have been taught a simple lesson from their grandmothers, “If an earthquake comes, we must always go and look at the beach. If we see a low tide, we must run for the hills.” In 2004, the locals new a “smong” was coming. On Simeulue island, off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, in the Defayan language the word is smong means tsunami. And when they felt the earthquake and saw the low tide, they ran. And their lives were saved. Most of the 83,000 people survived. Even the buffalos knew something was wrong when the earthquake happened. The buffalo ran for the hills.

Video: How the people of Simeulue survived the 2004 Tsunami

No Tsunami today. A sigh of relief. Warning systems worked.

2012-04-11T13:44:00.001+08:00

Around the world, thousands breathed a sigh of relief today.

As the Sydney Morning Herald and many other news sources reported early today, a magnitude of 8.6, earthquake happened off the Indonesian province of Aceh. It was one of the largest ever recorded.
Yet the massive tremor, which was followed by an 8.2-magnitude aftershock, did not cause a severe tsunami such as the one on December 26, 2004, which devastated countries around the Indian Ocean and killed more than 200,000.

What is important to know is why didn't the tsunami happen? What was the difference? This article from the Sydney Morning Herald helps to explain the difference in how the horizontal and vertical movements of the sea floors and where the quake took place

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/why-earthquake-did-not-cause-a-tsunami-20120412-1wvik.html#ixzz1rnntfJ8J

Fortunately, so far, there are no deaths reported from the earthquake.

The good news from this earthquake was the test of the new Tsunami Early Warning System. Within 6 minutes of receiving the news, authorities across S and SE Asia were warned, and sounded sirens and systems to tell people to move to higher grounds.

The San Francisco Chronical reported a quote from Thailand: "The warning system worked quite well," Smith Dharmasaraja, who headed Thailand's National Disaster Warning Center set up after the 2004 tsunami, said today by phone. "Officials know exactly what they are supposed to do."

Stories of Survivors and Change after 8 years

2012-04-10T02:49:00.002+08:00

Indonesia TsunamiSurvivor Returns To Home After 7 Years

15 year old Meri Yuranda was separated from her father and sister in Banda Aceh Indonesia during the tsunami. As an 8 year old, she was taken in by a women that made her beg on the streets. Later, she returned to her village of Meulaboh and found her family. A remarkable survivor story. Watch here.

8 years later. How are survivors doing?

Kids talk about what life was like in Indonesia when the tsunami hit. Unicef is helping restore life for the kids. Before the tsunami, military conflict made it difficult to even go to school. Now that has all changed. Watch the video here.

How has the Maldives Islands recovered after 8 years?

The tsunami hit the Maldives very hard. Life was difficult for the kids. How have people survived on the Maldives Islands, where 70% of the GDP was affected by the tsunami. 8,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. Eight years later, there is still much damaged not repaired. Many people still live in camps due to entire islands and villages being destroyed. Watch here.

SMS Tsunami Warning System - worth considering!

2012-02-02T14:15:00.000+08:00

A goal plus the passion for business.

Out of the tsunami comes a group of people interested in insuring everyone has a warning. And a way to help others along the way!

Be sure to read more about

SMS Tsunami Warning System

The Project

SMS-Tsunami-Warning.com is a commercial website created and developed by Virtuasoft Corp., a totally innovative software company with main office in Lugano, Switzerland.

The Basic Idea

Tsunamis are tidal waves of destruction: in our recent times we’ve witnessed apocalyptic scenes from Banda Ache (2004) and Japan (2011). But apparently, though on a smaller scale, Tsunamis occur anywhere every year, much more often than what the general public would expect.
What can we do about that?
Although we cannot prevent the nature from following its course nor predict earthquakes, we can do a lot in terms of communication: “early warnings” is the answer. Actually governments and international institutions have done a lot in this field in the last 20 years and technology played a strategic role in detecting global seismic activity in a very accurate and timely manner. But, seemingly there’s still a problem. If governments are aware that a tsunami is on its way, why do so many people die? It looks like “people just don’t know when a tsunami wave is gonna get them”.
Governments have done a lot but, still, they failed in setting up a mass communication system to alert people in need. This is the key point. We believe warnings should be sent on a 1-to-1 basis in order to make sure the message gets to every single individual in need; TV and Radio are just not enough.
The solution?
Mobile phones! We thought that Mobile Phones are the most effective communication tool for 2 reasons:

they are the most used communication device in the planet (see: cell phones usage by country);
mobile phones follow people anywhere they go.

Anybody on earth has access to mobile phones. Some mobile phones may not have internet access but, for sure, all of them are likely to have GSM network coverage. Sending messages to mobile phones is the ideal solution needed to setup a 1-to-1 communication model that may save thousand of lives on a global scale in the future.

The Website

SMS-Tsunami-Warning.com is our response.
Our website is a SMS Text Messaging platform interfaced with real time data on global seismic activity sourced from official seismic research centers.
As long as you are within GSM mobile coverage, we alert you and your loved ones if an Earthquake or a Tsunami affects or is about to affect your current location. Our platform is entirely internet-based, accessible worldwide and totally configurable. You setup your own account by selecting your current location so we can take care of you even when you travel.

The Mission

Our mission is to provide people with a global internet-based platform that delivers real time 1-to-1 warnings for natural disasters such as Earthquakes and Tsunamis. Our website is meant to empower populations to increase their chance of survival from these natural disasters.

Acknowledgements

SMS Tsunami Warning acknowledges the great work and thanks the government agencies worldwide for what they are doing towards tsunami early warning systems.
In particular SMS Tsunami Warning acknowledges the following agencies on whose information we and the world at large rely on:

WHAT ARE TSUNAMI SURVIVORS FEELING?

2011-03-13T11:17:00.000+08:00

Forty-eight hours have passed since the Japan tsunami swept through Northern Japan. Tens of thousands of people are in emotional and physical turmoil right now in Japan.

Over the last hours, friends and several news show have contact me. In trying to help the world understand what is going on, they have asked me, "Rick, what are people feeling and thinking right now?"

My goal is to help people "feel" what survivors are feeling. It is one thing to see the horrific news clips on television. But I want everyone to at least try to understand what people are feelings at this moment.

When we watch television, we see numbers like "9,500 missing." But we are not sure if we should be thankful or sad. What we don't see are numbers like, "500,000 people have had their family, homes and lives taken away." And we don't get to see how they are feeling.

From my minutes and hours of being in the middle of the tsunami, to the hours and days afterwards in Thailand in 2004, I know what it feels like. There are so many emotions running through your body - your head - your soul. You can't even process all of them. One minute, you feel such sadness and loss. Then it becomes overwhelming, and you just sit and stare. Likely in shock. Then you try to think your way out of it - until it just becomes overwhelming again. And then you start the cycle all over again.

Based upon my minutes, hours and days after the SE Asia tsunami, here are some of the emotions and feelings people are likely experiencing right now in Japan.

SHOCK - mostly, it is beyond belief. Your brain nearly shuts down, and you almost feel that the only thing to do is to just get from one minute to the next.

FEAR OF ANOTHER ANY SECOND NOW - You are scared. Your brain tells you that if this one happened, then other will happen. In Thailand, at least 8 successive "waves" came into shore. On the television, they show the main wave over and over. But in the hardest hit areas, the waves go back and forth, as the water settles. And each time the wave comes back, even though it looks smaller than the last, it still rushes in, and pulls back with it more lives, buildings and hope. In Japan - the complication is even worse. Reports are that this "tsunami" is actually the result of a "aftershock" from an earthquake that happened over the previous two days. Everyone was used to these earthquakes. They had been happening. But this time, it causes such great destruction. And now, making the loss worse, is the feeling that the start of every tremor will simply get longer, stronger, and create yet again another tsunami - this time perhaps even stronger and more devastating.

Sidenote: When you move or travel in Japan, you never forget your first earthquake. For me, it was in 1997. I had arrived to work for a year. My first earthquake happened early in the morning. I was awakened by the shaking. I jumped up, and ran into the room of the family with whom I was staying. The mother spoke no English. All I could do was to look into her eyes to see if I could see fear. She did not look alarmed. And so, I could also calm down. Over time, I could always rely on the faces and the eyes of the Japanese to have an intuitive sense if this was going to be a bad earthquake. Fortunately for me, while in Japan, I never experienced a bad one. However, 48 hours ago, it was different. I talked to a colleague in Japan. He told me that this earthquake started out like normal. But this time, after 15 seconds, everyone looked into each others eyes. The earthquake started to get stronger. And longer. And this time, they looked into each other's eyes, and knew this one was going to be really bad.

NIGHT TIME IS THE WORSE - For so many reason, night time is the most frightening of all. First of all, the power is out all around you. And if you have some sort of power to make light, like oil or laterns or candles, you use them sparingly, not knowing for sure if you will need them for hours or days to come. But what is amazing is "how dark, dark really is." I never knew how dark things could be until you have a devastation that results in power loss. When every street lamp, car light or house light is out - then things are so pitch black that you can't even see in front of you. And your sense of hearing takes over. And what do you hear? Not cars or engines. Because nothing is moving. All you hear is the sound of water nearby. The rushing of waves. And that is the scariest thing of all. Your mind starts to play tricks on you. You wonder if another wave is coming. If it will be larger than the last. You think you are safe. You are on high land. But what if another wave comes even higher. This time, you won't even be able to see it. And all you can hear is the water.

FEAR ABOUT THE DEAD. It is something few ever experience in their life. But when you know that dead people are around you, it really scares you. You know that the water around you contains hundreds or thousands of dead people. In the light, before sunset, you could see the bodies floating in the water. And then waves would come, and take them away. And then more bodies would appear. A part of you becomes numb in seeing the dead bodies. But they are also frightening. Horror movies of your past, and religious views make you wonder about those bodies. And worse, if you have people that you have lost, then you are not sure if you should go look at those bodies or stay way. And if you stay away, what kind of respect are you showing. Yet, if you go to the bodies, what can you do?

FEAR ABOUT ELECTRICAL THINGS - After a tsunami hits, the power is out. You look around, and think, nothing is working. But electrical cables and wires are hanging everywhere. Your instinct makes you think that at least one of those wires will be live. Or how can they just shut off one of those wires. Or what happens if one of those wires are touching water, than happens to be connected to a puddle that you are standing in. And so, you nearly feel paralyzed about walking around, for fear that any move you make will electrocute you.

THE GOSSIP that happens is amazing. When all cell phones are knocked out, or jammed, no one knows who to believe. In the 72 hours after the SE Asia tsunami, people were walking around the destruction near the beach. And suddenly, everyone would just start to run. Everyone would run inland. And then you were faced with the dilemma. You had hear that no more tsunamis were coming. Yet, surely, someone had heard something. If you ran, then you ran in illogical fear. If you stayed, then you might not be seeing what someone else was seeing. At least 3-4 times when this happened, you would ask, "who said something was coming…" And often, the answer was "The Police." Yet no one knew which police. Perhaps it was a one policeman who said, "We have to be careful" - and that message was transferred multiple times until it was repeated as "Run!" Or perhaps it was some well meaning policeman trying to keep order on the beach, and so he simply thought it was a better method to say, "Another tsunami might be coming."

