Tragedy in Paradise

Phuket is a small island about 350 miles south on Bangkok on the Andaman Sea. It has gorgeous soft white sand beaches, beautiful rock formations (near James Bond Island and Phi Phi Island), sunsets that Key West would die for and of course, the nicest people on the planet...Thai. This was only my second trip to Phuket, but after my first time there, I was anxious to return. I was scheduled for Phuket December 22-27. I flew in on Thai Air Asia and it was a wonderful flight, seeing all the islands, beautiful coastline and blue skies (after leaving Bangkok, the smoggiest I have ever seen it).

Jumping ahead to the morning of December 26th, I awoke around 8:20 AM and at 8:30, the bathroom door started to move. All of the bottles on the shelf started shaking and making a tinkling noise of which lead me to believe that we were having a mild earthquake. This is the forth earthquake that I have been in and I recognized it immediately.

I began to consider the quality of the building construction, as all buildings in Thailand are not created equal. I was happy that the building construction for this hotel seemed to be quite good and I immediately decided which doorway I would get under if the shaking became more violent. It did not. The earthquake was very mild in Phuket. It was so mild that it would not have woken you up if you were sleeping and if you were walking, you might have never noticed that there was an earthquake.

I continued to get ready for breakfast, left the hotel and went to my favorite Phuket breakfast spot. After breakfast (9:30) I decided to go to the convenient store down at the beach to pick up a few personal items. The convenient store is a short walk (maybe 300 yards) down to the beach. I also hoped that I might find an internet cafe that would be open before 10, or if they were in the process of opening they would WELCOME me with typical Thai hospitality. I didn't find any internet cafes that were opening, but I spotted a bar where I thought I might stop and have a cold beer on my way back. Some of you might be surprised to learn that cold beer tastes great when vacationing in Thailand. I made it down to the store and made my purchases. I was the only one in the store except for the cashier. It is a fully stocked convenient store with large coolers, ice cream freezer and lots of merchandise jam packed for their busiest selling weeks of the year. I made my way back to the hotel without stopping for the beers. Put away my stuff and watched the English language channel for about 10 minutes. By then it was 10:00.

I headed out of the hotel, determined to get to the internet cafe. As I got to the last step of the hotel, people came running and screaming from the area toward the beach. It was difficult to figure out what was going on. Every language other than American English was being spoken, and then I heard the word 'nam', which is Thai for water. My first thoughts were a water main break, from the earthquake; I didn't begin to recognize the magnitude of what was happening. My hotel was just a little further from the beach than 'Rat-U-Thit Road'. No water had come across Rat-U-Thit Road at that point and with the number of people fleeing from the area between Bangla Road and the beach, there was no way to head toward the beach.

From where I stood at that point it looked more like flooding, than any type of real devastation. I sat at the hotel bar and had a beer with several other hotel patrons, trying to figure out if we would have water, not knowing the real power and force that the tsunami had and the destruction that it would leave in its path. After one beer, I imagine 15-20 minutes; I headed down Bangla Road, towards the beach with my camera in hand. The high water line was about 50 yards from Rat-U-Thit Road and the aftermath of destruction can be seen in the picture. Jet skies 200 yards from the beach, broken glass, cars smashed, chaise lounges and everything imaginable. I took some pictures above the high water line and headed back to my hotel.

I couldn't see the beach from where I was, but it looked like the impact was that everything got pushed inland. The water receded very slowly in this area between Beach Road (Thaweewong Rd) and Rat-U-Thit, as there was no way for it to get out after it had forged over Beach Road. Most people were waiting for the water to recede, but this was a VERY slow process. I headed back to my hotel and had taken about 10 steps, when people closer to the beach again started running and screaming.

I looked over my shoulder toward the beach and could see water coming up over the top of the walkway at Beach Road by about 3.5 to 4 feet high, just looking for the easiest path to get in. Along with everyone else, we evacuated the area and ran to higher ground, which for me was across Rat-U-Thit Road to my hotel. This time the flooding made it to Rat-U-Thit Road, but did not make it to any of the Sois (avenues) that connected off from Rat-U-Thit, further from the beach. My hotel is about 100 feet past Rat-U-Thit. Not high, but dry.

