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| By Bill O'Leary | ||||||
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| It arrived unstoppable, unannounced and unapologetic. Just after 10:10 a.m. on Boxing Day, a series of ocean surges thrashed the west coast of Thailand. About an hour earlier, a massive ocean-floor earthquake (one of the largest ever recorded) west of Sumatra’s north coast had shunted up over a thousand kilometres of fault line, dislodging billions of cubic tons of seawater at the surface. This displaced energy sent a swift silent pulse through the deeper water, moving faster than a commercial aircraft. Approaching Thailand’s Andaman Sea coast, the menace went completely unnoticed. Nearing our holiday beaches and fishing communities, the swell crests slowed, drawing in unprecedented water volumes from the tidal shores. |
Most had no inkling of the horror in store. At sea level, thousands of Thais and foreign holidaymakers were gearing up for another glorious windless day on the beach. Many lay stretched out on sun beds wondering curiously as the ocean waters receded hundreds of metres out. Some took photos or raced down to the newly dried areas to collect the thousands of stranded fish. A few minutes later, the boiling sea returned and just kept on coming. Closest to the earthquake’s epicenter, the entire northwest coast of Sumatra already lay completely destroyed, leaving none in any state to raise the alarm. |
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| Our shoreline receded as if someone had pulled the plug in a bathtub, leaving fish and boats high and dry. Only a few individuals recognized the warning signs. Miles and miles of ocean advanced ashore, getting deeper and deeper, ever more powerful as it spilled over beachheads, across mowed lawns and esplanades into hotel rooms and street stalls. Terror and pandemonium erupted as everyone scrambled as best they could to save themselves. Many drowned, still lying in their beds or trapped inside their homes, hotel rooms and bungalows. Those caught outside in the whirlpools of rising water fought to survive in a washing machine tangle of motorbikes, cars, corrugated iron, broken glass and concrete blocks. On Thailand’s Andaman coast, the destruction seemed completely random. For example, at Surin Beach in central Phuket, there was a slight one-metre surge that sent tourists running and giggling up the beach as it displaced a few deckchairs, while just a mile south in Kamala Bay, three eight-metre waves killed hundreds as they tore through the backstreets of the quiet beachside community. |
Further south at busy Patong Beach, three monster waves pummeled onshore and 30 miles east-south-east of Phuket, at the famous Phi Phi Islands, two five-metre surges combined from north and south to destroy the tourist shanty town in Tonsai Bay. But by far, the most tragic location was at Khao Lak, where a 12-metre wall of white water wiped the debutant tourist town clean off the face of the planet as if annihilated by an atomic bomb. Within an hour, from Lankawi to Ranong, thousands of tourists and Thai nationals had perished along with billions of dollars-worth of property. The Indian Ocean brutally annihilated us at random. It was as if the Andaman Sea, so famous, majestic and calm, had risen from a long slumber like an angry giant. Then, not liking what it saw, it went on a stomping rage down the entire Khra Isthmus. Snarling and kicking, marauding and murdering, holding down and drowning, impaling and skinning, crushing and burying our fated fellows, while we gaped mesmerized in horror, hoping and praying that our loved ones were safe. |
Bill O’Leary and Grenville Fordham, of Image Asia Events Co. Ltd, have recently published a collection of sixteen survival tales in a book entitled “Tsunami Stories Thailand”. All donations raised from the sale of the book go direct to the MINOR Tsunami Recovery Fund. This Thai registered charity is managing the ongoing education of orphans in the Khao Lak and Naam Khem areas. If you would like to purchase the book or donate to the charity, contact Bill O’Leary direct on +66 81-8912895 or visit: www.tsunamistoriesthailand.com The book has been very well received with 7,000 copies already distributed worldwide. To some extent, of necessity, the stories contained follow the same format, with activities before the first wave struck, panic, and then tales of courage, despair and generosity. We believe each story allows us a unique view into the human condition. Before December 26th, 2004, we had little knowledge or fear of this slumbering monster. Now this brute’s hushed name, a disquieting contradiction in Japanese terms, will live on for generations: Tsunami |
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While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate, the charts of anchorages are based on personal experience and satellite imagery and are intended as a guide only. They should not be used for navigation. Please refer to Official Hydrographic charts of the respective countries. |
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The contents of this website may not be reproduced or copied in any form – printed, electronic, photocopy or otherwise – except for excerpts used in reviews, without the written permission of the publisher. |
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