Our Personal Experience of the Tsunami
Our original vacation plans were Dec 20th - 25th, but we were enjoying Thailand so much we extended our stay until the 27th. We were staying at a resort called The Merlin Beach Resort in Phuket, Thailand. This resort is located south of Patong Beach and the only accessible road to it is through the Patong Beach area. Merlin beach sits on a piece of land that "juts" out from the main island of Thailand - so it's surrounded on two sides by ocean. The side near the pools is beach front and then the front side of resort is a "forest" where another beach lies. Anthony is guessing that it's about 1km from one beach to the other, with the resort being about 2/3 of the way away from the forested side and 1/3 from the beach front side.
We had just finished making our Merry Christmas phone calls back home on the morning of December 26, 2004 (14 hours ahead of most of our family, so still Christmas night for them), while we were at our resort. It was about 3 minutes to 10 am and we wanted to catch a resort bus to the town of Phuket to do some shopping. We had a backpack carrier for Liz, a small cloth bag with sunscreen and a shoulder bag with 3 diapers, some money, wipes, etc., and Anthony had his wallet with his ID and one credit card in it. We started walking down the slope of the resort driveway to catch the bus when we heard people yelling and pointing across this “forest”, and saying RUN, RUN, RUN. I turned to look and saw this mass of water rushing towards us – it wasn’t a wave, it was just a mass of water flooding the forest and coming towards us with extreme speed. I had Liz, Anthony had our stuff and Ashley was about 10 feet away. I screamed her name, and Anthony scooped her up and ran with her up to the lobby. We ran across the lobby area to the staircase on the side were our room was located and just ran up all the stairs, telling everyone around us to go UP and RUN. We got up to the 4th floor and looked towards the pool area, which was getting flooded with water. It hadn't even registered what had happened, what was happening, we had no idea. From the 4th floor, we watched the water come in from the beach area and engulf the swimming pool area, along with the rooms on the 1st floor (which is where our room was located). Anthony said he remembers getting to third floor, looking down and yelling "It's still coming, keep going!” Once we got to the fourth floor, we just held the girls and prayed that it would stop coming up and then we looked out over the pool area, I was looking for people that may need help, people that were at the pool or in the restaurant - I didn't see anybody.
My thought was first that we were going to die, that more waves were coming in and that the water would just get higher and higher. I hugged my girls and Anthony, told them how much I loved them and just prayed. After I realized that the water wasn't going to reach us, at least the initial wave, I was just so scared for those people that had been on the beach, in their 1st floor rooms or at the pool. I had no idea if people would have been able to survive that force of water.
People were banging on roof hatches, trying to get them open so they could climb out onto the roof, get to higher ground. We stayed on the fourth floor. There were several waves still coming in, but none as big as the first.
After about 15-20 minutes, I begun to walk around, looking at the damage, seeing cars piled up three high, smashed windows, trees scattered everywhere. I took a few pics, not many though as I was more worried about getting us and the girls to safety.
As soon as the first wave was done, Anthony went down to try and help people - see if anyone needed medical attention or help. He didn't find anyone and came back up to the 4th floor.
That was when I took pics of the forest side of the resort - the front side and the cars piled up. What I saw was complete devastation - people walking around dazed and confused, many people limping with cuts and bruising. The staff of the hotel were scared, had no idea what to do, what had happened. They were missing people too and trying to locate the staff and attempting to get information, but were pretty much cut off from any communication with the rest of the island.
Everyone was frightened, asking for information, when would another wave come, how to get out of there safely, where loved ones where. I remember one family next to us, they started crying saying their mother and father had been at the beach. After about 5 minutes, the mother came walking up to them, yelling "Franco, Franco" over and over again. Franco was her husband, the father. She said he was at the beach; she had no idea if he made it. She was crying, screaming his name. After about another 10 minutes, he came up - everyone was so relieved. They had some scrapes and bruises, but were alive.
A wonderful Australian couple invited us into their room on the 4th floor to help with the girls, try to keep them from seeing and hearing too much. We stayed with them for about an hour, occasionally venturing out, walking around, surveying damage, seeing what we could do to help. I was able to borrow their cell phone and leave a message with one of our family members, saying we were ok. It was the middle of the night in the States, but I knew that this devastation would be on the news by morning time and didn’t want any relatives to worry about our lives.
There were quite a few injured people that came struggling up after the main tsunami hit. There was a doctor going around checking wounds. He quickly ran out of medicine, so we gave him what we had - just a few tabs of ibuprofen and asked others to do the same.
I just kept looking out at the damage, watching the waves come in, praying that more wouldn't come, that it was over, thanking God that we were all safe and unhurt, thinking how lucky we were - had it been 5 minutes later, we would have been on bus, on road that got wiped out by wave, 5 minutes earlier, we would have been in our room and would have been crushed by objects and water forced through our room.
After about 1.5 hours, I was walking through the lobby, trying to find out what was going on - people were gathering their luggage and going to the lobby. Anthony went back to our room, kicked open the door and grabbed the one carry-on suitcase left and brought it back up to the 4th floor. I did not go back to the room, did not want to see that kind of devastation, didn't think I could handle it, and I refused to leave the girls without one of us for even one second.