I sat and had a couple of beers listening to stories and still not aware (nor was anyone else from the hotel) of the destruction that had occurred 'at the beach'. The police were now 'guarding' the entrance, so no one, not even the hotel residents, could get back down Bangla.

Mostly I chatted with a German fellow who spoke very good American English. He had been caught in the first tsunami that hit. Said he was swimming in water up to his chest and managed to climb onto a roof. A Thai man still in the water was helping a Thai lady and an Italian lady over to him and pulled the three of them up onto the roof. The roof became unstable and the Italian lady nearly fell through. He made it back to my hotel and was sitting, calming down from his ordeal and rather casually has a couple of beers. Said he was down at Beach Road with his buddy. His buddy went to the beach, he was going to get a beer at one of the many bars or pubs that there are in that area. When we talked about his buddy, we just expected that he got wet, pushed inland, and never had the slightest inclination to think the worst, only that he would be sitting down next to us shortly for a 'cold one' himself.

There was one more (total three) huge waves that hit our beach. We were just far enough away from the beach that my hotel remained dry. About 4 PM, it was reported that helicopters were following large waves coming toward the island. They wanted to evacuate our hotel. My first thoughts were to go with the group and the 'plan' was to go to the hotel owner's house in the hills and spend the night. I had second thoughts and decided not to follow along with mostly 20-30 guys (Brits and Germans), but to stay put in my hotel where I had already evaluated (from the earthquake) that the hotel was sound and since I was on the 2nd floor, did not feel the sense of danger. Besides, the cold beer, entertainment and comforts of home where all there, unsure of what was in store for those who left.

That evening was rather quiet, and the new 'major waves' never happened. I wandered down to a soi where I knew there were many 'bamboo bars', expecting to find many people in the regular Phuket mode of partying and having a great time. I was astonished to find that the bamboo bars were totally wiped out and that this soi had gotten hit even harder than anything that I had previously seen. I headed back toward the safety of Bangla Road, enjoyed a few cocktails and the company of the few people that had not evacuated the area. Most of the Thais had left, having a much better sense of "Mother Nature" than us tourists.

The next morning, I was scheduled to leave the island and fly to Bangkok on my way to Pattaya. I called the airport first thing in the morning to see if there was anything normal there. The airport had been closed most of the 26th and there were reports of mass exodus from the island. There was no answer a the airport, but decided that if I went there at least I would stand a chance of getting out, as I had a confirmed seat.

Before going to the airport, I took my camera for a walk around one large block and down to the beach. The water had receded and many people were out seeing what had happened. Cars were piled on other cars, cars had floated into buildings, stores were destroyed, windows were crashed, and valuable inventories were washed away. The convenient store that I had been in at 9:40 AM had only two walls left. The coolers, merchandise, counters and cash register, totally disappeared. Wires were hanging from the ceiling and there was just enough structure left to hold up a roof. It was not until I saw the beach that I could fully appreciate the power of the tsunami!

This beautiful white sand beach lined with colorful umbrellas and beach chairs was now a stark baron beach with nothing left. In places up to three feet of sand had been pushed inland or pulled out to sea. It was at this moment that I realized that it was most likely that anyone who was on the beach at 10:05 AM could not possibly have survived the force that this water delivered. The Thai massage ladies, the beach umbrella guys, food vendors, children and families. All the people who on Christmas Day were earning a living for themselves and their families, sharing kindnesses as Thai people are so famous for, more than likely.....gone. Gone were the Brothers and Sisters, Moms and Dads, Sons and Daughters. The water had no mercy. If you were on the beach at 10:10 AM, you could not have survived the power of the tsunami. I was one of the very lucky ones and made it to the safety of other parts of Thailand, but I'll never forget the people on the beach on Christmas Day.

You better not stop now, read part 2 (click here).