I would imagine the same thing is happening in Japan. But they have so much more to deal with. They have had tens of aftershocks. They have hear explosions. And now, they have rumors and realities of nuclear power plants melting down. The fear of the next destruction must be so high.

YOU WONDER IF ANYONE KNOWS. For the 24-78 hours, you wonder if the rest of the world know. When you are cut off from television and cell phones and electricity, you just wonder. You know that some help is starting to come around. But you get this feeling inside of you that, "If people really knew the level of devastation, they would be coming in with food and helicopters and ambulances." But when you look around, the rest of the world does not seem urgent. So perhaps, they don't really know. But then again, your perspective of what is urgent is so skewed that it is impossible to even trust your own reality.

FOOD AND DRINK. You really aren't hungry. At least in your mind. But your stomach begins to grumble. And because you can't think about the big things, you begin to wonder about food. And water. Every bottle of water - every packet of food becomes an instant treasure. And you know that without power, everything will begin to spoil quickly.

In Phuket, about 12 hours after the last of the big waves, we sent scavenger crews out to raid minibars on the hotel beaches. We sent them for water and softdrinks. They returned with little water, softdrinks and alcohol. And even then, you are having this odd moral dilemma in your own brain If you take things from a washed out hotel room, are you stealing? Do the rules of stealing change when you are just trying to find food and drink? Are you only making things worse?

THE SMELL - Within 24 hours, something bad begins to happen. Decay starts to set in. And the sell comes. It comes from decaying plantlife that has washed ashore. It comes from fishes from the sea that were swept in with the wave, but not taken away on the return to the sea. It comes from rotting food. And animals. And people. In Phuket, the smell started in pretty quickly, because the temperatures were in the 80+ degree F. range. As you would walk by piles of debris, a strong smell would come from beneath. And you walked on quickly, fearing what might really be under that pile of rubble. The other thing you could also smell - and see - were oil and gasoline slicks. Whether it was from cars or heating oil or tankers - there seemed to be a sheet of oil on the water and ground around you. Which then made your mind wonder, "Will that all start on fire?"

THE BUGS follow the decay. In Thailand, as well as in Japan, they spray much and often for mosquitoes. Once the small puddles of water pooled, the bugs followed. And then you became very concerned of the diseases you might get from those bugs.

CRYING BABIES - I can remember that so many children were crying. They would cry non-stop. If the parents were in shock, then children are just confused. And they are disrupted. There is not way they can make sense of what is going on. They want their normalcy. They want a family member they may not be able to have. They want sleep. And yet, they are denied it. Instead, they look around and see adults crying. And they are confused. And so they just cry and cry and cry.

FITS OF CRYING FOR ADULTS. Most of the time, you are just trying to think of the next moment. But for individuals who have lost things - all they can grasp is how much in life they have just lost. Likely, theh are missing at least one family member. And gone is their home, their possessions, Their home. Their car. Realization begins to set in. You have lost everything. Memories. Homes. Livelihood. People. Neighbors. And your emotions are all over the place. You go from being thankful to be alive to the realization of what you have lost. And you cry for both. You cry to yourself. You cry on the arms of shoulders of people around you. You just cry.

SADNESS FOR THE YOUNG AND THE OLD - There is a gnawing feeling that you don't want to accept. You look around, and realize that there are not many young. And many old. And you instinctively know that it is because they are gone. They didn't make it.

AND YOU WONDER IF YOU COULD HAVE DONE MORE - after awhile, while sitting in shock, you begin to wonder what else you could have done. Whom else you could have saved. Could you have screamed louder. Grabbed more people? Run faster?

SURVIVOR LISTS become an obsession. You become desperate to know about the people you are missing. You just hope - pray - that they are somewhere else. And then the rumors begin about the survivor lists. You hear about locations where people are gathering You here there are long lists of names and you know - just know - that the people you are missing are on those lists. You say you will go find those lists. But then you sit down again, feeling paralyzed to do so.

COMMERCE BECOMES CONFUSING - If a store has survived, then it is a prized place because it might have food and water. And so families and employees go there to guard the supplies. But then people start to show up - needing and wanting food. Yet, for most, items like money and credit cards are gone. And so, for shop keepers - they are torn between if they should offer food or really only sell it.

HOW DO YOU HELP?

Well - those are only a few of the emotions that people feel in the hours after a tsunami. I have not visited them in so many years - seven to be exact. But they are all still there. They are real memories. And seeing the paces and destruction of the people on the coast North shores of Japan, I see in their eyes that they are feeling it too.

For Japan, the culture of organization and preparation adds to the complexity. In a culture where everything is so prepared and organized and calm, I am sure things are even more overwhelming than ever.

What can you do? Just understand. If you meet someone who has gone through the tsunami, have patience. When they are ready to talk, they will talk. If you are a survivor, and are ready to share you story, share it here for others to read.

And lastly, just hug your loved ones tonight!

Surviving a Tsunami - reflections on the Japan and SE Asia Tsunami

2011-03-12T08:45:00.001+08:00

Gil Gross of San Francisco KGO Radio interviews Rick Von Feldt, Tsunami Survivor on what it was like being in a Tsunami. They discuss their perspectives on the Japan tsunami, being a survivor and what it felt like to be in the Phuket Thailand Tsunami.

Von Feldt was on the Patong Bay Beach on December 26, 2004 when the SE Asian tsunami hit the coasts of Thailand.

This slide presentation , with audio of the interview includes some of the pictures he took hours after the December 26 tsunami.

RADIO INTERVIEW BEING IN A TSUNAMI from Rick Von Feldt

Our hearts go out to the people of Japan and Pacific for the 8.4 Earthquake and Tsunami

2011-03-11T16:00:00.001+08:00

Another amazing disaster has hit Asia, when an 8.4 earthquake triggered a 10 meter (30 feet) tsunami on the coasts of Japan. Our concern goes out to the people of Japan and other countries affected by the tsunami.

Survival of a Tennis Player (Survivor K. Pasupathi)

2011-01-28T03:01:00.003+08:00

Matthew Rader heard first hand about the dramatic survival of K. Pasupathi. Recently, Matthew, a photographer from Dallas, Texas was one of 6 members to be picked to go to a state in south India called Tamil Nadu through a Rotary exchange program called the Group Study Exchange (GSE).

(Photo by Matthew T. Rader. Copyright 2011. All rights reserved).

During our trip the six visitors visited many Rotary clubs and members of them. They learned of the city, and the effects of economy and nature. Including the Tsunami. One of the cities he visited was a coastal city called Karaikal, in Pondicherry, India. There a group of Rotarians invited them to have lunch at a small restaurant on the beach which they quickly found out was one of the places that was hit hard by the tsunami.

While at lunch Rader heard the story of K. Pasupathi. He told his story how how he and friends had been on that beach playing tennis when the tsunami hit. Rader was fascinated by the story. He asked Pasupathi if he would show him the spots from his Tsunami story. He graciously agreed and the friendship began.

You can read the story that Mathew Rader recorded of K. Pasupathi of Karaikal here.

For dramatic footage of when the first or second wave hit Karaikal, see this video.
It looks "calm and orderly," but what the story does not tell is how the wave continued to swell and then suck back everything it caught.

And to see the complete progression of how the waves came in at Kanayakumari, this video of 6-7 minutes will show you the full effect. Pay careful attention to the 4 minute mark. Manakkudi a few kilometers west of Kanayakumari where the beach elevation is very low with a wide and shallow estuary, the destruction was terrible. All the four spans of a newly constructed bridge across Manakkudi 'Kayal' were dislodged and thrown more than 70 metres upstream by the surging tsunami waves. At Manakkudi the waves were six metre high, whereas further north near Alapujha they were 1 to 1.5 m high. A very good description about what happened is written by VK Joshi in his article, "When the sea paid obeisance to Kanyakumari"

"Hereafter Movie" brings the Tsunami closer to life than ever before

2010-10-22T15:47:00.000+08:00

I knew that one day, someone would get close to bringing the emotion of the 2004 tsunami to life. It appears that Clint Eastwood has done just that in the movie to be released this week called "Hereafter." I will plan to see the movie in the next couple of weeks, but of course, with much intrepidation. For many survivors, who choose to see it, it will be the closes to ever reliving the horrific day. I will update the bottom of this blog on thoughts in a couple of weeks. Let me know what you think if you are reading this - and have seen the movie.

- Rick

Here is what the press is saying...

"Eastwood tackles tsunami in Hereafter..."

"...a ferociously authentic depiction of a tsunami disaster. He was coming to it fresh as an audience member. And after being subjected to its full cinematic impact, he found himself marvelling that Eastwood had brought off a film like this - complete with challenging special effects - in his 80th year."

"That whole CGI Thing - Clint kind of just plowed into it with utter confidence," Damon says. "And that sequence is incredible."

" the tsunami that is featured in hereafter is indeed an F/X generated simulation of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that pounded Indonesia…."

"… With an opening scene that depicts the destructive spirit of a naturally-occurring tsunami, Hereafter might have one of the most disturbing beginnings ever filmed by any director - not just Eastwood. The danger is immediate and brutal and poignantly realistic – with remarkable special effects provided by Scanline VFX – that absolutely douses the viewer with the rushing water of that gigantic wave...."

"... The movie begins in 2004 with Thailand's awful tsunami which killed thousands of people. It's a gripping horrific sequence""

" It’s nothing if not daring to begin a movie with its most remarkable sequence. In fact, the opening of Hereafter — a vivid depiction of the tsunami that struck Thailand in 2004 — is one of the most amazing sequences of the year, a gripping combination of special effects and speeding camera work that hits the screen with tidal force..."

Here are notes from the Warner Motion Picture production site:

That dichotomy is never more apparent than in the tsunami sequence, which would involve location shooting in the town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui. ``We considered a lot of different places to shoot that sequence, Lorenz notes. ``We needed a sort of alleyway that led to the beach, where people could run up to get away from the wave. Front Street on Maui just made the most sense for that.

To capture the moment when Cécile de France and a small child are caught in the massive wave, Stern and Campanelli put cameras on surfboards and took them out into the water, followed by Eastwood himself. ``I'd not seen Clint jump in the water before, but it's pretty typical of his directing style, says Lorenz. ``He wants to get right in there and be a part of it, so he can make sure he gets what he wants and be able to point the camera in every direction.