When I was walking through the lobby, the staff was saying that another, larger wave was due to hit in 2 hours and we had to get out NOW and move to higher ground. We got the girls, and started walking across the debris littering the front of the resort and the road that used to be there. There were trees and seaweed and wood scattered everywhere. Both sides of the resort are surrounded by hills. We walked up the first hill towards town, with just the girls and the day stuff we had with us when we were going into town - a small shoulder bag with a few diapers, some money, etc. People were all taking their luggage with (if they were from 2nd - 4th floors). I was really amazed at this - all that disaster and people were taking their entire luggage with them, not just one bag with necessities, but everything they had brought with them. I really didn't (and still don't) understand that. Why not worry more about your family and your safety, take what little is important (passports, travel docs, one or two days of clothes, etc) and leave all the replaceable items?
At the top of the first hill, I asked around for extra clothes - I had a skirt on and it wasn't real good for walking or sitting down to rest in the shade. There were several people who offered us some clothes and I was able to get some shorts to wear plus some extra diapers for Liz since we had already used what we had back at the resort. We waited at one spot for about an hour, debating whether to continue on since the road dipped down again before going up. After a while, some staff members came and said we needed to keep moving. They had heard that a BIG wave was coming and we needed to get as high as possible (this later turned out to be another unsubstantiated rumor).
So, we kept walking, we walked for about another 1/2 hour, mostly uphill. Then we saw a roadside stand where a lady was selling fruit and water. Anthony went to buy some for the girls since they were hungry. The wave struck at 10 am and it was about 1 pm by this time.
As he was getting some food, a truck (covered with benches for passengers in the bed) came by and the driver saw me with the children. He offered to give us a lift up higher. There had been several trucks and motorcycles and cars driving through the area, picking up random people. There was really no order and many adults who were uninjured with luggage, took rides up the hill, instead of letting children and the injured go first. I was not happy to see this, I would much rather have seen the injured and the children being lifted to safety first. There were a few men who would stop trucks and try and get them to take the families with children, but usually they didn’t succeed.
We got in the back of the truck, and then some large man got in with his wife and SIX (yes, 6) pieces of luggage, taking up the entire rest of the space. Anthony and I were both flabbergasted, as there were children waiting right next to the truck to get on. Anthony told him to let the children come first and the guy said he doesn't see children, only himself. We were so mad and so upset at this side of human nature. At a time like this and there were people who only had eyes for themselves.
I forgot to add that when Anthony was buying food and water from roadside stand - the lady did not hike up prices, was charging reasonable amount for all food - helping any that needed it.
The truck took us up to a place called "Baan Nern Sai Resort" up in the hills, I call this place our sanctuary. It was a tiny motel with rooms surrounding an open little pool area and small restaurant/bar. They let everyone in, cooked us fried rice, gave us water, drinks, whatever we needed. They had no rooms available, but brought a crib out to the pool side for Elizabeth to sleep in. Up here, we were able to relax as much as possible and talk with others who were there. We met a wonderful family from Australia who let us borrow their cell phone. We immediately called our family, told them we were safe and uninjured, and tried to find a way out to a safe place in Phuket town.
Anthony called his mother and she answered - he explained the situation, asked her to contact the US Embassy since at that time we had no passports and no tickets and asked her to contact his work people to let them know what was happening, get our passport numbers and tell them that we were ok.
The family we borrowed the cell phone from was getting text messages on their phone from family and friends with news of what was happening, along with an oceanographer who was saying it was over, no more large tsunami waves were coming. That was never verified and rumors kept flying that more were coming.
The hotel had a generator and got electricity plus TV working, so we were able to watch CNN and find out what had occurred - an earthquake measuring 9.1 (8.9 was the word at the time) on Richter scale and large tsunami, with mass destruction everywhere. It was so awful. We were so lucky to be alive, to be uninjured, and to have our entire family together. It didn't matter that we'd lost physical belongings; besides, it made it so much easier to walk up that hill with no luggage.
There were a few seriously injured people at the hotel, and several people taking care of them. We ate fried rice, drank lots of water trying to keep hydrated and tried to keep abreast of the news. At one point, around 6pm, we got on a bus, that was going to take us to a place called Merlin Phuket in Phuket town (away from water), but after we went about 100 feet, the bus stopped, told everyone to get off, it wasn't safe to go on road because another wave was coming. There was fear and panic in everyone.
The staff at the Baan Nern Sai Resort were cooking for people and providing drinks. If you could pay, they were charging normal very reasonable prices and if you couldn't, that was ok, didn't matter. I highly commend that hotel! They gave us bread for the girls and milk.
At about 7pm, the Thai Navy showed up, along with staff from the Merlin Phuket hotel, and they started escorting people down into Phuket town. We waited until most of the people had been transported out. We were safe, and had no reason to rush getting out of the sanctuary we were at. Plus we were nervous, since any ground transportation that we took at that time would go past the beach. We were still very afraid of aftershocks and being caught near the beach. Typically, from what we knew, aftershocks of up to nearly the same amplitude of the original quake are quite possible within the first 24 hours. We were very tempted to stay the night by the pool with very limited food choices and comfort, but after checking news and talking to others eventually decided to go on.
