Slammed by Tidal Wave, But I'm OK

A lot of people heard about the devastation caused by the earthquake in Indonesia. I was on Phi Phi Don island off the Andaman coast of Thailand when the tidal wave hit. Not really up to posting the full story as yet, but here's some info I emailed to family members.

We were on a boat tour when the captain dramatically veered off course (we were headed to remote Bamboo Island) and was frantically talking on his cell phone. Their English was very poor so it was not clear what was going on. Long story short, we got on the beach but were too low when the tidal wave struck. It created a flash flood effect and I was in the middle of rapids containing debris, wood and all matter of building material. Ton Sai, the main village and also the pier, are completely leveled is the rumor.

I cut my knee up pretty bad and have trouble walking but nothing broken. I am fine considering the state of most of Phi Phi and the rest of the folks here in Phuket hospital.

Unfortunately, all of our stuff was on a bungalow hotel called Maprao about 40 minutes from where the boat landed so we were not able to go back and get any of our things.

Thus, currently nearly penniless, passport-less, travel insurance-less etc. at the moment. But at the hospital everything is free including email access. Unfortunately, the US embassy has not been very helpful in contrast to other embassies and we don't know much logistically in terms of loans, passports, retreiving our stuff, etc. The ambassador to Sweden personally visited all the Swedes (several were on our boat trip).

I appreciate all the concerned emails from readers but I will not be able to respond individually to emails for some time as free access (no money) may be difficult to obtain for a bit. But please be assured I am fine.

Comments

[Devin]

Wow, sorry to hear. I really hope things work out, please let us know how things go. I also wish a speedy and simple return home.

[~laurent]

Happy to hear about you - take care :)
(I have been to phi phi 2 or 3 times and I love the place)

[Ben McConnell]

Evelyn -- Glad to hear you're safe. Best wishes on getting home safely.

[Jorge]

Wish you the best of luck, on your return home.

[Jody]

Hope you're healing up ok. I just left Panang for KL, luckily. So I missed the disaster. I did the very same boat tour on Phi Phi too.

My travel blog: http://jodyamy.blogspot.com

Jody

[Jon Strande]

Evelyn, glad to hear that you're okay! Best of luck on your return trip!!

[paul]

Life is sweet, you're a lucky lady.

[Bernie Goldbach]

I hope your leg is back to 100%. I wonder if the American embassy will deploy a field team to sort out your passport. The Brits are much more responsive to that kind of requirement.

[Tom Guarriello]

I know you'll use this experience to help others think more deeply about life and its impenetrable mysteries. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[The Carp]

Very glad to hear you are OK. I had a near escape - was due to arrive Penang at the same time the wave hit, but had to come back to Singapore at the same time.

[Mike Rohde]

Glad to hear you are OK Evelyn. Let us know if we can help in any way.

[dermot casey]

Evelyn

glad to hear that your OK. Watching it on TV here in Ireland and its overwhealming. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help you personally

Dermot

[Brett]

Amazing. We're all very thankful you're safe!!

[Ross Mayfield]

Wow. Glad you are ok, godspeed.

[Anthony Cerminaro]

Thanks for sharing your story. I am thankful to hear you are okay. Your post reminds me to focus on the truly important things in life -- friends, families, relationships with others. When I get home tonight, I am going to give my daughter a big hug in your honor.

[Colleen]

I'm relieved to hear you're relatively well. If there's anything I can do for you stateside--harassing government officials, etc--do let me know. Best wishes for a safe and speedy return.

[Griffonner]

I hope that things get back to normal for you as quickly as possible. Good luck, and may your God bless you. Best wishes, Griffonner

[Ed Brill]

Wow amazing. Too bad that our embassy isn't reacting -- hopefully things have improved since you blogged. Your readers and colleagues are thinking of you and praying for you and all who are in trouble due to this tragic event.

[Don The Idea Guy]

Good to hear you're safe.
My best wishes and good thoughts your way.
~Don

[Roser Giner Bruñó]

Hopefully you will be recovered very soon. After this terrible experience, we should all think about why nobody alerted about the earthquake and the tsunami. There were at least a couple of hours. So much progress for what ? The humanity has not been able to safe lives and I have the feeling everyone is just looking to another side. Evelyn take care and I am glad that you could survive.

[Johnnie Moore]

Good to hear you're safe Evelyn. Hope things get sorted for you fast.