``We were amazed, Kennedy remembers. ``I mean, the water was such that the waves were quite big. It was almost impossible to keep the camera on the little surfboard. And Clint just dove in, pulled himself up on the boat, checked the camera, then went back into the water with everybody. Rob and I were standing comfortably on shore with no thought in our minds of going into the water, she smiles, adding, ``but Clint and the cast and camera crew were in there getting the shot. It was pretty remarkable on all fronts.

De France was excited to shoot the sequence in the ocean. ``I think Clint likes to stick with reality, she says. ``He wants people to feel close to his characters, and as an actress, it was thrilling for me to do my own stunts in the water.

``I have never been in a tsunami, though my son was in Thailand when the big 2004 tsunami happened, and I talked to a lot of people who were there, says Eastwood. ``A lot of people photographed it, and you could see that it was devastating.

To create the wave itself, Michael Owens and his team did reference the tragic events of 2004, looking at documentary footage and stills, and adding in elements that would reflect the intimacy of Marie's point of view. ``It's a complicated sequence because Clint was not presenting it how you'd see it on the news, says editor Joel Cox, who has worked with Eastwood for 35 years, and, along with Gary Roach, edited ``Hereafter. ``We were trying to create it based on what people say they've seen and experienced-something that most people have never experienced in life. All the shots and effects are in service of creating, through Marie, an idea of what it's like to live through a tsunami, and specific to the story, to die in the water, and then come back.

The complex sequence was built from components captured on the beach at Lahaina, as well as footage captured in the UK, at Pinewood Studio's massive tank. ``Clint always shoots on practical locations whenever possible, and from a visual effects perspective, that presents challenges but also helps maintain a strong basis in reality, says visual effects supervisor Michael Owens. ``In this case, we were able to shoot Cécile in the tanks, in front of a green screen, at the mercy of water canons and whirlpools swirling around her, to give a real, palpable sense of what her character goes through.

Owens, working with visual effects house Scanline, utilized laser scans of all the elements-from the beach, to the actors, to the debris caught in the tsunami-to create a digital model in which the devastating wave could be created.

``It's really quite something, says Eastwood. ``To depict that, to recreate that, is very, very difficult, and water is particularly difficult to do, but we had to do it that way. You also had to have some computer generated material in order to really tell the story we're trying to tell, and Michael did a great job of making that wave real.

FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE TSUNAMI

2009-12-26T16:08:00.000+08:00

December 26, 2009

THE FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE TSUNAMI

It is the end of the day. Of just another day to most. But for a few thousand people – perhaps even ten thousand people around the world, this day is not just an ordinary day. For many of us, we are taking the day to mourn losses of family or friends. And at the same time, we are also celebrating our lives. Both in the same day. Both on the anniversary of when a tsunami struck in southeast and south Asia in 2004.

It is a confusing day for many people. For those in the region, it is a day of walking silently to the water. To offer prayers and thoughts and sadness and thanks – perhaps all in one breath – to something or someone that we felt responsible for the day.

For a small group of us, not living in or traveling anymore to Asia, it becomes a day of mixed emotion. How do we think about the day? How do we commemorate.

For the last four years, I have made it a point to tell people about my day. I have spent the day, sometimes alone, thinking about that fateful day in 2004. I spent time writing emails to other survivors. Some were new friends made through the website. Others were people who literally stood side by side with me – watching the waves come and go – taking life with it each time – five years ago.

But today was the five year anniversary. Should I do something special? Should I stay home and mourn? Should I send out an email to friends and family, reminding them of the day, lest they forget?

But not today. Not on the five year anniversary. From this day on, it becomes a personal day for many of us. Today, instead of CNN talking about tsunami anniversaries, they moved on to other tragedies – or perhaps avoided tragedies of a potential terrorist aboard a plane from Amsterdam to the Detroit. But that is a good thing. It is time to move on – so that this day is not longer a press day – and instead, becomes an intimate reminder, based upon what each individual needs the day to be!

In years past, I have reserved this day after Christmas as a reflection day. I would mark the time of the earthquake. The time of the first wave. And then of the second, even more deadly wave. I would read through my journals of the day. I would look at the pictures of devastation. I would read all of the survivor stories at the website www.phutkettsunami.blogspot.com.

It was a day to reflect. And wonder. And mourn. And just be in the moment.

But this year, a confusing activity happened. A long lost friend invited me out for beers and dinner. I had not seen him in a long time, and he was in the middle of a career change.

Should I politely decline, by telling him it was my “memory day?”

But a voice in side of me, told me it was more important to be in the now – and to move on. I want to preserve the memories of the day. But a simple anniversary – a day marking an event – should not be a deciding factor to living the more important day.

I spend the evening today, having beers, listening to his strife of career change. I tried to be as present as possible. A few times, a fleeting thought of, “well, you think you had it bad – you should feel the mourning of a few people around the world…”

But I didn’t.

I was tempted a few times to casually work the topic into the discussion: “And oh, yeah, by the way, do you know what I am commemorating today?”

But over the years, I have realized that that question or comment leads very quickly into a deadend discussion.

“Oh, someone might comment. That is right. How do you feel?” Or they might ask, “Wow – are you ok?”

But no answer can really help the situation. Nor will it make them or you feel any better.

It happened. Then. And today is now. And memory and loss and thinking, now five years later, is simply personal.

This evening, after I returned home from the beer and food with the friend, I went to my Yahoo headlines. I suspected to see something like, “Survivors commemorate the five year anniversary off the Tsunami…” But instead, the headlines read, “Nigerian man charged in Christmas airliner attack” and “Ferry sinks in Philippines..” Should I wonder why there is not a headline about an event five years ago that killed over 200,00 people? Or should I be ok that the world has moved on – and focuses on the news today and now?

As I talked today to a few other survivors, many felt the same sentiment. To us – it is an emotional memory. To the rest of the world, it is a moment in time – a regret – a sadness. And yet, another moment in time.”

That is ok. And perhaps, five years later, that is ok. Perhaps that is how it should be. Perhaps on a five year anniversary – it is time to draw the emotions away from the press – and the crowds, and make it a personal reflection – memory – emotion for each of us personally.

None of my family or friends sent me a note on the anniversary today. And for the first time, I didn’t send them a note. Tell anyone in person. Or let is casually slip out. Today – it was my day. And a day of my fellow survivors.

And perhaps that is a good thing on a five year anniversary!

FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

2009-12-26T04:57:00.000+08:00

LINKS ABOUT THE FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY:

Thousands attend memorial services across Asia to mark 2004 tsunami

Are we angry at the sea?

Tsunami Victims remembered (MSNBC article)

Memorial services held across Asia in remembrance of 216,000 victims. BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Next to gentle seas, survivors, friends and family remembered the fury of the Indian Ocean tsunami that swept away more than 200,000 people in 12 countries one year ago Monday and laid waste to entire communities in one of the worst natural disasters in modern history…

SURVIVING THE TSUNAMI: Stories of Hope

2009-12-23T10:06:00.001+08:00

Surviving the Tsunami: Stories of Hope highlights the resilience of communities in the face of catastrophe.

It features the stories of four people from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Sweden whose lives were transformed by the worst natural disaster in living memory. The documentary shows the crucial (but often underreported) role that those affected by crises play in their own recovery.

The documentary has been created by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to pay tribute to survivors.

Watch the VIDEO HERE:

YOU TUBE VIDE: Surviving The Tsuanmi

What were you doing on DECEMBER 26, 2004 - FIve years ago?

2009-12-23T09:47:00.003+08:00

www.phukettsunami.blogspot.comOn 26 December 2004, while most of us were enjoying Christmas at home, on the other side of the world people were fighting for their lives.

An earthquake registering 9 on the Richter Scale struck off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia on Boxing Day morning, 2004. It triggered tidal waves up to 30 feet high that swept into coastal villages and seaside resorts.

The earthquake was felt as far away as Bangladesh, and the resulting tsunami was so powerful it killed more than 225,000 people in eleven countries.

Watch this video to learn about the BRITISH RED CROSS campaign:
WHAT WERE YOU DOING ON DECEMBER 26?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLAINfwVNgs

Decisions for Recovery: Rebuilding after the Boxing Day tsunami
http://www.recoveringafuture.org.uk/

American Samoa Wave

2009-10-02T18:42:00.001+08:00

The FBI on Friday released video footage showing waves rushing in and violently tossing cars and trucks in a parking lot as a deadly tsunami struckAmerican Samoa last week.

The dramatic video was taken on the morning of Sept. 29 from a stationary security camera at the FBI office in Pago Pago. The video shows about a dozen cars, ranging from an SUV to a Volkswagen Beetle, being thrown around like whitewater rafts.

The two-minute clip also shows three people walking in the parking lot shortly before the wave struck. One man runs quickly in the opposite direction less than 30 seconds before the water enters the scene. More....

SAMOA SURVIVOR ERICA WALES

2009-10-01T19:17:00.002+08:00

Erica Wales, a Peace Corps volunteer in the village of Salesatele, said the earthquake woke her up early yesterday morning.The 23-year-old, who has lived in Samoa since June last year and works as a marine protection officer with the Peace Corps, said she was about 15 metres from the beach when the waves hit. She is blogging from Samoa and provides her story:

I’m lucky to be alive

I’m sure most of you have heard about the earthquake and tsunami that hit Samoa by now and am wondering how I’m doing. Well, here’s the story:

I was sleeping when the 8.0 earthquake hit. My house started shaking and things were falling off shelves. Books fell down, the phone mounted on my wall fell down, cans of food fell…I’m smart enough to know when things start falling it is probably wise to get out. So grabbed my phone and left my room. The shaking lasted a long time too, at least a minute. I texted a good friend here with the message of “shit that was big” when it was over. She agreed. About that time I got a call from the Peace Corps medical officer that I should probably move inland because the possibility of a tsunami. So I grabbed an ie and left.

I was walking on the road which parallels the beach when I noticed something wasn’t right. I could see structures like rocks and coral which I have never seen above water, not even at the lowest of low tides. This didn’t bode well. Then I noticed the really odd wave action, something just wasn’t right. I had just turned the corner of the road and was now headed inland, versus parallel to the beach as I had been just one minute before, when the waves hit the beach and surged up the road. At this point I started running, as did my village. As I was running I could hear the water surging up the river, tearing trees down.

I got up to the main road where most everyone was. The matai were directing everyone to head to Siuniu, the village inland. I could see the look of panic and worry as parents asked where their kids were, for they were headed to the primary school which is near me. The matai were organized and knew where to direct the parents to in order to find their kids. I went up to Siuniu and waited with my village. At this point we were getting reports of a school in Poutasi (a few villages to the west) collapsing and killing three kids. Everyone was on phones, calling relatives and friends in neighboring villages, trying to find out what was going on. Reports came that 50 people in Poutasi were dead, buried in the sand. A boy in neighboring Salani died. And 15 in Aleipata were dead. As far as I know at this point, no one in my village died. We are lucky.