About 8:30 pm, we boarded a bus and started down the road to Patong Beach. I was so nervous, my heart was racing, I just kept my eyes glued on the water, looking for any sign of a wave. The water was all the way up to the road, no beach left - full moon and moon was up, so tide was all the way in. It was utter devastation along Patong Beach - with cars, buses, trucks piled up, shops and stores wiped out. I just kept thinking how just the day before, we had spent the morning at that beach, letting the girls play in the sand and water, while we sat on the beach chairs and relaxed. One day earlier and we would have been there, would have been swept away. We turned right on a road away from Patong Beach and heard this awful scraping sound across the roof of the vehicle we were in - there were power and telephone lines hanging down, being held up by buses and cars that had been swept away by the tsunami.
They took us to a safe spot by the side of the road inland, then went back to pick up more people stranded about 100 meters up from the beach, trying to get as many people to safety as possible. Another bus came and took us to the Merlin Phuket hotel, which is in Phuket town, and we signed in, and were assigned a room with 2 other people - they were putting 6 people in one standard room and 15 people in a deluxe suite. They had taken top mattresses and laid them out in ballrooms for those who needed a place to stay - they were turning away no one. They supplied food - rice, fruit, water, tea and coffee - for any and all who were there. The lobby and hotel grounds were swamped with people. Everyone was trying to find missing people, trying to figure out how to get out, watching the TV’s set up everywhere, trying to call home – it was just utter chaos. We took the girls up to the room and got them down for bed. I went down to the lobby and called family.
We slept on twin boxsprings on the floor in the room, with Ashley sleeping on a pool mat I had grabbed and Liz in a crib we found in the housekeeping room on our floor. The girls were exhausted and fell alseep easily – they slept all night. I could not sleep - had so many images going through my head - mainly just the wave coming in. Any siren or yelling that I heard outside made my heart race and tears come to my eyes. I knew we were safe, there was no risk where we were, but emotionally I just couldn't conceive what had happened. I was able to call Anthony's parents, let them know where we were, they would let the Embassy know that we were safe along with all our other relatives.
The next morning, after breakfast, Anthony left on a bus returning to Merlin Beach Resort to see if he could get into the room safe and retrieve our passports (it had been broken and locked shut when he checked it immediately after tsunami). The girls were hard to take care of, they were both very cranky and upset that Daddy was gone. I was too. He left around 9:00 am and as of noon, he still wasn’t back. We went down to the lobby to walk around and to see if we could see him. Ashley wanted to wait outside for him, where the buses were coming and going, but with so many people there, it was hard to stay there with both girls. I decided going back to our room and waiting was the best option. I had to basically drag Ashley up to our room while she screamed “Daddy, Daddy” over and over again. It was so heartbreaking and I couldn’t handle it. I began to cry and for a few minutes Ashley held me on the bed and told me “it’s ok mommy”. I had no idea where Anthony was, if he was safe, how long he’d be gone, when we would get out of there. I then decided to go downstairs and go to a store to get diapers since we had run out. As we were in the elevator headed down, there was a woman in the elevator who obviously noted my distress. She asked where we were headed and I said we had to go to the store to get diapers and clothes for the girls. She said I could go with her to her room and take some diapers and clothes from them – they had a 2 year old little girl. So I went with her and she gave us some diapers, along with a pair of shorts and shirt for Ashley (who was wearing her underwear only by this time – her other clothes were so filthy). I talked with her and her husband for a few minutes, hearing their story, sharing ours and just having some much needed adult talk. Her husband had been to a resort near Merlin Beach Resort that morning to retrieve their belongings and he had only been back for a short time, so I was hopeful that Anthony would be back soon. We went back to the room and a few minutes later, as both girls were screaming, upset at the world, Anthony appeared. I don’t know if I have ever been so relieved in my life. He said that he’d been able to break into the safe and had found our passports and travel documents – soaked through, but still usable, at least for the time being. He also brought back some other items, the car seat, a backpack, our souvenirs (this is so odd – all the items we had purchased on our trip were untouched by the wave, they were on a top self in a closet far away from the patio area – the bottom of the bag was wet, but everything in the bag was fine – how’s that for irony?). We ended up trying to wash the backpack and carseat, but the stench was so bad, we left them at the hotel. Anthony said that there were bits of glass everywhere, so anything that had been in the water also had the possibility of having small shards of glass in it too. He said the room had been devastated. Barbecue grills from the restaurant were in the room, the beds had been twisted all around and were near the front door, the pack ‘n’ play was in the bathroom, the shower stall had moved, it was just a disaster zone. A hotel employee had helped him go through the room, mainly trying to find my eyeglasses, which they didn’t find, but the Merlin employee did find our Taipei apartment keys, which we hadn’t even thought of, and it wouldn’t have been easy getting new keys to our apartment when we arrived at 1 am.
Once Anthony got back, we then took a taxi to a shopping mall called “Central Festival”. We got Anthony some clothes, then me some clothes, then some toiletries and medicine, and then down to the basement to get the girls some clothes. As we were about to check out, people started running outside, saying “go, go, go!” They wouldn’t tell us what was going on, and it completely freaked me out (and Ashley too – “What’s happening, mommy? Is a wave coming?”). At first, we didn’t know what to do – we knew we were too far away from the beach for any sort of water to reach us, so we had no idea. Once we got outside, there was a rumor of an earthquake (why run outside?!) and Anthony feared there was a small chance it might be a bomb threat. We had no idea. After about 15 minutes of standing outside, Anthony went inside, bought the stuff we had picked out, returned the strollers we had borrowed and then came back outside to me and the girls who were waiting about 1 block away near a small building. Anthony was told that someone on 4th floor (top, restaurants) felt the building sway, thought it was an earthquake and panicked, which was a very contagious thing at this time in the country (likely still is) – that is the state of people over there, everyone is afraid of something else happening. And there isn’t really anyone to say “Everything is ok, nothing is going to happen.”
