Survivors tell of tsunami: 'The waves are coming, the waves are coming'

Witnesses and survivors, locals and tourists, rich and poor tell their stories of the great disaster 


Giri Prasad 45, India

"The sea suddenly turned furious, and within no time it was upon us. Tidal waves several metres high were heading toward the village like an army of wild elephants."

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Construction worker 35, Phi Phi island, Thailand

"The huge wave rolled in, at least 10m high. It was at first eerily quiet with winds moving ahead of it. Coconut trees in its path did not collapse, they just flew away. I told my wife and mother to turn and run for our lives. We managed to survive by scaling a coconut tree and even at near its top, the rushing water rose to our chests. The whole island was flattened in a flash. Boats were hurled up, smashed against trees and snapped into pieces. The only things left standing were coconut trees."

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Gemunu Amarasinghe Sri Lanka

"I had gone to the Amblangoda to drop off my parents for a Buddhist ceremony and was driving back to Colombo, the capital, when I got the message that flooding had been caused by a huge tidal wave.

"Then I noticed people running, and the first waves hit the road. The waves brought fish to the shore and some young boys rushed to catch them."

Soon afterwards came a second, devastating, series of waves, sucking some of the boys into the sea.

"I scrambled to the roof of my Pajero, expecting to be safe. The water kept coming. In a few minutes my jeep was under water. The roof collapsed. I joined masses of people in escaping to high land.

Some carried their dead and injured loved ones. Some of the dead were eventually placed at the roadside and covered with sarongs.

"The twisted limbs of the frail-bodied girl were caught in a garden fence near the sea. She may have died, but no one stopped. There was already too much tragedy around her to check."

After 15 minutes the water level died down: "I walked out of the area".

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Chellappa 55, fisherman, Chennai

"Never in my life have I had such an experience. The whole area has been turned into a cemetery.

"I was standing by the seashore when I noticed the sea level rising but I was not concerned then because I only thought it was an unusually high tide. Then I heard an eerie sound that I have never heard before. It was a high-pitched sound followed by a deafening roar which seemed to be getting louder. I told everyone to run for their life and I started sprinting inland."

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Jayaram Jayalalithaa Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, India

After touring the worst-hit areas he issued a statement: "It was a terrible sight. I could see dead bodies all around and the devastation is of colossal proportions.

"The giant tidal wave has smashed through everything in sight. Houses have been flattened, fishing boats have been thrown one over the other in a mangled heap. Buses, vans and auto-rickshaws have been smashed to smithereens."

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Muthulakshmi fisherman's wife, India

"My mother had gone to the seaside to buy fish when the wave came and lifted her. It took an hour for us to go and recover her body. Thank God my husband had not gone to sea as he was unwell."

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Venkaratnam villager, Manginapudi Beach, India

Women and children had ritual baths in the sea on the occasion of the Full Moon Day, an auspicious day for Hindus. The tsunami struck, sweeping 35 of them out to sea. Residents rushed in vain to save them, giving the women and children mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, pumping sea water from their bellies.

"It is such a tragedy," said a villager, Venkaratnam. "We tried our best to save these people but could do nothing for them."

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Ann Sophie Spetz Swedish tourist, Kamal Beach, Thailand

A holiday dream of white, sandy beaches and tranquil turquoise waters turned into a "nightmare" while she was having breakfast with her husband and one of her three children raced over to warn her.

"People had blood all over them and they screamed and screamed."

The family followed foreign tourists and evacuated to the hills before returning a few hours later.

"The Thai people came again and shouted, 'The waves are coming, the waves are coming' and we threw down our food and ran into the hills again."

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Karim Aman boat-maker, Malaysia

"When I saw the waves that were even taller than a big man I couldn't believe my eyes. This is what you see on television happening in other places, but it's not supposed to happen in Malaysia."

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Giardina family Phuket, Thailand

Paul, the 16-year-old Down syndrome son of the Melbourne family, became separated from his parents, Joseph and Ivana Giardina, when a wave hit a restaurant where they were enjoying a holiday breakfast.

"When the pier started flooding across, the water was coming, everybody started running and panicking," Ivana Giardina said.

"The three of us were together and I couldn't get to my son because the table and chairs from outside had gone in between us."

The water hit with enormous speed and pinned Paul against a wall.

Ivana Giardina, who was found on the fourth floor, said her son was barely able to communicate.

"At best they'll get a name out of him."

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Derek Mansfield Bangkok

"At first I thought I'd had a few beers too many the night before. It was my wife who realised that it was an earthquake.

"We were awake at about 8am when the room started swaying. We're on the 29th floor of the Landmark Hotel. The curtain poles were swinging. I was in the bath at the time and the water was moving from one end to the other."

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Kevin Aldrich Phang Nga, Thailand

"I woke up to what I thought was banging on the hotel door. It blew open and we were tossed from our bed by the surge of tide into the room. It broke out the back windows and we were carried out. The buildings around me collapsed and I was thrown into the surge. When I came up there was a branch I grabbed on and held. Surviving the receding tides was hardest.

"Pinned against a tree by the water, debris and bodies started to pile up against me and it felt like I was being crushed. In the end the whole resort was gone. There are many others like me - lost, dazed and searching for their loved ones."

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Harshana Somapriya Sri Lanka

"Extent of the damage can be visualised: a train with 1500 passengers has washed away, all passengers missing. Buses are seen floating in deep sea with no clue of the passengers on board. Some villages, hotels and markets have washed away leaving no trace."

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Marine Colonel Buyung Lelana Aceh, Indonesia

"It smells so bad ... The human bodies are mixed in with dead animals like dogs, fish, cats and goats. There are still a lot of bodies under the wreckage of collapsed houses and in rivers and swamps that we have not yet evacuated. Most of them are children and their mothers."

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Tony Bridgse Phuket

"I have lived in Rawai Beach, Phuket, for the last 10 years and have seen nothing like this. We are at the south-east end of the island, and all the boats here are gone. Just around the corner on the west coast at Phuket's most beautiful beach, Ya Nui Beach, there is nothing left.

"There were two houses on the beach and a restaurant ... behind the beach was at least 25 bungalows. They are also completely gone."

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Andrew Harding Singapore

"Some felt the quake first, others saw the sea sucked away from beaches only to return minutes later as a wall of water up to 30 feet high. The tsunamis have left a ring of devastation around the Indian Ocean, giant ripples travelling at the speed of a jet."

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Regional administrator Mypadu village, India

A few hours after the disaster a regional administrator came to check on locals and the fate of 200 fishermen missing at sea. Villagers told him by telephone that seawater was entering the village and the embankment had been breached.

"You must be joking," he reportedly replied.

- AGENCIES