Then I got a report that my house and another were destroyed. I wanted to go and see if this was true, but I knew to stay. I waited a few hours then went to see what the damage was. Sure enough, my house was flattened. The tsunami ripped the house from its foundation and deposited it 10 feet in front of the house, collapsed beyond repair. I could see all of my stuff waterlogged and muddy. I’m not sure what can be salvaged. I’m going back tomorrow to find out what I can still use, but I know most things will be trashed.

While that is unfortunate, at least it was just my house and not my home. The other family I feel bad for because it was their home. I had stuff there which will be expensive to replace, but it wasn’t everything in the world I owned, just everything I Samoa I owned. Most of my stuff is still back in the US. I feel bad for the other family who truly lost everything. I feel really bad about the three computers I had in my house for the school. I don’t think those will be salvaged, but another Peace Corps Volunteer already told me she would donate two to my school, so I’m happy about that. I also am upset that I don’t know where my dog is. I saw her after the earthquake, and then don’t know where she went. I hope she is ok. Animals are smarter than humans in many ways, so she probably left before I did, but I’m still worried. I hope I find her.

The Peace Corps Office came out and drove me to Apia. I could see the damage in the villages as I passed. Poutasi looks pretty bad; boats are inland, houses devastated, and the school collapsed. Their village is pretty flat on the seaward side, so the wave did quite a bit of damage. The district hospital there looked like it was spared, might have water damage though. As we were driving over Cross Island Road, many cars were headed south to help clean up and try to find their family.

Once in Apia, small aftershocks could still be felt throughout the day. Around 5:30 pm the tsunami sirens went off. Everyone headed up the mountains carrying what they could. It turned out to be a false alarm, but better safe than sorry. Most businesses were closed as people went to help.

Report is over 80 here are dead. If you want to help, go here.

I want to say thank you to all my fellow PCVs. I don’t think my phone was quite for five minutes yesterday morning. Everyone wanted to see if I was ok; thanks, makes me feel loved. When I got to Apia, a bunch of people offered up their house and everyone wanted to know what they could do to help. I appreciate the support guys. You guys are awesome! Also to everyone who posted on facebook and sent me e-mails, thanks for your support as well. And finally to Teuila; I was awake after the earthquake but not enough awake to be thinking about a tsunami. If she hadn’t called right after the quake stopped, I probably would have been at my house. If I had left my house just a minute later…well, yeah.

I gave a written eyewitness account to Sydney Morning Herald and a phone interview to NY Daily News. Here’s the link for the NY article:

And the Sydney article:

So that is all I know for now. I’m off to buy some new clothes because I have the clothes on my back and one spare. I’ll keep you posted on what goes on.

SAMOA, Sumatra and Indonesia Tsunami and Earthquake Survivors

2009-10-01T18:51:00.004+08:00

EARTHQUAKES in Indonesia and Sumatra
TSUNAMI in Samoa and American Samoa

Our hearts, sympathy and prayers go out to the survivors of the earthquakes hitting Indonesia and Sumatra, as well as the tsunami that hit Samoa and American Samoa on Tuesday. In Samoa and American Samoa, at least 140 people died after a magnitude 8.0 quake struck at dawn Tuesday, sending four waves, each 15 to 20 feet high. The earthquake that struck western Indonesia on Wednesday killed at least 529 people, more than half of them in the coastal Sumatran city of Padang, according to news reports. Thousands more were believed dead, said Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari, including many trapped in an estimated 500 buildings that toppled or were damaged in the magnitude 7.6 quake.

The downtown area of Fagatogo, a town of 3,000 on the shore of Pago Pago Harbor in American Samoa, is submerged by seawater after a massive tsunami flattened villages and swept cars and people out to sea. Triggered by a powerful underwater earthquake, four tsunami waves 15 to 20 feet high roared ashore on American Samoa, reaching up to a mile inland. Read more at ABC
here: STORY

SURVIVOR STORIES from SAMOA

Our hearts go out to the Samoa, Sumatra and Indonesia survivors…

SURVIVOR JOHN NEWTON
"The earthquake itself was terrifying," said John Newton, 66, of American Samoa. "Then the tsunami came just minutes after. The force it came with was just overwhelming. It destroyed everything in its path." Newton said a friend in a remote part of the island had died in the disaster. "I don't think anyone here will be untouched by this," he said. Wooden structures were toppled and the contents of buildings were swept away. Cars were overturned and roads strewn with debris. The tsunami knocked out one of two power plants in American Samoa, and communications throughout the islands were spotty. More at the LATIMES

SURVIVOR DENNIS FAMUI
Dennis Famui said he walked outside his hillside home immediately after the earth shook and looked out at the bay at the center of American Samoa's main island. "A couple minutes after the earthquake, you could see the water draw back and expose the reef and part of the docks," said Famui, 45. "Then the water came back and tossed cars and container boxes and pushed them right back into the bay." He said the tsunami wasn't a wave that could be spotted from a distance, but a mass of water that rose with steady, destructive force as it neared.
More at the LATIMES

SAMOA SURVIVOR PICTURES

LATIMES

First photos from American Samoa Earthquake Tsunami

SURVIVOR JOHN BLACKER:
TASMANIAN tsunami survivor John Blacker, now recovering in a Samoan hospital, has told of his ordeal. An Australian survivor of the Samoa tsunami clung to a palm tree while waves battered him and his wife before she was ripped from his arms and drowned. John Blacker — who cannot swim — said the waves tossed him around and pounded him with debris for "what seemed like forever", the Hobart Mercury reports. More NEWS HERE.

SURVIVOR JOEY CUMMINGS
Joey Cummings Watched Water Rise to His 2nd Story Window Just Minutes after Quake Rocked South Pacific.

SURVIVOR TOGIOLA TULAFONO
American Samoa Governor Togiola Tulafono said the effects of the tsunami would touch everyone. "I don't think anybody is going to be spared in this disaster," he said.
Eni Faleomavaega, who represents American Samoa in the US Congress, said the waves had "literally wiped out all the low-lying areas in the Samoan islands". He said the tsunami had struck too quickly for a full evacuation. Samoa's Deputy Prime Minister Misa Telefoni told AAP that the ocean had receded, heralding the oncoming tsunami, "within five minutes" of the quake. "With the location and the intensity... I don't know if anything better could have been done."

We invite MORE SAMOA SURVIVORS to share their personal stories.

INTERACTIVE TSUNAMI WEBSITE from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

2009-08-12T07:29:00.005+08:00

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Coast Ocean Institute has sponsored the creation of a INTERACTIVE TSUNAMI website. The goal of the website it to help people learn about tsunami’s, gather tips to prepare for, and survive a tsunami, understand tsunami related science research, and to find out about actual historic tsunami’s. The site features three survivors of the Southeast Asian tsunami, including myself, Dwayne Medows and Piyanooch Ananpakadee. Dwayne was on vacation in Khoa Lak. Piyanooch was in Phuket, working at the Bangkok hospital. You can find the INTERACTIVE SITE HERE: http://www.whoi.edu/home/interactive/tsunami/

And you can find the interviews on the site by clicking on the SURVIVING A TSUNAMI TAB, and by clicking on SURVIVOR STORIES.

SURVIVOR: Aaron le Boutillier

2009-04-26T03:35:00.004+08:00

Aaron le Boutillier is a tsunami survivor. He was on the Thai island of Koh Phi Phi where had been working for many years. He has published a book about his experiences on the morning of December 26. “And Then One Morning” is his account of the day that changed the lives of many around the world.

For anyone caught up in the tsunami, however, it was all over in a matter of minutes. They were either alive or dead. Over a quarter of a million people lost their lives while millions who survived had to deal with the tragedy in countless ways.

And Then One Morning encapsulates the expat life on a small tropical island and introduces the reader to the main characters who either survived or perished in the tsunami. Chief amongst these is the Oswald family. Heinz Oswald spent eighteen years developing a successful dive business on Phi Phi. Aaron visited Phi Phi that Christmas to help Heinz and his family move to Phuket on the afternoon of December 26. That move never happened.Hours after the tsunami, Aaron found Heinz’s wife and four year old son alive. There is relief and surprise as other characters are found alive. But for the next two weeks there is the trauma of the search for Heinz and his two daughters.

And Then One Morning captures Aaron’s growth from a care-free twenty-two year old into a successful business owner in Singapore by the time of the tsunami. Following the tsunami he took responsibility to help the survivors of the Oswald family as well as other friends from the island.

Four years on there are still people suffering from the tsunami in a multitude of ways. Aaron has decided that the author royalties from the sale of his book should go to helping some of those still traumatised by the disaster. For each book sold, Aaron gets 12% of the sale price, and turns around and donates it back to charities in Thailand to continue to help.

The first donation of monies from Big Wave Publications was on the 24th October 2008 where with the help of all that attended and the Phuket Lions club we raised 30,000 Baht for the Sadtree Orphanage. The second donation will also be for 30,000 Baht to the Nilubon school in December. The monies will be generated from the Singapore book launch which has kindly been sponsored by the Grand Hyatt Singapore and their F.O.R.C.E program.

Learn more about Aaron here:
http://www.bigwavepublications.com/index.html

I encourage you to purchase the book. To give you a taste of the writing – you can read the chapters of his story here on the survivors site:

Chapter 16 - A Washing Machine Springs a Leak (what happened in those initial minutes when the first wave hit).

Chapter 17 - Rumbles down below (in a brief second – how do you process what is happening to you?)

Chapter 18 - Hey Ma, I’m on top of the World (Saving people!)

Chapter 19 – On the Edge of the Ring of Fire (How could this happen?)

Chapter 20 – Phi Phi Hotel Becomes Sanctuary

Read more survivor stories at: TSUNAMI SURVIVOR SITE

CHAPTER 16: A Washing Machine Springs a Leak

2009-04-26T02:02:00.001+08:00

A Washing Machine Springs a Leak

This is an excerpt from Tsunami survivor Aaron Le Boutillier in his book “And Then One Morning.” For anyone caught up in the tsunami, however, it was all over in a matter of minutes. They were either alive or dead. Over a quarter of a million people lost their lives while millions who survived had to deal with the tragedy in countless ways. Aaron continues to live and work in Southeast Asia. The proceeds of his book continue to make a difference in Thailand. Read more about Aaron and his book here:

Aaron Le Boutillier
http://phukettsunami.blogspot.com/2009/04/survivor-aaron-le-boutillier.html

Chapter 16 - A Washing Machine Springs a Leak

At about ten the next morning I was in that comfortable slumber zone that is somewhere between being fully awake and fully asleep. Neither here nor there. I was vaguely aware of what was happening around me. I could recall that it had been a normal evening last night and I had no reason to leap out of bed. I turned over and listened to the sounds of the village. After last night I was a long way from being fully awake.