We then headed to City Hall, where all the embassies were set up, along with places for people to stay under shelter with food, water, phone lines and internet access. This was the saddest place we’d been too. There were thousands of people there, walking around, eating, drinking, looking dazed. We found where the US Embassy was set up (a room crammed with tables, people in line, and people sitting with make-shift signs saying what embassy they represented – U.S. guys had no one waiting to talk to them, but we had to break through another line to get to them), talked with the guys, who said that since we had our passports and our tickets, there was nothing they could do. They signed us in on a piece of paper, where they were recording all Americans that came by. Above our names were only two rows had been filled in, directly above our names a man had written his information, along with a statement about his wife and three daughters – all of whom were missing. Outside the building, there was a big bulletin board – on it, pictures of the dead and severely wounded, who needed to be identified. We sat down to eat some food and I spoke with a reporter from the New York Times. I don’t think we’ve been mentioned in any of his stories – there are just so many other stories of survival and hope that make for better news coverage – but it felt good to talk about our experience. As we were walking to get a taxi back to the hotel, we saw a poster, with a picture of a little boy in the hospital – and the words “Need to find my parents” – it was so awful, I started to cry. (This is the same boy that I’ve seen a recent news story on who has been reunited with his father – although his mother is still missing).
We got back to the hotel, called back to the states, asked for several things to be done, letting people know we were ok, try to get us back home, etc. The girls went to sleep very easy as they were exhausted. We tried to clean up the stuff Anthony had brought back, dried out our passports, etc. We decided we’d go to the airport the next morning and stay there all day if necessary to get out. Many people had left that day for the airport, but with the girls, we didn’t want to have to sleep at the airport overnight since we already had beds and were safe. My dad called us about 6am on the 28th, gave us a flight confirmation number they had been able to obtain on the 29th. This got us up and moving and we packed what little we had, ate some breakfast and headed for the airport. The airport was busy, but not as busy as I had anticipated it being. We were able to get on standby for the first flight out at 9:15 am and at 9:00 am, they called our name, checked our bag and we were on the plane! It was such a relief – knowing we were getting out. We flew to Bangkok while I read all the newspapers I could get my hands on, trying to get information on what was happening, why it had occurred, why no one had been warned (according to various news agencies, politics played a lot into why no one had been alerted about the risk). We landed in Bangkok, got off the plane and immediately, there was a US Embassy representative to see if any Americans needed assistance – a hotel, money, passports, etc. We already had everything we needed, so we did not need their assistance, but it sure felt good knowing that had we needed help, we would have gotten it immediately. The Bangkok airport was a zoo, people everywhere, a dozen or more embassy representatives for countries all over world holding up pieces of notebook paper with their countries names or little flags, TV stations and film crews, etc. We managed to arrange for a flight to Taipei around 3 pm that afternoon. We went to the Thai Air Executive Lounge, where they tried to say we couldn’t go in, but we explained that we’d been in Phuket, had two small children and needed a quieter place to sit. They then let us in. After eating a bit, I went to swing Liz by her arms (DO NOT EVER DO THIS WITH YOUR CHILDREN) and felt something click – she then started screaming and would not stop. We rushed her to the hospital clinic (where I basically had a breakdown and cried and cried and held onto her as tight as possible) and then they took us to a local Bangkok hospital, where they took X-Rays (holding your child down while he/she gets an X-ray and is clearly in pain has to be one of the top 2-3 bad experiences you can have and still have healthy children), popped her elbow joint back in (dislocated), gave her medicine and sent us on our way in about ½ an hour! Yes, ½ an hour – and this hospital was already full with people that had been airlifted in from Phuket. Can you imagine? And the cost – without any insurance – about $25 US dollars! Amazing. Liz was fine immediately after that, thank goodness, but we missed our flight. The next flight was around 6pm, so we made it back to Taipei around 11:30pm and back to our apartment around 1am. We called all our family, let them know we were home in Taipei, safe and sound and happy to be alive.
This experience is one I will never forget. Emotionally, it’s taking a toll on us all. It’s so hard to see all the devastation, to know that we were there, to think of all the possibilities, to wonder why? Yesterday I had the thought of what are we here for, why were we spared? What is our purpose on earth? I feel like we have been given such a great opportunity. I’m scared at little things. It’s hard to be away from Anthony – today was his first day back at work, just half a day. Angie came over and hung out, so I wasn’t alone. I think it’s going to be weird next week when he does go into work and I am alone with the girls. I’m jumpy and often just sit and stare. Not really thinking about anything, just trying to digest everything that has happened and we didn’t even see the worst.
Our story is so boring compared to many others. Yes, we saw it, yes, we survived, but there are so many other survival stories, reunited stories, etc - so many others affected greatly by this horrible tragedy. I just want others to know how horrible it is and that people over there need help - any donations they can give. So many orphans, so many lost homes, lost lives, lost jobs, complete devastation.
