December 31, 2009
-
Tsunami
I’ve spoken little about this, although each of you has likely heard bits and pieces over the past five years. I guess it’s time to write it all down while it’s still fresh enough to remember details. As if we’re ever likely to forget.
Christmas 2004 was to be a trip of a lifetime. Iris had friends in Bangkok who had invited us over for a winter sun holiday. Because Iris, Martin and Kim were all experienced divers I had taken the opportunity while in Malta the previous summer to spend a full week getting my open water certification. I had been slightly nervous about this, not because of being 100′ underwater but rather because I had always suffered with my ears – I couldn’t (and still can’t) snorkel under about 10′ without my ears hurting. But scuba diving is different, I’ve not had any problems equalizing the pressure in my ears when breathing air from a tank. So, the plan was to fly Royal Jordanian from London to Bangkok, changing planes with about a four hour layover at Amman in Jordan. We would spend a few days at the British Embassy compound in Bangkok (Martin was the Commercial Attache) followed by a week in Khao Lak on the Andaman coast, three days diving and another week at Dolphin Bay south of Bangkok on another coast.
The five hour flight to Amman was uneventful and comfortable. I recall being amused by the global positioning screen showing us on what looked liked a direct line to an ever nearer Baghdad – not the best place to be at that time! We shared the flight with many devout Muslims on Hajj – pilgrimage – and as well as showing the position of the plane it also had a marker showing the position of Mecca so that those who wished to do so could pray facing the correct direction in the aisles. We would have liked to have been able to wander around Amman during our layover, but without visas we were restricted to a small secure area within the airport. There were a few places to eat or shop for duty-free goods but for the most part it was forgettable. Except for the toilets. Now, even in France the Arab toilet is derigueur at highway rest areas, but only in Amman have I seen it combined with an attendant at the front door distributing toilet paper. For a price, of course. Dispense with a suitable coin and he will grandly flourish…..one sheet. You may wish to remember, if visiting, that you are meant to wash with water and simply “blot dry” with the paper.
Eventually we boarded our connecting flight and headed off for Bangkok. As soon as we were airborne the steward came by with the drinks trolley, surprisingly for a Middle Eastern Airline the drinks were alcoholic and complimentary. I ordered a Johnnie Walker (no water, no ice – that’s adultery) and he took a highball glass and looked me in the eye while pouring. I looked back. Iris jabbed me in the side with her elbow and hissed “he’s waiting for you to say stop“. I hissed back “I know“! As the amber liquid reached the top of the glass I graciously raised a hand and said “Thank you“. It’s a nine hour flight after all and I didn’t want to have to bother the staff unneccesarily midway through. Nor did I need to.
Have you ever flown into Bangkok? It’s quite surreal – I’m not certain which was there first, the international airport or the golf course.
We’re talking a full 18-hole course between runways. There are actually traffic lights on the runways to allow golf carts to cross between planes. It was very hot and humid when we finally got outside and hailed a cab to the British Embassy, quite unlike London in late December. Kim had pre-announced us to the Ghurka on gate duty at the compound and we were soon getting reaquainted with platters of cold fruit and drinks.
We only stayed in Bangkok for about three days initially but did take the Sky Train to Chatuchak market, as well as enjoying an outdoor meal seated on low cushions overlooking the river. I don’t remember everything we had, but the Pad Thai made a lasting impression, as did the green curry.
I believe we all flew down to Phuket on 20 December. Iris, James and me plus Martin, Kim and their three girls. I can honestly say that there isn’t a prettier final approach anywhere in the world than Phuket. You descend over a forested mountain ridge before turning out to sea and coming in low over a palm shaded beach.
This doesn’t do it justice, but you get the gist. We had a taxi mini-bus waiting for us to take us to our resort in Khao Lak, the Nang Thong Bay.
We had a double room just back of the beach bungalows, on the ground floor with a double glass door facing the sea. Both the reception area and the restaurant of the hotel were just covered terraces catching the sea breeze. The second evening we were there Tom and Carolyn arrived from Slovakia with their two boys.
Tom and Carolyn were both consular officials at the British embassy in Bratislava and were joining us on a Sea Dragon liveaboard boat for a three day dive trip in the Surin Islands .