Suddenly my brain started informing me that there was a lot of commotion outside in the form of children screaming. I woke briefly and started thinking that someone was playing a joke and scaring the kids. Idiots. In my morning haze I made out that the sounds were similar to that of children playing and screaming. As I turned over, something in my mind alerted me to the fact that the screaming children sounded genuine almost making me scared to listen to them. At least my brain told me these were children. After all, why would adults be screaming like that? My memory drifted back to the bizarre worry I had last night about a fire. I could not smell any burning. But the screaming continued and now I could hear it was mixed with another noise that was building. A crunching, grinding and increasingly roaring noise. Half awake and half asleep I suddenly became very much awake. It would be almost another two days before I would sleep again.

As I finally awoke I heard in Thai, screams of wing wing which means ‘run, run’ and total confusion and panic. Mixed in with the screams was the sound of feet pounding on the sand street outside my window. I jumped out of bed and pushed open my wooden window. I looked down on to the street. Straight away I saw Heinz with Anna under his arms and Tina holding on to his hand. I shouted down to him and Heinz looked at me for a brief second with eyes that will haunt me till the day I die.

They were the eyes of pure animal fear, eyes of pure animal panic and eyes of utter human disbelief. My throat instantly dried up and I found myself with a tear in the corner of my eye as I stared at the total panic and uncertainty that had gripped the so-certain Heinz as he stood staring at what I was about to see. At first I saw a small rivulet of water trickling down the street and started thinking: someone’s washing machine had flooded.

Heinz turned with his two daughters and ran into his shop. He pulled down the metal shutters to the shop behind him. I looked down the street and could only see people, children, tourists, Thais running, “wing wing run run” they screamed. In Thai, in English, in Swedish, in German, in Danish, in Hebrew, in Russian. I turned from the window to run out of my bedroom and on to the open staircase leading down to the street. I felt trapped but already I knew that going down those stairs was not an option. My first thought was that there was a mad man with a gun or a knife running down the street and randomly hitting out to anyone that got in his way. But I had not heard any gunshots, yet. I ran on to the staircase expecting to see a group of mad psychotic terrorists. I had not heard an explosion, yet. Just a thousand or more screams in tens of different languages. A United Nations of fear and panic.

I got half way down the stairs when I could clearly see the reason for panic. It had nothing do with Mister Osama and his compatriots. The trickle of water from the leaky washing machine had now risen slightly in the past few seconds from first opening my bedroom window. It was now hurtling down the street at an alarming speed. It was literally being pumped towards me, or so it seemed, by some unseen power behind. As I looked down towards Mama Restaurant and the main street I could see two walls of water surging around Angelo’s restaurant where we had enjoyed a magical Christmas Day evening the night before. The two walls of water converged on the corner shop.

The travel agent on the opposite side of the main street imploded and exploded all in one go as it seemed to be morphing into a lump of contorted wood and corrugated iron interspersed with the shattering sound of glass. In that split second I turned my head to the side and watched for maybe one second as another wall of water and the imploded/exploded remains of the building came surging towards me. The sound of the power of water, the crunching and folding of buildings and the screams of desperation, the panic of people being overtaken by this wall mesmerized me as I stood there. I was like a rabbit sat looking at the headlights.

The wall of water and mixed up rubble and mixed up people hit my flimsy staircase within a second or two. I instinctively ran back up the stairs towards my room. Really, there was nowhere else to run. The sound was deafening and the shrills and panic of fear were all around me. It was the sound of solid buildings being crushed and wooden pillars groaning under the immense force, the power, of the water that were most unusual and new to me. As I got to the top of the staircase I saw the couple in the room next to me standing outside their door completely frozen and embracing each other.

I ran straight down the narrow corridor and started panicking, heavily. There was nowhere to go. I looked back and knew that if the wall of water chose to come up the wooden staircase, the route I had just come along, then it was goodbye Aaron. That was a quick life.

The water was rushing through the narrow opening to the street and being funnelled at great force into the stair well as it rushed down faster than any human could run. I started jumping up and banging on the ceiling and the walls in a desperate attempt to find an escape route that would at least take me further up than this level which was now perilously close to the rising wall of water. It was becoming a futile attempt. I started screaming at the couple who continued to stand and hold each other.

“Fuck. We’re going to die. Fuck.”

I repeated what was already seemingly obvious.

I must have run up and down the narrow corridor for a few seconds before giving up the futile search and going back to the open staircase. The water was now surging around my thighs and I pushed both my hands against the side of the narrow wooden corridor and looked at the incredible but terrifying sight in front of me. The level of the water was now just below my line of sight. The current out in the street was incredible and the sound of buildings collapsing around me was deafening. The screams were now impossible to hear over the thunderous roar of the water and in that brief moment I knew this was it.

I was going to die. For the first time in my life I had resigned myself to dying. No more tomorrows, no more dreams, no more anything. It was goodbye Banana Boat Man. Goodbye to his close friend Mister Bum Boil. Goodbye Mum, goodbye Dad. Whoosh, that was Aaron Le Boutillier. Remember him? He had some grand plans for making a mint before he retired at forty. And then one day a leaking washing machine drowned him. What a way to go.

I stood in the corridor, tensioned against the walls and prepared myself that any second the current would finally sweep my legs from me and I would join the torrent of mangled wood, concrete, glass and corrugated roofing and thrashing, panic-driven humans that was still rushing passed me and on to wherever it was next headed.

My immediate thought in those brief seconds were of my Mum. I apologized to her in my mind for not being quick or smart enough to outwit this disaster and also for the pain I would put her in over the next few weeks. I closed my eyes and could feel my position and stability weakening as the water surged more.

The inherent ability a human, any animal really, has to survive is incredible. We’ve all read about animals that are stuck in traps or snares that will chew their way through a leg to release themselves. A few years ago I recall reading about a rock-climber who had an accident where he ended up with his arm trapped under a huge boulder on a lonely mountain far from anybody. After about the third day when he realised he was not going to be found and that he was also not going to live too much longer he got a small knife and slowly but surely he amputated his arm and freed himself. He lived to tell the tale.

Well anybody who has read this far will now know that I lived to tell the tale! However, I have no recollection of what happened in those next few seconds. I did not slowly and methodically amputate an arm. Or any other appendage for that matter. One second I was braced between the two corridor walls and feeling my grip sliding away as the waters continued to claw at my body. The next second I was on a balcony. The distance between where I had been standing and next door was minimal but I must have just leaped across. I then found myself running across the balcony towards the roof of the post office which was directly in front of the Phi Phi Hotel. From the balcony there was a small rise in height to the next roof top which I clambered up on. Within a few seconds I had gone from accepting death to being perched on the apex of a corrugated roof two buildings down from my original position.

As I sat perched on the roof as nonchalantly as if this was an everyday happening for Aaron the Roof Percher, I was overcome with an enormous explosion of relief.

“ I’m alive. I am alive. I do not believe it.”

For now. I had no clue what had happened and at that particular moment as I was perched on my corrugated iron roof I was not really trying to analyse what had gone on and what might yet go on. I was alive. Well alive. For now.

READ MORE

Read more from Aaron Le Boutillier’ s book, “And Then One Morning” here:

Chapter 16 - A Washing Machine Springs a Leak
(what happened in those initial minutes when the first wave hit).

Chapter 17 - Rumbles down below
(in a brief second – how do you process what is happening to you?)

Chapter 18 - Hey Ma, I’m on top of the World
(Saving people!)

Chapter 19 – On the Edge of the Ring of Fire
(How could this happen?)

Chapter 20 – Phi Phi Hotel Becomes Sanctuary

Read more survivor stories at: TSUNAMI SURVIVOR SITE

CHAPTER 17: Rumbles Down Below

2009-04-26T02:01:00.000+08:00

RUMBLES DOWN BELOW

This is an excerpt from Tsunami survivor Aaron Le Boutillier in his book “And Then One Morning.” For anyone caught up in the tsunami, however, it was all over in a matter of minutes. They were either alive or dead. Over a quarter of a million people lost their lives while millions who survived had to deal with the tragedy in countless ways. Aaron continues to live and work in Southeast Asia. The proceeds of his book continue to make a difference in Thailand. Read more about Aaron and his book here:

Aaron Le Boutillier
http://phukettsunami.blogspot.com/2009/04/survivor-aaron-le-boutillier.html

Chapter 17 - Rumbles down below

We live on a generally solid little planet that provides us with everything we need. We have enough oxygen to breath. But not enough to fry the atmosphere every time we strike a match. We get just enough heat from the sun to make sure that our Little Planet’s water does not all turn to ice. But we don’t get so much heat that all of our Little Planet’s precious water gets boiled away as steam. Astronomers hunting for life in the Universe are looking for a planet like ours, around a star like ours. And at roughly the same distance as ours. They call this the Goldilocks Zone. Everything is just right. But our Little Planet is not quite as quiet as we generally understand. It is certainly not an inert lump of rock. Deep within, the pressures and heat turn rocks and metals to liquid.

I learned all about the powers within our Little Planet when I did my geography O Level at sixteen. However, that tiny little part of the Little Planet that I come from, the island called Jersey, seemed to be, to me, an especially quiet and innocuous corner of our Little Planet. Most of the dramatic stuff I learned in our Geography lessons does not happen on Jersey. We don’t have a waterfall like Niagara or the Victoria Falls where billions of gallons of water flow over every hour or so. Jersey does not have volcanoes and earthquakes – the two dramatic events that helped to show that a crackpot idea called Continental Drift really is real. These things happen elsewhere. Jersey doesn’t drift. It’s always been where it is.

I recall my Geography teacher in the eighties teaching us all about Continental Drift. And he was man enough to admit that when he was our age, indeed when he was learning Geography at university, he had learned that Continental Drift was a joke theory. Not to be taken seriously. Something to have a snigger about.

But he now freely admitted to all us wide-eyed sixteen year olds that continents move about.

“But Sir. We’re a titchy little island, Sir. What about Jersey, Sir? Do we move about?

The Theory of Continental Drift could be used to explain why South America and Africa looked like parts of a jig-saw puzzle. It was not some coincidence. They really had been joined at one time. And then they drifted apart and made the Atlantic Ocean. And, especially weird for a lad from Jersey, Continental Drift helped to explain how an island called India could make a head-on collision with Asia about fifty million years ago. My Geography teacher taught us that the Himalaya was living proof of that massive collision. Scrunched up like the bonnet of a car after it had run into a largely immoveable object such as a brick wall at high speed.

“Sir, will Jersey smash into France? Or will it smash into England? I hope it’s England, Sir.”

A few years later I sat amazed in front of the television as Sir David Attenborough struggled out of breath high up in the Himalaya as he showed fossils of marine animals.

Marine fossils high up in the mountains? Excuse me.