We had just finished making our Merry Christmas phone calls back home on the morning of December 26, 2004 (14 hours ahead of most of our family, so still Christmas night for them), while we were at our resort. It was about 3 minutes to 10 am and we wanted to catch a resort bus to the town of Phuket to do some shopping. We had a backpack carrier for Liz, a small cloth bag with sunscreen and a shoulder bag with 3 diapers, some money, wipes, etc., and Anthony had his wallet with his ID and one credit card in it. We started walking down the slope of the resort driveway to catch the bus when we heard people yelling and pointing across this “forest”, and saying RUN, RUN, RUN. I turned to look and saw this mass of water rushing towards us – it wasn’t a wave, it was just a mass of water flooding the forest and coming towards us with extreme speed. I had Liz, Anthony had our stuff and Ashley was about 10 feet away. I screamed her name, and Anthony scooped her up and ran with her up to the lobby. We ran across the lobby area to the staircase on the side were our room was located and just ran up all the stairs, telling everyone around us to go UP and RUN. We got up to the 4th floor and looked towards the pool area, which was getting flooded with water. It hadn't even registered what had happened, what was happening, we had no idea. From the 4th floor, we watched the water come in from the beach area and engulf the swimming pool area, along with the rooms on the 1st floor (which is where our room was located). Anthony said he remembers getting to third floor, looking down and yelling "It's still coming, keep going!” Once we got to the fourth floor, we just held the girls and prayed that it would stop coming up and then we looked out over the pool area, I was looking for people that may need help, people that were at the pool or in the restaurant - I didn't see anybody.
My thought was first that we were going to die, that more waves were coming in and that the water would just get higher and higher. I hugged my girls and Anthony, told them how much I loved them and just prayed. After I realized that the water wasn't going to reach us, at least the initial wave, I was just so scared for those people that had been on the beach, in their 1st floor rooms or at the pool. I had no idea if people would have been able to survive that force of water.
People were banging on roof hatches, trying to get them open so they could climb out onto the roof, get to higher ground. We stayed on the fourth floor. There were several waves still coming in, but none as big as the first.
After about 15-20 minutes, I begun to walk around, looking at the damage, seeing cars piled up three high, smashed windows, trees scattered everywhere. I took a few pics, not many though as I was more worried about getting us and the girls to safety.
As soon as the first wave was done, Anthony went down to try and help people - see if anyone needed medical attention or help. He didn't find anyone and came back up to the 4th floor.
That was when I took pics of the forest side of the resort - the front side and the cars piled up. What I saw was complete devastation - people walking around dazed and confused, many people limping with cuts and bruising. The staff of the hotel were scared, had no idea what to do, what had happened. They were missing people too and trying to locate the staff and attempting to get information, but were pretty much cut off from any communication with the rest of the island.
Everyone was frightened, asking for information, when would another wave come, how to get out of there safely, where loved ones where. I remember one family next to us, they started crying saying their mother and father had been at the beach. After about 5 minutes, the mother came walking up to them, yelling "Franco, Franco" over and over again. Franco was her husband, the father. She said he was at the beach; she had no idea if he made it. She was crying, screaming his name. After about another 10 minutes, he came up - everyone was so relieved. They had some scrapes and bruises, but were alive.
A wonderful Australian couple invited us into their room on the 4th floor to help with the girls, try to keep them from seeing and hearing too much. We stayed with them for about an hour, occasionally venturing out, walking around, surveying damage, seeing what we could do to help. I was able to borrow their cell phone and leave a message with one of our family members, saying we were ok. It was the middle of the night in the States, but I knew that this devastation would be on the news by morning time and didn’t want any relatives to worry about our lives.
There were quite a few injured people that came struggling up after the main tsunami hit. There was a doctor going around checking wounds. He quickly ran out of medicine, so we gave him what we had - just a few tabs of ibuprofen and asked others to do the same.
I just kept looking out at the damage, watching the waves come in, praying that more wouldn't come, that it was over, thanking God that we were all safe and unhurt, thinking how lucky we were - had it been 5 minutes later, we would have been on bus, on road that got wiped out by wave, 5 minutes earlier, we would have been in our room and would have been crushed by objects and water forced through our room.
After about 1.5 hours, I was walking through the lobby, trying to find out what was going on - people were gathering their luggage and going to the lobby. Anthony went back to our room, kicked open the door and grabbed the one carry-on suitcase left and brought it back up to the 4th floor. I did not go back to the room, did not want to see that kind of devastation, didn't think I could handle it, and I refused to leave the girls without one of us for even one second.
When I was walking through the lobby, the staff was saying that another, larger wave was due to hit in 2 hours and we had to get out NOW and move to higher ground. We got the girls, and started walking across the debris littering the front of the resort and the road that used to be there. There were trees and seaweed and wood scattered everywhere. Both sides of the resort are surrounded by hills. We walked up the first hill towards town, with just the girls and the day stuff we had with us when we were going into town - a small shoulder bag with a few diapers, some money, etc. People were all taking their luggage with (if they were from 2nd - 4th floors). I was really amazed at this - all that disaster and people were taking their entire luggage with them, not just one bag with necessities, but everything they had brought with them. I really didn't (and still don't) understand that. Why not worry more about your family and your safety, take what little is important (passports, travel docs, one or two days of clothes, etc) and leave all the replaceable items?