All the underwater pictures above came from the internet as a few days later our underwater camera was…underwater. I was careful only to include those that we had actually taken similar pictures of – I really wanted to swim with and photograph a whale shark, and had great hopes of seeing one on Christmas Day when we had our last two dives, both at Richelieu Rock, but alas it wasn’t to be. We did dive with black tip reef sharks, leopard sharks, green turtles and decompressed just below a school of chevron barracuda. My log also mentions lots of moray eels, crown of thorns, sweetlips,and dozens of smaller but no less interesting fish like fusiliers, clown fish and Durban Dancing Shrimps. After our second dive we took a rigid inflatable to one of the islands and had Christmas day on the beach.
That evening we were back at our Khao Lak resort. We wandered into town and had dinner at an Italian restaurant (just for a change) followed by cocktails at one of the beach bars. But it was an early night as we had already booked a speedboat to take us to the Similan Islands, about 60 kilometres offshore, the next morning for a three day camping trip. Before retiring we booked a taxi for 7:30 am with reception. I was up on Boxing Day morning about 6am, showered, dressed and wandered to the restaurant to bring back orange juice and coffee for us all. I don’t remember the sea looking at all unusual and I never felt the earth tremors that others claimed. I do remember the orange juice had a lovely purple orchid in it. On the way back to our room I stopped and petted some very small kittens that wandered out from under one of the beach bungalows. At 7:15 we checked out but as we were coming back in three days left the bulk of our luggage in the locked area behind the reception desk. All we took with us was enough for a couple of days in a small rucksack, our passports and all money / cards etc. The taxi took us the few miles south, where two 28′ speedboats were beached and ready to go.
We had a bit of time so Iris took the girls to buy them some headscarves from a beach hut shop. We climbed aboard our boat and left the beach at 9am.
James was being a bit difficult at this point because we made him wear a life vest against his will. At nearly 10 years old he thought he shouldn’t have to. Where we had expected a two hour straight-line journey to the islands, about an hour out both boats began traversing the coast and there was alot of traffic on the radio, all of it in Thai. We were seated in the stern so didn’t have a good view ahead, but of a sudden the helmsman throttled right back and went over a very large swell, shoving the throttles to the stops and powering over the top. I just turned to Iris and said “Whoa, surfs up!”. Within seconds we realised something was not normal though, as the second boat circled about 20′ away and pulled a Thai woman from the water, wrapping her in towels and comforting her – she was obviously in shock. We learned later that she was on a long-tailed fishing boat with her entire family and had been swamped by the wave. The boat went straight down and although our two boats circled the area for the next ten minutes or so nobody else surfaced. Not knowing what else to do the crew continued on to the Similan Islands but were stopped by the Coast Guard. They told us there were “dangerous currents” and we couldn’t land on the island. We still didn’t know what had happened, but I later saw some video taken on the island that clearly showed a whirlpool had developed in the bay. The boats were constantly on the radio speaking with other boats, the fishing fleet and the Coast Guard. Two Thai Navy frigates had made it out from their base into deeper water when the alert was given.
This is a video still taken just past 10am, an hour after we left the beach about a quarter of a mile north of the navy base. The sight of these two large boats almost capsizing shows the sheer power of what they were facing.
Once in deeper water they radioed all the tourist boats to offload their passengers to them. We still didn’t know the extent of what had happened.
We spent the day on the Navy boat. The Captain had briefed us all about what had happened, that it was a disaster zone ashore and that there were reports of additional waves expected throughout the day. Towards evening, with just the two waves that morning, the speedboats were called back in to get their passengers ashore at Tap Lamu pier. The children all wanted to thank the Captain and wished him a Happy New Year with thanks for looking after everyone so well.
Ours was one of the last speedboats to arrive and it was dark by the time we headed back towards shore. There was a spotter in the bow giving hand signals to the helmsman to help him avoid the rivers of debris that were flowing from shore out to sea. Had we run into one of these currents we would certainly have ripped the hull out of the boat and sunk immediately.
James didn’t feel too old to wear a life jacket on the return journey. At Tap Lamu pier we had to climb onto the roof of the boat and two men reached down from the pier to lift us each up – the pier is probably 12′ above the water. There was a row of streetlights along the pier. They had all been knocked down. We had to walk through the village for about 200 yards where the Navy had a couple of open backed trucks (what we used to call a duece and a half – 2.5 tons) that we clambered aboard. I only had time to snap a couple of pictures as we walked along – I didn’t want to take any photographs of the people we saw out of respect for their grief – but it was evident.