I learned that South America and Africa have been torn apart by the previously crackpot Theory of Continental Drift. And I learned that the Himalayan Mountains, the tallest on our Little Planet, were created by the high-speed collision of a large island called India with the even larger lump of land called continental Asia. However, elsewhere on our generally friendly Little Planet there are other areas where continents are not being torn apart or being rammed into each other. These are areas where continents are rubbing along-side each other.

A sport I am particularly keen on is wrestling/grappling. And I hasten to add I do Real Wrestling. I do not mean the farce where over-muscled, steroid-compromised show-biz characters wearing ridiculous face-paint and garish costumes, and going by dramatic names like Gentleman Jackhammer Jim slam each other around while semi-naked porn-star wanna-be’s urge them on. No, wrestling in its purest form involves two powerful, equally matched forces coming together. Tremendous amounts of energy between two human beings gets expended while the two forces come together. But then one gives. And suddenly it is all over. There is a winner and there is a loser.

I had grown up with dramatic stories showing us all how wild and hugely uncertain our Little Planet can really be. Over thirty five thousand human beings got a sudden but very final (for them) taste of that violence one morning in late August, 1883. A little island, smaller than Jersey and only slightly bigger than Phi Phi, decided to evaporate. Of course, islands don’t evaporate. Not really. But in one almighty explosion, several billion tonnes of Krakatoa went somewhere else. That is evaporation by my understanding.

We now know that much of it sank into the big hole that opened up beneath it which was created by the explosive powers way down deep beneath the ocean waves. The rest of it ended up in the upper atmosphere of our Little Planet and spent the next few years giving us all spectacular sunsets. But thirty five thousand people never got to be dazzled by these spectacular sunsets. They awoke one morning and went about their usual daily routine. Stopped dramatically by a wall of water that was so high it left a Dutch warship several miles inland and over a hundred feet above the level of the sea. The twenty eight sailors on that warship never knew what hit them. Neither did the other thirty five thousand or so people that died that morning.

And so it was on December 26, 2004. The day of the Big Wave.

READ MORE

Read more from Aaron Le Boutillier’ s book, “And Then One Morning” here:

Chapter 16 - A Washing Machine Springs a Leak (what happened in those initial minutes when the first wave hit).

Chapter 17 - Rumbles down below(in a brief second – how do you process what is happening to you?)

Chapter 18 - Hey Ma, I’m on top of the World (Saving people!)

Chapter 19 – On the Edge of the Ring of Fire(How could this happen?)

Chapter 20 – Phi Phi Hotel Becomes Sanctuary

Read more survivor stories at: TSUNAMI SURVIVOR SITE

CHAPTER 18: Hey Ma, I'm on top of the World

2009-04-26T02:00:00.000+08:00

HEY MA - I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD

This is an excerpt from Tsunami survivor Aaron Le Boutillier in his book “And Then One Morning.” For anyone caught up in the tsunami, however, it was all over in a matter of minutes. They were either alive or dead. Over a quarter of a million people lost their lives while millions who survived had to deal with the tragedy in countless ways. Aaron continues to live and work in Southeast Asia. The proceeds of his book continue to make a difference in Thailand. Read more about Aaron and his book here:

Aaron Le Boutillier
http://phukettsunami.blogspot.com/2009/04/survivor-aaron-le-boutillier.html

Chapter 18 - Hey Ma, I’m on top of the World

I could see that if I ran across the apex of the roof I would arrive at one of the Phi Phi Hotel balconies which with one small jump I could climb over and on to. I now had my path of further escape clearly mapped out. However, instead of taking this, I simply sat there mesmerized by what had happened. I still could not, or would not, comprehend it.

From my new vantage point I could see into the living area of Heinz’s former apartment above Moskito. And I could see the new manager Christophe looking out of the window at the carnage. I shouted to him to see if Heinz and the family were with him. He shrugged his shoulders in a Gaelic sort of way and shook his head and lifted his hands up in desperation.

My heart sank. They were not with him and yet I had seen Heinz run with the girls back into the shop. He had pulled down the shutters. Surely he would then have made for the stairs and climbed upward and away from the water. I felt a sudden sickening of the stomach but reassured myself that if anyone was going to survive this thing, it would be Heinz. And he would have the girls with him. And what of Oiy and Little Dino? I had not seen them at all. Just Heinz and the girls. Where were they?

This was the first time in my life that I had heard terror. Sheer terror expressed en masse in so many different languages. And all at once. And a few seconds before I had made my modest little contribution as I ran up and down the corridor screaming at a couple who were holding on to each other with all the love in the World they had for each other that we, meaning certainly me and them, were going to die.

As I sat on the roof my ears grew accustomed to the awful and terrifying wailing noises. What was most disturbing were the screams of people from all directions, shouts for help and just screams of undecipherable words in many languages (Thai, English, Swedish, German, Danish, Japanese, Kohrean – you name it, they screamed it) of sheer panic and desperation. As I scanned over the roof tops I saw semi-naked and naked bodies scrambling on to other roof tops. I saw people hanging on to telephone poles. I saw people hanging on to signage. Anything that was available as the current rushed passed them. Some people were holding on to the hands of others less fortunate who were struggling against the waters. It seemed to have no intention of stopping. A relentlessly rises mass of the stuff. Some people were just lying on the roof tops with obvious injuries made apparent by the strange way their limbs were placed.

After a few more seconds, I saw JP’s head as he leaned out of one of his windows on the top floor of Fatty’s. This made the corner of the street on to the local market area. We both looked at each other. There was no need for words. We were both quite simply just happy to see each other. He was alive. I was alive. Thank God, or the Gods, for that. Looking down the street I also saw Angelo with his daughter who had been visiting him from France. He had a group of his staff on the balcony next to what now remained of his restaurant. They were alive. I was alive. Thank God, or the Gods, for that. And then I thought of Heinz. And I thought of Oiy. And I thought of Tina. And I thought of Anna. And I thought of Little Dino.

I was on Phi Phi because of these five people. Sure, it was great to see JP, Angelo, and other friends I had made over the years. But I had come to Phi Phi primarily to see Heinz and to help him and his family move to Phuket. To start a new life. The end of eighteen year on Phi Phi and the start of a whole new adventure.

As I looked at his wrecked dive shop I found myself thinking how he and his family had moved from their upstairs apartment to downstairs so that Christophe and his girlfriend could get established. I thought about how Oiy had argued about going upstairs to use the bathroom. How I remember a million years ago seeing Heinz with Anna and Tina down in the street below me. Where the fuck were they now? They had not gone upstairs and joined Christophe. Why not?

By this stage, the water was starting to recede. It must have been only a few minutes that the water level stayed as high as it did. But it still took a long long time for ten or fifteen feet of water to drain away. Water now seemed to be rushing in the opposite direction as it drained down the street just as quick as it had rushed up it.

I jumped down from my roof-top perch on to the balcony that I had run across and tried to peer into Moskito dive shop. The metal shutter that I saw Heinz pull down was completely ripped off and I could see directly into the carnage that had been his pride and joy. The water at this stage was about head height in the street and there was the faintest hint of a voice mumbling, trying to cry out but failing miserably, within the carnage inside. My first thought was that this was Oiy or one of the daughters as the voice was quite clearly female.

I walked along the balcony and started climbing down the external staircase. I stopped half way where the water line was and once again peered in to Moskito where I could make out the shape of a woman pinned under the wooden partition that had once separated the main shop from the retail shop next door. The partition had collapsed and one of the wooden struts had fallen across the woman and had trapped her. I could see she was alive but she was having trouble breathing as the level of the water rushing back passed her was just below her jaw line. She was choking on water that was splashing in to her mouth. She could not move because of the wreckage pinning her in place. I had no idea who she was. She looked Thai and I could only assume that she was Oiy.

I would be lying if I wrote about how I dived in to the torrent of water and swam across the street to save her. I couldn’t. I was still too shocked at what had happened and what was still happening around me. I hesitated. I just stared at the woman. I knew that I wanted to do something. But I was afraid of the water which was now racing down the lane while slowly reducing its depth. And I was afraid of the hidden sharp, jagged bits of rubble that were being swept along with in it.

I walked slowly further down the stairs until my feet were immersed in the flow of water. There was a washing machine which had been lodged against the staircase with a very long rubber hose. It was being swirled around in the current of debris. I pulled the hose and wrapped it around my wrist and slowly lowered myself into the water. By this stage the water was only waist high and as my feet touched the ground I could feel the force of the water pulling me off-balance. It was strong but I was confident I could reach across the narrow street to Moskito. After all, on an island with no cars the widest of streets are little more than narrow lanes.

I stood there for maybe a minute or so. After all, I was safe. I was still uncertain as to going over. The woman was struggling but she was keeping her head above the water, which was now receding at last. My heart was thumping and her increasingly feeble moans for help were making me anxious. As I looked around I remember seeing a group of people on the roofs and on the balcony of the hotel. They all looked like they were under a spell. They just stared all around themselves. Some were half dressed in tattered clothes. Others were just kneeling and hugging their bodies. Staring blankly, almost catatonic.

I made the plunge. I started wading across the street and instantly knew I was doing the right thing. It didn’t take long to reach the front of the shop. I don’t know how, but when I reached the shop the water level was different and I found myself swimming rather forcibly into Moskito. The woman seemed completely unresponsive at my sudden appearance. She was bleeding from her forehead and apart from a few stands of clothing she was naked. Her clothes had been torn from her body by the force of the water. Seeing where she was pinned I was really amazed she was still alive.

I could make out that she was not Oiy. Oiy was a slender woman while this was another large-framed lady who I could not recognize. I learned later that she was a friend of the owner of the Thai restaurant opposite Moskito who had been washed into the shop as the water retreated.

As I swam in I became very concerned at the noises still coming from all directions. It was a groaning of wooden beams and I could clearly see that most of the internal walls of Moskito had collapsed. I was acutely aware that the whole ceiling could come tumbling down on top of me at any moment. As I looked up at the ceiling I saw drops of water forming and splashing down all around me. I have a vivid memory of treading water for a few seconds as if I was in cave and being momentarily hypnotized by the strange environment I was in. To see the familiar dive shop swirling with rubble, fax machines and computers and an almost naked Thai lady who was barely able to speak trapped under rubble was unsettling. This was not Thailand.

I reached the woman and could clearly see she was badly injured as well as suffering from shock. The wood came away quite easily but my problem was with her. It was at this stage I first heard a phrase that would be repeated many times over the next hour or more.

“The second wave.”

“There’s another surge.”

This echoed into the shop from outside. I was starting to panic once again. When I look back I think I have panicked once or twice in some thirty years or more. I had now panicked several times in as many minutes. My immediate thought was:

“Now come on God. Give me a break will you. This really isn’t playing the game you know.”