At the top of the first hill, I asked around for extra clothes - I had a skirt on and it wasn't real good for walking or sitting down to rest in the shade. There were several people who offered us some clothes and I was able to get some shorts to wear plus some extra diapers for Liz since we had already used what we had back at the resort. We waited at one spot for about an hour, debating whether to continue on since the road dipped down again before going up. After a while, some staff members came and said we needed to keep moving. They had heard that a BIG wave was coming and we needed to get as high as possible (this later turned out to be another unsubstantiated rumor).
So, we kept walking, we walked for about another 1/2 hour, mostly uphill. Then we saw a roadside stand where a lady was selling fruit and water. Anthony went to buy some for the girls since they were hungry. The wave struck at 10 am and it was about 1 pm by this time.
As he was getting some food, a truck (covered with benches for passengers in the bed) came by and the driver saw me with the children. He offered to give us a lift up higher. There had been several trucks and motorcycles and cars driving through the area, picking up random people. There was really no order and many adults who were uninjured with luggage, took rides up the hill, instead of letting children and the injured go first. I was not happy to see this, I would much rather have seen the injured and the children being lifted to safety first. There were a few men who would stop trucks and try and get them to take the families with children, but usually they didn’t succeed.
We got in the back of the truck, and then some large man got in with his wife and SIX (yes, 6) pieces of luggage, taking up the entire rest of the space. Anthony and I were both flabbergasted, as there were children waiting right next to the truck to get on. Anthony told him to let the children come first and the guy said he doesn't see children, only himself. We were so mad and so upset at this side of human nature. At a time like this and there were people who only had eyes for themselves.
I forgot to add that when Anthony was buying food and water from roadside stand - the lady did not hike up prices, was charging reasonable amount for all food - helping any that needed it.
The truck took us up to a place called "Baan Nern Sai Resort" up in the hills, I call this place our sanctuary. It was a tiny motel with rooms surrounding an open little pool area and small restaurant/bar. They let everyone in, cooked us fried rice, gave us water, drinks, whatever we needed. They had no rooms available, but brought a crib out to the pool side for Elizabeth to sleep in. Up here, we were able to relax as much as possible and talk with others who were there. We met a wonderful family from Australia who let us borrow their cell phone. We immediately called our family, told them we were safe and uninjured, and tried to find a way out to a safe place in Phuket town.
Anthony called his mother and she answered - he explained the situation, asked her to contact the US Embassy since at that time we had no passports and no tickets and asked her to contact his work people to let them know what was happening, get our passport numbers and tell them that we were ok.
The family we borrowed the cell phone from was getting text messages on their phone from family and friends with news of what was happening, along with an oceanographer who was saying it was over, no more large tsunami waves were coming. That was never verified and rumors kept flying that more were coming.
The hotel had a generator and got electricity plus TV working, so we were able to watch CNN and find out what had occurred - an earthquake measuring 9.1 (8.9 was the word at the time) on Richter scale and large tsunami, with mass destruction everywhere. It was so awful. We were so lucky to be alive, to be uninjured, and to have our entire family together. It didn't matter that we'd lost physical belongings; besides, it made it so much easier to walk up that hill with no luggage.
There were a few seriously injured people at the hotel, and several people taking care of them. We ate fried rice, drank lots of water trying to keep hydrated and tried to keep abreast of the news. At one point, around 6pm, we got on a bus, that was going to take us to a place called Merlin Phuket in Phuket town (away from water), but after we went about 100 feet, the bus stopped, told everyone to get off, it wasn't safe to go on road because another wave was coming. There was fear and panic in everyone.
The staff at the Baan Nern Sai Resort were cooking for people and providing drinks. If you could pay, they were charging normal very reasonable prices and if you couldn't, that was ok, didn't matter. I highly commend that hotel! They gave us bread for the girls and milk.
At about 7pm, the Thai Navy showed up, along with staff from the Merlin Phuket hotel, and they started escorting people down into Phuket town. We waited until most of the people had been transported out. We were safe, and had no reason to rush getting out of the sanctuary we were at. Plus we were nervous, since any ground transportation that we took at that time would go past the beach. We were still very afraid of aftershocks and being caught near the beach. Typically, from what we knew, aftershocks of up to nearly the same amplitude of the original quake are quite possible within the first 24 hours. We were very tempted to stay the night by the pool with very limited food choices and comfort, but after checking news and talking to others eventually decided to go on.
About 8:30 pm, we boarded a bus and started down the road to Patong Beach. I was so nervous, my heart was racing, I just kept my eyes glued on the water, looking for any sign of a wave. The water was all the way up to the road, no beach left - full moon and moon was up, so tide was all the way in. It was utter devastation along Patong Beach - with cars, buses, trucks piled up, shops and stores wiped out. I just kept thinking how just the day before, we had spent the morning at that beach, letting the girls play in the sand and water, while we sat on the beach chairs and relaxed. One day earlier and we would have been there, would have been swept away. We turned right on a road away from Patong Beach and heard this awful scraping sound across the roof of the vehicle we were in - there were power and telephone lines hanging down, being held up by buses and cars that had been swept away by the tsunami.
They took us to a safe spot by the side of the road inland, then went back to pick up more people stranded about 100 meters up from the beach, trying to get as many people to safety as possible. Another bus came and took us to the Merlin Phuket hotel, which is in Phuket town, and we signed in, and were assigned a room with 2 other people - they were putting 6 people in one standard room and 15 people in a deluxe suite. They had taken top mattresses and laid them out in ballrooms for those who needed a place to stay - they were turning away no one. They supplied food - rice, fruit, water, tea and coffee - for any and all who were there. The lobby and hotel grounds were swamped with people. Everyone was trying to find missing people, trying to figure out how to get out, watching the TV’s set up everywhere, trying to call home – it was just utter chaos. We took the girls up to the room and got them down for bed. I went down to the lobby and called family.