We were taken about two kilometres inland to Wat Lak Kaen, a local Buddhist Monastery that was being used as a refugee centre.
Initially, we six adults and six children found a place on the ground floor of the building to the left of the nearest photo. This is the building with the ornate dragon staircase to the top floor on the outside to the rear. The interior was simply concrete floor and concrete pillars supporting the upper floor. The monks had supplied tatami mats and we also had our towels to lie on. When we entered through the main doors on the far side of the building most of the floor space towards the rear glass doors was already taken. Iris wandered to the rear and outside in the back, coming back to tell us to keep the children towards the front of the temple because to the rear it looked “like a MASH hospital”. Plenty of walking wounded, also doctors treating the more seriously wounded on stretchers. The smaller, pretty building is the Ubosot, and is the most sacred building in a Wat (temple). It houses the sitting Buddha and is the focus for prayers. There were several hundred Thai families camped outside around this building. Most of the people in the building we were in were tourists and wounded Thais. Look again at the picture above – you’ll note there are window openings all around with no glass. The side you can’t see had a small set of steps up to double doors, and the rear had double glass doors leading outside with floor to ceiling glass panes either side of the doors. This led to a small alcove and then outside to the “dragon staircase” to the upper floor.We got the children settled near the front windows, arranged around one of the concrete pillars and Iris managed to get ahold of her niece in Malta to let her family know we were all okay. Her family was all gathered together at her brother’s house when she got ahold of Dawn there. Within seconds of telling her that we were all okay there was a disturbance outside. All the Thais camping around the grounds rose up in a panic, screaming that the water was coming back and stampeding into the side doors and towards the back. Iris was cut off from her call and everyone between the side doors and the rear had to run to avoid being trampled. Some didn’t make it. At the rear doors there was a crush and all the glass shattered, with people being pushed through. We knew we couldn’t take the children into that so we told them to stand up and link their arms around the pillar. I had every adult stand behind the children and link arms while holding the child in front. We fully expected a wall of water at any time but none of us would look out the windows. I was wondering whether, linked as we were, we would be able to stay together for the initial surge and tread water after. I wondered whether the water would be deeper than the ceiling. As soon as it started, the rush of panicked people abated and we were the only ones left downstairs. We kept talking calmly to the children, told them to pick up their things and walk with us to the stairs. Hold hands, don’t run, don’t listen to the people upstairs screaming at us to run. Walk carefully over the broken glass and up the stairs. It was the longest minute of my life.
The next 24 hours evidenced some of the most touching humanity I’ve ever witnessed. First of all Martin, Tom and Carolyn went into “diplomatic mode” and began organising lists. What is your name, nationality, are all members of your party with you, who is missing, where were you staying, etc etc. Then the little pickup trucks began arriving. One would be filled with bottled water, another with food, blankets,etc. The shops and stores opened their doors to anyone who could transport what they had to where it was needed. The rice and perishable foods, meat and fish mostly, was given to women who prepared curries and stews and then distributed meals. It was not an organised relief effort, it was a community relief effort being made by local people who in many cases were homeless and were also missing members of their own families. All I could do was help unload trucks and wonder at their selflessness. It was during this time that I managed finally to get through to my own family in the States and let them know we were okay. Iris also managed to get back in touch with her family, who had been in limbo since being cut off by a screaming panic during her first call.
Within a very short time the sanitary facilities at the Wat were overwhelmed (there is nothing on earth like a flooded arab toilet). Within hours the bodies started arriving. Initially they went into the building on the right. Then they filled that and they began laying them out in the grounds behind the building. By mid afternoon of the second day the little trucks began taking people to Phuket airport, about 50 miles south. We made it in two stages, arriving during the early evening. The consular trio stayed to organise the British relief efforts and the rest of us were flown out that evening on a military charter to Bangkok. It was only on leaving the immediate disaster zone that we realised the scope of the disaster. The waves that hit Khao Lak were estimated to be 13.8 metres – that’s 45 feet high.
The following pictures were taken by a Canadian couple staying at our resort. The camera was found washed up. Their bodies were later identified and repatriated. They are John and Jackie Knill of Vancouver. They died seconds after the last photograph was taken from the restaurant area where I had collected our coffee and orange juice three hours and 11 minutes earlier. May they rest in everlasting peace.