I had to really breathe deep to stay in there with her and help her out. My first instinct was to get the hell out the shop and back to the safety of the external staircase opposite. Sanctuary. However, I managed to pull, rather ungracefully, the woman from the rubble so she was now in my arms as I was treading water. She didn’t struggle or try and hit me, as I had been taught may happen on various diving rescue courses. She was just incapable of helping herself. She was not hysterical, just frozen with fear and unable to move. Like so many others, she was in a state of catatonia.

“Chuay eng.”

I pleaded with her.

“Chuay eng.”

I repeated, the Thai phrase for ‘help yourself’.

She finally started to move and it wasn’t long before we had reached the entrance to the shop and managed to wade across the street. By this time there were two Thais standing on the staircase of what had been my Guesthouse and they reached out and grabbed a hand each and pulled her out of the water and on to the staircase. I pulled myself up and seeing she was apparently safe I returned my attention to looking after Number One. I ran back on to the roof apex (my sanctuary from the first wave) in front of the hotel and gingerly walked across the apex to the balcony. I was to repeat this walk many times over the next hour or so.

I could see once again that Angelo was standing on the balcony down the street and he could clearly see my path to the Phi Phi Hotel. The water was still running down the street, but was by this stage only knee height. People were still shouting about the second wave and Angelo indicated to me that he wanted to get his daughter and staff to the relative safety of the more solid, concrete Phi Phi Hotel. But he was now obviously concerned with the references to more waves. After a few seconds of screaming to each other across the roof-tops we threw caution to the wind and met in the street. We started evacuating people from his restaurant up the stairs of my former guesthouse, to the balcony across, and up on to the apex of the roof.

This became the only route to the hotel for people trapped in this area and we assisted around thirty people to the hotel this way. JP and his family also appeared at this time. JP and I gave each other a hug but said nothing. The main problems with this route was that the climb from the balcony to the apex was just a little too high for most so I sat on the end of the roof and physically pulled people up. As I had walked across the roof several times already I had come to realize that you had to walk directly on the apex or on the nails that connected the corrugated roofing to the struts of the roof structure. Anywhere else and you would simply risk falling through. How nobody fell through I will never know. That roof bent and flexed under the weight of many people that morning and I had my stomach in my mouth on more than one occasion. But it held.

READ MORE

Read more from Aaron Le Boutillier’ s book, “And Then One Morning” here:

Chapter 16 - A Washing Machine Springs a Leak (what happened in those initial minutes when the first wave hit).

Chapter 17 - Rumbles down below(in a brief second – how do you process what is happening to you?)

Chapter 18 - Hey Ma, I’m on top of the World (Saving people!)

Chapter 19 – On the Edge of the Ring of Fire(How could this happen?)

Chapter 20 – Phi Phi Hotel Becomes Sanctuary

Read more survivor stories at: TSUNAMI SURVIVOR SITE

CHAPTER 19: On The Edge of the Ring of Fire

2009-04-26T01:59:00.000+08:00

ON THE EDGE OF THE RING OF FIRE

This is an excerpt from Tsunami survivor Aaron Le Boutillier in his book “And Then One Morning.” For anyone caught up in the tsunami, however, it was all over in a matter of minutes. They were either alive or dead. Over a quarter of a million people lost their lives while millions who survived had to deal with the tragedy in countless ways. Aaron continues to live and work in Southeast Asia. The proceeds of his book continue to make a difference in Thailand. Read more about Aaron and his book here:

Aaron Le Boutillier
http://phukettsunami.blogspot.com/2009/04/survivor-aaron-le-boutillier.html

Chapter 19 – On the Edge of the Ring of Fire

The seventeen thousand islands that make up Indonesia represent one of the most volcanically and earthquake active regions on our Little Planet. Only Japan and maybe New Zealand come close. A major reason for this is that two massive continental plates are engaged in the Mother of All Wrestling bouts. And this is the brute force wrestling that I engage in. Not the Face-Paint, Sparkly Outfits and Porno Star Variety. Neither of these two continental masses is prepared to give an inch. They are involved in a fifty million year struggle. Every second of every day these massive forces are rubbing up against each other. And they will probably still be at this in another fifty million years when mankind is just another blip in the fossil record of evolution.

Back in those far-off geography lessons I recall learning about Mister Richter and his earthquake scale. In those far-off days it was fixed between one and ten. This always confused me.

“Sir, how could Mister Richter be so sure there would never be an earthquake bigger than ten?”

In researching for this book some twenty years after I had those lessons I have now learned that the Richter Scale has been modified to be an open-ended scale. Maybe if I had continued with geology we could have been discussing Le Boutillier’s Open-ended Modification of the Richter Scale. I could live with that small piece of fame. But instead, I drifted off to Phi Phi and allowed somebody else that glory.

And I found myself involved in one of the biggest earthquakes that had hit our Little Planet in recorded history.

READ MORE

Read more from Aaron Le Boutillier’ s book, “And Then One Morning” here:

Chapter 16 - A Washing Machine Springs a Leak (what happened in those initial minutes when the first wave hit).

Chapter 17 - Rumbles down below(in a brief second – how do you process what is happening to you?)

Chapter 18 - Hey Ma, I’m on top of the World (Saving people!)

Chapter 19 – On the Edge of the Ring of Fire(How could this happen?)

Chapter 20 – Phi Phi Hotel Becomes Sanctuary

Read more survivor stories at: TSUNAMI SURVIVOR SITE

CHAPTER 20: Phi Phi Hotel Becomes a Sanctuary

2009-04-26T01:58:00.000+08:00

This is an excerpt from Tsunami survivor Aaron Le Boutillier in his book “And Then One Morning.” For anyone caught up in the tsunami, however, it was all over in a matter of minutes. They were either alive or dead. Over a quarter of a million people lost their lives while millions who survived had to deal with the tragedy in countless ways. Aaron continues to live and work in Southeast Asia. The proceeds of his book continue to make a difference in Thailand. Read more about Aaron and his book here:

Aaron Le Boutillier
http://phukettsunami.blogspot.com/2009/04/survivor-aaron-le-boutillier.html

Chapter 20 – Phi Phi Hotel Becomes Sanctuary

After helping people across the roof I finally made my way to the Phi Phi Hotel balcony. My bare feet were now blistering thanks to the metal roof. And I desperately needed water. The apex of the roof was scorching hot in the late morning tropical sun and I was still only dressed in my underpants which I had been wearing when I jumped out of bed on hearing those first terrifying screams. Many a naked or semi-naked person had also been rudely awakened by this still incomprehensible event. Others, like the Thai lady I first helped, had merely had their clothes ripped from their bodies by the force of the water.

By the time I had hauled myself on to the solid concrete balcony of the Phi Phi Hotel I was 100% charged up with adrenalin. It was beginning to flow out of my ears. I had found my escape path in case of the second surge that people were still talking about. And I had now decided that I would go back down on to the street and look for my friends, Heinz and Oiy. There were many people on the balcony of the Phi Phi Hotel that I climbed into and as I made my way into the hotel I could clearly see that seemingly everyone on the island had been making their way across roof tops to the hotel and that many had run here when the initial wave had washed in. There were bodies everywhere. But, thankfully, they were all alive. A quick glance around told me that Heinz and Oiy and the kids were not here.

As I made way down the corridors of the second floor there were people everywhere administering first aid and using pieces of clothing to tie off wounds. I saw one guy sitting in a room with a mass of clothing tightly wrapped around his head covering a horrific injury. His face was swollen out of proportion and he was just staring into space. The wave had only just receded. But already somebody had rescued this guy and had dressed his horrific wounds as best they could. He was alive and clearly looked as if he would live now. He just sat and stared ahead. Incapable of doing anything. I wanted to say:

“You’re alive, you’re safe. Relax.”

But these words of comfort seemed fatuous. I left him to his own silent contemplation. What might he have seen and experienced? Was he on a honeymoon and seen his wife torn from his fingers? If so, then my words would not have helped. Would not have soothed. My words would have been like God twisting the knife. Thanks God.

But this man’s life had been saved by someone’s unacknowledged and selfless act. This was not the first I saw. It was not the last. And in all modesty I do believe that I did my small share. We all did. In the next few hours thousand of quietly unacknowledged and selfless acts of humanity were carried out.

As I turned left down another corridor I saw a group of Scandinavians attempting to knock down the doors on both sides of the corridor. They explained that there were people outside in the wash and we could possibly try and haul them out of the rubble soup and on to the balconies if we could get into the rooms. One of them picked up a small wooden table that was outside every third room door and smashed it against the door. But to no avail.

I was still heavily charged with adrenaline and what happened next is one of my most bizarre memories of that day. Dressed only in my underpants I took the table from the guy and for some reason I decided to aim my strike against the door lock. With over fifteen years of martial arts experience and enough adrenalin in my body to subdue an ox and his cart, I lifted the table high and swung it firmly into the lock with an almighty roar that would’ve made John Rambo go weak at the knees.

Three things happened in very quick succession. Firstly, the lock went flying into the room and hit the balcony window behind allowing the door to swing open. Secondly the table shattered in my hands and thirdly a group of Scandinavians and a Jersey boy dressed in his underpants all looked very surprised. In that instant I was no longer Banana Boat Man. I was no longer Roof Top Percher Man. I had become Doorlock Destroyer.

They rushed into the room and I proceeded to run down the corridor smashing every door with my newly discovered superhuman powers. I had the underpants. All that was missing was the cape. I suspect there is a group of Scandinavians out there who will vividly remember a half naked, shaven-headed madman running down the corridor smashing doors open with assorted decorative corridor tables.

When I reached the bottom of the corridor, we opened a door and a group of us ran into the room and opened a balcony that was facing in the direction of the local market. We could see that this was almost completely demolished and there were people on the roof of the opposite building in panic. There were also a group of about ten people who had been washed on to a ledge just below us and were desperately pleading for us to pull them on to the balcony. They wanted a share of our sanctuary also.

As I made my way through the hotel I met one young guy in his twenties who was a born leader and was starting to take control. Somebody needed to. We both instinctively climbed over the balcony on to a small ledge below. I leaned against the wall and he grabbed my hand and leant over the edge and managed to pull each terrified person up. The process took several minutes and I remember being impressed at the guy’s bravery and strength. The drop from the edge was high enough to kill him and many of the people he was pulling up were not making it easy for him.

I had been very lucky with the Thai woman. She had just flopped back and let me do the moving. Far worse is when people are panicked and fighting. Many were panicking and giving the poor guy a wriggling dead weight to pull up. However, he managed it. People can and will rally together to do extraordinary things. People in the room were now raiding the fridges and each person pulled over was immediately either given a bottle of water or someone was there to dress their wounds with torn bed linen. One of the few luxury hotels on Koh Phi Phi had now become a battle-field hospital.

