Tsunami terror Wairarapa women tell of narrow escape in Thailand

TWO Wairarapa women who came face-to-face with tsunami terror on Boxing Day are alive and well in South-East Asia and thanking their lucky stars they had left Phuket to go to the tourist island of Koh Lanta before the killer waves struck.
Phoebe Lippiett (neeThorpe) and Terri Te Tau were in their holiday bungalow about 11am when the first inkling that something was amiss struck them.
Mrs Lippiett, daughter of Nigel Thorpe and Maxine Smith of Masterton, said she was in the shower when she "heard a noise, like wind."
"I looked outside but there was no wind. Terri thought it might be a helicopter.
"Our bungalow was 20 metres from the sea.
"We saw a series of about three waves come crashing onto the beach, taking with them everything that wasn't secured.
"I wrapped a towel around myself and ran.
"These first waves, although powerful, didn't come up too far, so we went back to the bungalow which was now filled with water up to our waists and I chucked some clothes on.
"We took what we could grab to put into our bags then we heard run, water coming, big water coming."
Mrs Lippiett said adrenalin took over and they sprinted away from the beach.
"We were safe once we were up in the town area but panic and fear was spreading with everyone saying another wave was coming.
They joined an exodus into the mountains, without their shoes, and with many people wearing only beach attire, or bikinis and spent the night up there.
"Masses of people were sleeping outside, it was like we were in a refugee camp but there was free food, water and an ample supply of beer and whisky."
The family who owned the holiday bungalows had gone out of their way to care for people, although they were later to learn that the bungalows had been completely trashed and their livelihood had disappeared.
"They lost all their possessions, money, everything except the clothes they were wearing."
All that remained of the bungalow the two women had stayed in was a concrete slab floor and a toilet bowl.
Mrs Lippiett said they were hearing more and more stories of death, injury and loss as the days go by and we grateful they didn't have to be taken to hospital where things were so "very,very sad."
In an email message home to family in Masterton Terri Te Tau, the daughter of Sam Te Tau and Leanne Garnett, said for the last few days she has been " like a zombie" as the enormity of the tsunami tragedy sinks in.
She said when the first wave hit the sound of it was "so spooky, like the rumbling of an earthquake."
When they had grabbed their belongings she said her "shocking order of priority" had been cigarettes first, then her passport and then money.
"At this stage the water was up to our waists but we were lucky for the warning of these two smaller waves.
"The woman in the bungalow next to us was inside and couldn't open her door.
"The owner of the bungalows managed to get her out through the window."
Later, watching the big wave come in had been terrifying.
The sea had retreated from the beach and then a wall of water rose up and smashed onto the island.
"There were boats and people still in the water.
"When I was running inland it felt like I wasn't moving.
"We got to the top of a rise and waited ? that was the most terrifying."
The women said Koh Lanta had come out okay compared with Koh Pipi and Phuket, where they had earlier been.
By Don Farmer