We slept on twin boxsprings on the floor in the room, with Ashley sleeping on a pool mat I had grabbed and Liz in a crib we found in the housekeeping room on our floor. The girls were exhausted and fell alseep easily – they slept all night. I could not sleep - had so many images going through my head - mainly just the wave coming in. Any siren or yelling that I heard outside made my heart race and tears come to my eyes. I knew we were safe, there was no risk where we were, but emotionally I just couldn't conceive what had happened. I was able to call Anthony's parents, let them know where we were, they would let the Embassy know that we were safe along with all our other relatives.
The next morning, after breakfast, Anthony left on a bus returning to Merlin Beach Resort to see if he could get into the room safe and retrieve our passports (it had been broken and locked shut when he checked it immediately after tsunami). The girls were hard to take care of, they were both very cranky and upset that Daddy was gone. I was too. He left around 9:00 am and as of noon, he still wasn’t back. We went down to the lobby to walk around and to see if we could see him. Ashley wanted to wait outside for him, where the buses were coming and going, but with so many people there, it was hard to stay there with both girls. I decided going back to our room and waiting was the best option. I had to basically drag Ashley up to our room while she screamed “Daddy, Daddy” over and over again. It was so heartbreaking and I couldn’t handle it. I began to cry and for a few minutes Ashley held me on the bed and told me “it’s ok mommy”. I had no idea where Anthony was, if he was safe, how long he’d be gone, when we would get out of there. I then decided to go downstairs and go to a store to get diapers since we had run out. As we were in the elevator headed down, there was a woman in the elevator who obviously noted my distress. She asked where we were headed and I said we had to go to the store to get diapers and clothes for the girls. She said I could go with her to her room and take some diapers and clothes from them – they had a 2 year old little girl. So I went with her and she gave us some diapers, along with a pair of shorts and shirt for Ashley (who was wearing her underwear only by this time – her other clothes were so filthy). I talked with her and her husband for a few minutes, hearing their story, sharing ours and just having some much needed adult talk. Her husband had been to a resort near Merlin Beach Resort that morning to retrieve their belongings and he had only been back for a short time, so I was hopeful that Anthony would be back soon. We went back to the room and a few minutes later, as both girls were screaming, upset at the world, Anthony appeared. I don’t know if I have ever been so relieved in my life. He said that he’d been able to break into the safe and had found our passports and travel documents – soaked through, but still usable, at least for the time being. He also brought back some other items, the car seat, a backpack, our souvenirs (this is so odd – all the items we had purchased on our trip were untouched by the wave, they were on a top self in a closet far away from the patio area – the bottom of the bag was wet, but everything in the bag was fine – how’s that for irony?). We ended up trying to wash the backpack and carseat, but the stench was so bad, we left them at the hotel. Anthony said that there were bits of glass everywhere, so anything that had been in the water also had the possibility of having small shards of glass in it too. He said the room had been devastated. Barbecue grills from the restaurant were in the room, the beds had been twisted all around and were near the front door, the pack ‘n’ play was in the bathroom, the shower stall had moved, it was just a disaster zone. A hotel employee had helped him go through the room, mainly trying to find my eyeglasses, which they didn’t find, but the Merlin employee did find our Taipei apartment keys, which we hadn’t even thought of, and it wouldn’t have been easy getting new keys to our apartment when we arrived at 1 am.
Once Anthony got back, we then took a taxi to a shopping mall called “Central Festival”. We got Anthony some clothes, then me some clothes, then some toiletries and medicine, and then down to the basement to get the girls some clothes. As we were about to check out, people started running outside, saying “go, go, go!” They wouldn’t tell us what was going on, and it completely freaked me out (and Ashley too – “What’s happening, mommy? Is a wave coming?”). At first, we didn’t know what to do – we knew we were too far away from the beach for any sort of water to reach us, so we had no idea. Once we got outside, there was a rumor of an earthquake (why run outside?!) and Anthony feared there was a small chance it might be a bomb threat. We had no idea. After about 15 minutes of standing outside, Anthony went inside, bought the stuff we had picked out, returned the strollers we had borrowed and then came back outside to me and the girls who were waiting about 1 block away near a small building. Anthony was told that someone on 4th floor (top, restaurants) felt the building sway, thought it was an earthquake and panicked, which was a very contagious thing at this time in the country (likely still is) – that is the state of people over there, everyone is afraid of something else happening. And there isn’t really anyone to say “Everything is ok, nothing is going to happen.”