Having rescued another clutch of people, I walked out of the room with this guy and we decided that we needed to coordinate a strategy to deal with the mass panic and hysteria that was now in full swing. We both agreed that everyone would be here for at least a night and that two major concerns would be fresh water for drinking and for first aid. As the wall of water had subsided dramatically at this stage we rounded up some volunteers to start bringing water into the hotel and to get as much medication and bandaging as we could from the various pharmacies dotted along the main street.

At the mention of pharmacies I suddenly remembered Mister Bum Boil. Of course, he had not gone away. But he had suddenly gone from being a huge pain in the…… posterior. To being an unimportant minor annoyance. Not even that really. I knew that there was a pharmacy and a 7-11 within a few feet of the main entrance to the Phi Phi Hotel. That is where I directed our medical search team.

As we walked down the stairs there were groups of people at each level. We explained we were getting water and medical supplies and asked for people to help. We also asked if anyone was looking after any badly wounded that might need specifics. People from all around shouted requests and it was apparent that we needed bandaging and iodine or anything to curb the infections which in the end was to plague thousands of people all over Asia for days and weeks and months to come. It was still only about an hour after the washing machine had sprung its leak.

Cuts were going to be left to fester for hours and sometimes days before they got the correct medication. As a lot of the cuts were due to rusty sheets of corrugated roofing slicing through the water and debris, wounds were deep and needed cleaning urgently.

As I walked out of the hotel we had around five guys to help us. I looked up at the hotel and there were literally hundreds of anxious faces leaning over the balconies staring at us. Some were shouting about the second tsunami. Many were just blank. The Second Wave Devotees must have thought we were mad. And must’ve thought this was the last that would be seen of us.

READ MORE

Read more from Aaron Le Boutillier’ s book, “And Then One Morning” here:

Chapter 16 - A Washing Machine Springs a Leak (what happened in those initial minutes when the first wave hit).

Chapter 17 - Rumbles down below(in a brief second – how do you process what is happening to you?)

Chapter 18 - Hey Ma, I’m on top of the World (Saving people!)

Chapter 19 – On the Edge of the Ring of Fire(How could this happen?)

Chapter 20 – Phi Phi Hotel Becomes Sanctuary

Read more survivor stories at: TSUNAMI SURVIVOR SITE

Survivor Fiona Callanan faces her own tsunami challenge by helping others

2008-09-05T06:25:00.006+08:00

Survivor Fiona Callanan continues to make a difference by focusing on helping tsunami amputee victims by climbing mountains with her bike. She is raising funds to help the Cambodia Trust organization bring prosthetics to tsunami stricken locations.

SOME ADDITIONAL LINKS:
For pictures of the work that Fiona is doing with Cambodia Trust - go here.

Mountains to climb
A victim of the 2004 tsunami is on a drive to help less fortunate amputees, writes Katie Lau
Published September 3, 2008

To see the link of this article, written by Katie Lau of the Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, go here: MOUNTAINS TO CLIMB

At first glance, Fiona Callanan’s wardrobe seems typical of an active professional, crammed with suits, skirts, jeans and sportswear. But closer inspection reveals items others are unlikely to have: prosthetic limbs of various styles and materials to suit different occasions.

“I’ve got four in here. One for the gym and cycling, one for running, one for going to the beach in. Of course, I want to look good too, so there’s one for skirts and high heels,” she says, giggling.

The British solicitor’s interest in prostheses is more than a matter of appearances. Callanan, 31, who lost her right leg as a result of injuries she suffered when the Indian Ocean tsunami struck southern Thailand on Boxing Day 2004, wants to help less fortunate amputees receive the kind of care she did.

She was taken initially to a spartan hospital in the Thai beach resort of Krabi where she was holidaying, and was struck by the contrasting fates of the rich and poor as she awaited an airlift to a better facility.

(picture: Fiona Callanan takes on the Andes next week to raise more funds for amputees. And (below) Callanan (front) training in England with friends Sam and Sarah Spinney in preparation for 2006’s Ho Chi Minh City to Angkor Wat challenge. Photos credit: Samantha Sin/Fiona Callanan)

“I hadn’t realised how lucky I was to be born in a rich country. Before my parents and friends found me, I was on my own and there was a Thai guy in the bed next to me … I couldn’t sit up and see him, but I knew his skull was broken because he got smashed against some rocks,” she says. “And I thought, what’s wrong with me compared to him? I’m being flown to Bangkok and he’s left there to die just because I’m rich and he’s poor, basically. We’re both human beings. It’s very hard to get over the inequality.” According to survivors’ accounts, many died of infected limbs during the first four days after the tsunami because health personnel were swamped by the scale of the disaster and supplies of medicine and fresh water quickly ran out.

Many foreigners like Callanan were lucky to have received medical attention in time after being quickly flown out, says US businessman Rick von Feldt, who keeps a blog of tsunami survivor stories.

Keen to redress the balance, Callanan and a friend, Sarah Spinney, signed up two years ago to cycle from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat complex – a journey of more than 500km – in aid of the Cambodia Trust. The pair raised £28,000 (HK$390,000) for the British charity, which trains specialists in conflictstruck nations to fit prosthetic limbs and braces at its rehabilitation centres.

“This was the biggest amount of money ever raised for us by a volunteer. It’s staggering,” says Carson Harte, executive director of the trust.

“It’s really difficult to raise funds for our rehabilitation centres as they’re perceived to be less sustainable. A landmine survivor needs a new artificial limb every one to two years, every six months for a growing child. Therefore, the centres need ongoing support to keep going, and this isn’t so attractive to big donors.”

Von Feldt, the businessmanblogger, laments that although a prosthetic limb or brace can make the difference between poverty and self-sufficiency, many people in poor countries cannot benefit. “You don’t see prosthetics on people in places like Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Most have no idea that such a thing is available,” he says. “Prosthetics are seen as too costly and impossible to find.” But as Callanan discovered on her visit to Cambodia, disabled people fitted with prostheses don’t necessarily regain their confidence, dignity and self-sufficiency. Many amputees were given free legs, but left them at home to beg in the streets, she says. “It’s really sad.” Grateful to have been able to resume an active life with hi-tech prostheses, she has continued to campaign for the welfare of amputees in poor countries after moving to Hong Kong three months ago with husband Simon Thorsby, an accountant.

“I want everyone to be as lucky as me,” Callanan says.

Next week, she will embark on another cycling challenge in support of the Cambodia Trust: a 300km expedition in Peru from the ruins of Machu Picchu in the Andes to a jungle town called Atalaya, supported by 20 able-bodied volunteers.

“We’ll start from 11,000 feet [3,358 metres] high up in the mountains and we’ll be camping as well. So it’s nothing like the last time when we could cycle on flat land and stay in hotels and take showers every day,” she says.

With her ready smile and steady strides up a hiking trail for a photo session, Callanan makes overcoming her handicap seem straightforward but it has been a gruelling road to recovery.

“The first months of rehabilitation were long and arduous, especially when I was on crutches and not allowed to get a prosthetic leg for the first six months because my thigh bone was broken,” she says. “I had to endure so much pain.” Her artificial leg didn’t seem much of an improvement at first. “It takes a lot of time to get used to [the prosthetic] and you have to keep changing the sockets because the muscles in your leg waste away quickly [from the inactivity]. It just gets smaller and changes shape,” she says.

Cycling was Callanan’s way to strengthen her leg muscles. “I was not crazy about cycling, but it was the easiest thing to do at the time. I didn’t run until six months after cycling because it requires too much muscle power,” she says.

The daily ride between home and work provided an effective workout and she was soon able to walk properly without pain. Fired up with a new passion, she began setting off on long cross-country rides in England and Spain, and later went to Taiwan and Indochina. Her greatest hurdle as a below-the-knee amputee was to keep her foot on the pedal.

“It’s the little things, like I can’t stop on the right-hand side and I can’t stand up on pedals to gain momentum when I am on a steep slope. Cycling is not so much about skills but endurance,” she says.

“I just have to look ahead a bit more than other people. I’ve learned that the more you try, the more you can anticipate what would happen on the road. For example, if I get dehydrated, the cramps in my knee would be very painful and I avoid that,” she says. Callanan reckons amputees can do almost anything they set their minds to, given the right equipment and if they exercise some common sense. “I tried water skiing, but my leg kept falling off because the water loosens the grip of the suction part. I might try wakeboarding because I can use my left leg more,” she says. “You just have to accept your limits and be sensible and realistic. If you keep testing yourself and pull off something you think is difficult, it can build up your confidence enormously. You have more faith in yourself. “I don’t see myself as disabled. You just live as normally as you can, and don’t let losing your leg be the only thing you’re known for.” It’s a notion Callanan hopes to promote through her charity bike ride in the Andes, which was inspired by others who have triumphed over adversity, including Mark Inglis, the first double amputee to scale Mount Everest. Inglis is just as impressed by Callanan’s optimism and courage. “The really great thing is that she has discovered that we can change the world with our actions and, even better, she has had the humanity and courage to take the first steps to achieving this,” says Inglis, also a patron of the New Zealand branch of the Cambodia Trust. Callanan’s handicap hasn’t dimmed her enjoyment of life. “I’m still a party girl, and I appreciate it more now,” she says. “I love travelling and seeing new things. I haven’t got time to waste and I don’t want anything to stop me because you never know what’s around the corner.”

For details of Fiona Callanan’s charity bike ride, visit www.justgiving.com/fionacallanan
JUSTGIVING.COM

FIVE QUESTIONS ON FRIDAY

2008-08-29T04:52:00.001+08:00

My writing continues with another group of authors. For the next 10 weeks, I am joining 9 other authors as we explore five questions around a topic each week. The authors include:

Andreas Ekstrom, a journalist from the Sydsvenska Dagbladet and blogger at the site: http://www.andreasekstrom.se

Bianca Regina a Psychotherapist from Dresden, Germany.

Bob Riel a travel and culture writer from Tucson, Arizona, and publisher at http://www.rielworld.com.

Brett Battles, author of international best sellers “The Cleaner” and “The Deceived” and soon to be released “Shadow of Betrayal.” Brett is a member of the International Thriller Writers organization, Mystery Writers of America, and is one of the founders of Killer Year (www.killeryear.com). His blog, “A Writer’s Sphere”, can be found at: http://bbattles.blogspot.com/. He is also a member of the group blog Murderati (http://murderati.typepad.com/murderati/) which features several well known mystery and thriller authors.

Eduardo Infante, economist, teacher and blogger at http://eduardoinfante.blogspot.com

Jen Rabold, mother, teacher and researcher on secondary literacy.

Peter Waring, PhD, writer, teacher.

Ramak Siadatan, father and member of generation “X”

Rick Von Feldt, writer, thinker and organizer of FIVE QUESTIONS ON FRIDAY

Sherry Zhang, executive in human resources in Shanghai, China

I would love to have you come and visit our topic discussion at: http://fivequestionsonfriday.blogspot.com/

Rick