chrispederick.com
Perspective
This year I spent Christmas in Tahoe with Amy’s family. The television broke soon after I arrived and there was essentially no internet access. Therefore, it was only when Sam spoke to his family on the phone that we heard about the earthquake and resulting tsunamis in the Indian Ocean.
We were obviously shocked, but it was only when I arrived back home that I was able to follow in depth the coverage on television and the BBC web site. Only then did the full horror of what had happened really hit home, but as the death toll continued to climb it became harder to comprehend the scale of the disaster. This is where blogs and first-hand accounts from people directly affected by the tragedy helped to give the news coverage a more personal perspective.
These amateur recordings of the tsunamis are both incredible and shocking. They help to demonstrate the size and speed of the walls of water that hit so many places.
Sobering Email
I also received an email from a work colleague who was in Phuket, Thailand when the tsunami hit. She described what she and her husband experienced:
We felt a slight movement around 8am and didn’t think anything of it. Quickly after, we heard screaming and people running from outside our window. Immediately after water started pouring into our room.
Jimmy and I jumped on top of the furniture and luckily he unplugged the television that was on before the water hit it. Within three seconds our entire room was filled with water. I had a hold of the doorway and Jimmy kept being pushed back by the strong water and floating furniture kept appearing in front of him (I thought for sure we were going to die).
I reached out my arm and somehow Jimmy got enough strength to swim against the water and debris and grab my arm. We went under the water to get out of our room and the current swept us inland. Jimmy yelled “grab onto anything you can”. He grabbed a tree branch and I came right behind him and luckily grabbed onto the same tree. I got some footing onto a cement block and Jimmy pulled his way towards me and we climbed the tree. There was an elderly man in his bathing suite with blood on his face in the same tree. We climbed the tree and the water went back to sea pulling everything (cars, people, debris). I remember Jimmy saying that he remembered watching the Discovery Channel on tsunamis and he said that we needed to climb the tree because a second wave will come. Quickly Jimmy, the elderly man and I climbed the tree, then the second wave came and it was ten feet higher than the first. We clung onto the tree and waited for two hours as we watched larger trees and cars get swept away, and Jimmy saw people attempting CPR on others but it was too late for them.
People from the hotel were trying to get us to jump into the current and swim to them, but the water was going out to sea to fast so we stayed in the tree. After the third wave hit there was a moment of silence and still water, so we told the elderly man to grab a rope made out of bed sheets. He grabbed it and the hotel staff pulled him in. We couldn’t go that way because the current picked up again right after he was pulled up to safety.
After awhile we climbed down the tree and found a lifesaver and lounge chair matt. We grabbed them and started to run into the city. There were puddles of water and one of them pulled us both under because the sea had taken the cement from the pathway. We then ran towards town, Jimmy had no shoes and there was glass everywhere. We heard more screaming that more water was coming and started running through the streets for the mountains, trying to wave down cars. We asked a man to take us with him in his pickup truck. We jumped in and more people were running to the truck. A Swedish family climbed in and we made a pact to stay in a group with them for safety. We stayed in the mountains with the Swedish family and local Thai people.
She ends her email:
We have talked to several people and feel that we are the fortunate ones. Hopefully we can get out tonight or tomorrow. We are so lucky to be alive and that we were able to stay together.
Just a sobering and frightening account that really puts everything in perspective.
In an effort to help, I will be supporting the relief effort by pledging the proceeds of all advertising and affiliate schemes on chrispederick.com for the month of January to the American Red Cross - an idea inspired by Andy Budd’s BlogAid.
Having said all of this, it is with a heavy heart that I wish everyone a Happy New Year.
3 years ago
January 18, 2005
Thanks for a lovely site, I am very impressed :-)