We then headed to City Hall, where all the embassies were set up, along with places for people to stay under shelter with food, water, phone lines and internet access. This was the saddest place we’d been too. There were thousands of people there, walking around, eating, drinking, looking dazed. We found where the US Embassy was set up (a room crammed with tables, people in line, and people sitting with make-shift signs saying what embassy they represented – U.S. guys had no one waiting to talk to them, but we had to break through another line to get to them), talked with the guys, who said that since we had our passports and our tickets, there was nothing they could do. They signed us in on a piece of paper, where they were recording all Americans that came by. Above our names were only two rows had been filled in, directly above our names a man had written his information, along with a statement about his wife and three daughters – all of whom were missing. Outside the building, there was a big bulletin board – on it, pictures of the dead and severely wounded, who needed to be identified. We sat down to eat some food and I spoke with a reporter from the New York Times. I don’t think we’ve been mentioned in any of his stories – there are just so many other stories of survival and hope that make for better news coverage – but it felt good to talk about our experience. As we were walking to get a taxi back to the hotel, we saw a poster, with a picture of a little boy in the hospital – and the words “Need to find my parents” – it was so awful, I started to cry. (This is the same boy that I’ve seen a recent news story on who has been reunited with his father – although his mother is still missing).
We got back to the hotel, called back to the states, asked for several things to be done, letting people know we were ok, try to get us back home, etc. The girls went to sleep very easy as they were exhausted. We tried to clean up the stuff Anthony had brought back, dried out our passports, etc. We decided we’d go to the airport the next morning and stay there all day if necessary to get out. Many people had left that day for the airport, but with the girls, we didn’t want to have to sleep at the airport overnight since we already had beds and were safe. My dad called us about 6am on the 28th, gave us a flight confirmation number they had been able to obtain on the 29th. This got us up and moving and we packed what little we had, ate some breakfast and headed for the airport. The airport was busy, but not as busy as I had anticipated it being. We were able to get on standby for the first flight out at 9:15 am and at 9:00 am, they called our name, checked our bag and we were on the plane! It was such a relief – knowing we were getting out. We flew to Bangkok while I read all the newspapers I could get my hands on, trying to get information on what was happening, why it had occurred, why no one had been warned (according to various news agencies, politics played a lot into why no one had been alerted about the risk). We landed in Bangkok, got off the plane and immediately, there was a US Embassy representative to see if any Americans needed assistance – a hotel, money, passports, etc. We already had everything we needed, so we did not need their assistance, but it sure felt good knowing that had we needed help, we would have gotten it immediately. The Bangkok airport was a zoo, people everywhere, a dozen or more embassy representatives for countries all over world holding up pieces of notebook paper with their countries names or little flags, TV stations and film crews, etc. We managed to arrange for a flight to Taipei around 3 pm that afternoon. We went to the Thai Air Executive Lounge, where they tried to say we couldn’t go in, but we explained that we’d been in Phuket, had two small children and needed a quieter place to sit. They then let us in. After eating a bit, I went to swing Liz by her arms (DO NOT EVER DO THIS WITH YOUR CHILDREN) and felt something click – she then started screaming and would not stop. We rushed her to the hospital clinic (where I basically had a breakdown and cried and cried and held onto her as tight as possible) and then they took us to a local Bangkok hospital, where they took X-Rays (holding your child down while he/she gets an X-ray and is clearly in pain has to be one of the top 2-3 bad experiences you can have and still have healthy children), popped her elbow joint back in (dislocated), gave her medicine and sent us on our way in about ½ an hour! Yes, ½ an hour – and this hospital was already full with people that had been airlifted in from Phuket. Can you imagine? And the cost – without any insurance – about $25 US dollars! Amazing. Liz was fine immediately after that, thank goodness, but we missed our flight. The next flight was around 6pm, so we made it back to Taipei around 11:30pm and back to our apartment around 1am. We called all our family, let them know we were home in Taipei, safe and sound and happy to be alive.
This experience is one I will never forget. Emotionally, it’s taking a toll on us all. It’s so hard to see all the devastation, to know that we were there, to think of all the possibilities, to wonder why? Yesterday I had the thought of what are we here for, why were we spared? What is our purpose on earth? I feel like we have been given such a great opportunity. I’m scared at little things. It’s hard to be away from Anthony – today was his first day back at work, just half a day. Angie came over and hung out, so I wasn’t alone. I think it’s going to be weird next week when he does go into work and I am alone with the girls. I’m jumpy and often just sit and stare. Not really thinking about anything, just trying to digest everything that has happened and we didn’t even see the worst.
Our story is so boring compared to many others. Yes, we saw it, yes, we survived, but there are so many other survival stories, reunited stories, etc - so many others affected greatly by this horrible tragedy. I just want others to know how horrible it is and that people over there need help - any donations they can give. So many orphans, so many lost homes, lost lives, lost jobs, complete devastation.
I feel like there is so much more to say - to try and get people to understand the devastation that has truly occurred there. I know you see it on the news, but it is just not the same as seeing it in real life. We didn't see the worst of it, we didn't see things that are unthinkable, but it still has had such an impact on all of us.
It happened halfway across the world from the US but will impact the entire world and they need our help. It’s pathetic what the US President is doing. He’s on vacation and can’t even give a statement in the aftermath – what an idiot. He’s just ruined any international relations he had with so many of these countries. Just because there weren’t thousands of American lives lost, there weren’t thousands of Americans injured, it’s of little mind to him? That is the impression that the rest of the world is seeing in this tragedy.
I am asking any and all of you, if you are able to spare any money, please donate what you can. The people of Thailand, India, etc… have lost so much, tourism will never be the same in those countries, dealing in the aftermath of this is going to be so difficult – people have lost entire families, entire villages, and their livelihood. Even $5.00, it may not seem a lot to you, but that $5 can add up to so much.
https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp
posted by The Armstrongs at
12/31/2004