[Bill Van Loan]

Thank God your alive. I can't tell you how grateful I am for that. I think you sound pretty good by the way of your writing. Evelyn - when I count my blessings - I count you too. Thanks for letting us know.

[Octavio Isaac Rojas Orduña]

Everything will be alright soon.

You could consider yourself lucky.

Take care.

[Joe Olivier]

It saddens me that our embassy is so unhelpful. Embassies are supposed to do much more than vet those who want to enter your country, but in the post 9/11 world in which we live, we have given up alot for the privilege of being American. I hope you have a speedy and uneventful recovery. Come home soon and tell your congressman and senator about how our embassy compared with other countries.

[Suhit Anantula]

Sorry to hear about that. glad to know you are fine....

Suhit

[mat]

A terrible day, but glad taht you are okay.

[P.M.Lawrence]

I'm glad to hear you're OK, but I thought I ought to tell you about an awkward side-effect of your posting.

There is an Indian Ocean island that belongs to Mauritius, called Rodriguez. I believe it's a lot flatter as well as being further east and having the main island of Mauritius mediating between it and the outside world. So I tried to find out as much as I could about what happened to it separately. Unfortunately googling "tsunami" and "rodriguez" tends to come, well, here.

So I thought I'd suggest that if you do turn up any links about what happened to that island you might post them hereabouts to help any other enquirers. Thanks in advance, anyway.

[Bazza]

I recently visited Lanta Island which is very close to Phi Phi Island.
Can any body advise as to damage to that that Island.
We spent 6 wonderful days at the Royal Lanta resort till 3rd November 2004 and the people were very nice. I am concerned for their well being as hotel on the beach front,we could see Phi Phi Island quite cleaerly a couple km away.
Bazza, Sydney, Australia

[Reyna]

Just happened to browse this webpage by accident, but to Evelyn and all the other survivors of the tsunami...God bless and you are in my prayers and thougts daily as I send love and light to you all. Each and everyday we should forget about the little things in life and appreciate life, love and relationships with all of humankind. It is not about what lipstick colour to choose today...it is about spreading compassion and a helping hand to even those you do not know. Each day should be lived like it is our last day, and with no regrets...lay to rest jealously, hostility, judgements on other people and on yourselves and live with forgivness in your hearts towards other people and towards yourselves...and pray...prayer enhances the world's vibration and positive energy in ways you will never know...it doesn't have to be a Christian prayer...just a prayer from you sent to all of the people in this terrible disaster.

Evelyn...now you know your strenght and the human-will to survive any tragedy and still come out okay and flourish...all the best to you, and you will be home soon.

[anonomys]

i am terrbily sorry that the tsunami killed all of those people but there was nothing we could do to stop it. I know that many lives were lost but God obviously wanted them to come to heavan with him. I think that the people that survived the tsunami should consider themselves very very lucky! I think that the people living there now should stay strong everything is going to be okay

[Joe Olivier]

I'd stay "anonomys" too, if I posted drivel like that...

www.itsfullofstars.blogspot.com

[josh]

the tsunami was extremely bad but people are starting to get annoyed at it interfearing with programmes id like you to do something about oit

[ed#9]

i'm very sad about what happed in the tsunami in thailand,indonesia and other more countries in the world. i'd like to take this oppurtunity to tell to the government of different countries that they should help their neighbor country that striken the tsunami to help even a little amount of money so we can help the other country

[Philippe Thaler]

Hello Evelyn,
Thank you for your story. I know you really had to face a dreadful event.
I Leave in Bangkok and on december 26th I was on PhiPhi Island for the 3rd time. When the waves arrived my familly and I were on a long tail boat, just about to snorkel on the reefs nearby Bamboo Island. We escaped the wave thanks to the composure and wisdom of our pilot, and because we were lucky. Indeed we crossed the wave where it was not rolling, and we saw it hitting Bamboo Island, which is quite flat, so fast that I thought all people there must have been washed away... We couldn't stay because another bigger wave arrived and we just ranaway down south to a safe beach on eastern PhiPhi.
From that time I keep wondering what happened to people in Bamboo Island. I found almost no information about it. So thank you for your story and I would be very grateful if you agree to tell me more about what happened there. Someone told me nobody was killed. May it be true.
I wish you to recover quickly and to enjoy life day by day, as I do now...

Philippe Thaler

[Лампа]

LAMPS RUSSIAN