Well, 5th April 2005 saw 100 days pass since the Indian Ocean tsunami struck and I thought it might be time to share my story with the board.
At the time I was in Phuket, due to sail on a 7 day New Year liveaboard cruise in the Similans with Dive Asia. I was sleeping off the effects of a merry christmas in my bungalow situated on Patong Beach.
I heard a rushing sound and, as I got out of bed to investigate, the front wall of my bungalow caved in and in poured a mass of swirling black water. The water completely filled the room and I very quickly found myself floating in complete darkness. With no air in the room at all, unable to see, and not knowing what had caused this sudden flood, I began to think that I might be drowned. Pulling myself together, I swam as strongly as I could toward where I thought the front of the bungalow was. My fingers brushed against the outline of the window and I managed to swim through and headed up for the surface. I could still see no light and, in a moment I found out why - I was still under the eaves of the roof and had to wrestle myself out from underneath before I could surface and take my breath.
The water was now sweeping back toward the beach and I had to hold on as best I could to stop myself from being swept away. Once the current had died down sufficiently I was able to look around myself - what I saw was just terrible; the bungalow complex was right on the beach and my own was only 20-30 metres from the sand, my bungalow and many of the others were severely damaged and here and there I could see figures emerging from the wreckage. As I usually sleep in the nude, this was how the retreating wave left me, naked apart from my wristwatch which I had forgotten to take off the previous night. Looking down at my legs I saw a large gash on my left leg and it felt like a piece of glass was stuck into the back of my right ankle, I couldn't see very well as the knee deep water was very dirty.
I waded over to the bungalow next to mine, which was still relatively intact, and knocked on the door. The curtain twitched to one side and I heard a woman's scream, eventually the lady occupying the bungalow opened the door and passed me a pair of her partner's underpants. These, though small and in a style which I would not normally select, were very welcome and I was most grateful to be at least partially covered. As I was pulling on my new underwear I heard shouting and, in between the shouts, the roar I had heard before could be made out. Afraid of being caught in the open and swept away I had myself and the underpant lady stand inside the door of her bungalow, I hoped that the structure would stand up to the wave as it had previously done, and if it filled up with water I figured we could swim out the door.
My plan was flawed. This next wave was carrying a huge mass of debris from its previous landfall and this smashed into the flimsily built bungalow like a wrecking ball. It tore down the front wall and swept us both to the back of the room, filling the room up with debris. With the room full of debris our escape route was blocked and as the room quickly filled with water I thought to myself "This is it". I filled my lungs with air and resolved to last as long as I could. The water kept rising and then, blackness, I was again completely submerged in filthy seawater without air. I tried to remain calm, but as the seconds ticked by I rapidly became more frantic. I started scrabbling at the ceiling with my fingers trying to burrow my way through, but the plaster was as hard and smooth as a piece of glass. An eternity passed as I worked as I dug away and then a miracle. The smallest gap of air formed at the ceiling and I forced my lips into it to get a breath. The water continued to slowly drop and as it did so I felt the fingertips of underpants lady, grabbing her I lifted her tiny body up into the air gap and shouted at her to breathe. She fought me, kicking and scratching, trying to climb over me to get to the air, but once she had taken a few breaths she calmed down.
With the water again on the retreat we could pick our way out of the bungalow and we resolved to head for high ground as quickly as possible. I was certain that, if I tried to weather another wave so close to the beach, I would be killed.
We made our way through waist deep murky water toward the main beach road behind the resort, picking up a few more cuts on the way. Underpants lady told me her name was Gail and we went as fast as possible, though the piece of glass in the back of my leg was slowing me to a snail's pace. We were still in the open when we heard more shouts warning us that another wave was coming, looking around quickly I saw two walls built parallel to the beach and we got ourselves between them and held on to a small palm tree which was growing there. I hoped that the walls would withstand the force of the water and that, if the level rose too much, we could climb the palm tree. Luckily, this plan worked better than the last one and once the water level dropped again we were able to resume our journey.
After crossing Patong Beach Road we took shelter in a sturdy four story bank building with about fifteen other survivors. There we stayed for around three hours before braving the street level in order to try and get to the hospital. I later learnt that my two dive buddies were both alive and had only suffered cuts and bruises, they too were both close to the beach, one asleep like me, the other breakfasting. We were very, very lucky.
After spending the night in Phuket, I managed to get out to Bangkok on the 27th and, after renewing my passport on the 28th, returned to Taipei on the 29th.
All of us had suffered cuts and all of these became seriously infected from the dirty water. I had to take antibiotics for about four weeks and one of my buddies ended up being hospitalised with infection.
After replacing all of my dive gear I returned to diving in Puerto Galera with Atlantis on 6th February, even though I was still having a few problems walking. I started off with a nice easy 18m "vanilla" dive with one of the guys I was in Thailand with, but for the rest of the holiday managed to successfully complete the TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures courses.
Scuba diving has a lot to do with this story. Scuba diving brought me to Thailand that morning, and I believe that my dive training, especially the rescue and DM training, played a key role in my survival. Being trained to deal with stressful situations whilst underwater meant that I didn't panic and I think that more than anything saved my life. More significantly, scuba diving has played a vital role in my recovery. Once I had returned to diving I had no more problems sleeping and no more nightmares. Though the events of that day will always be with me and a part of me, I no longer see the room filling up with black water every time I close my eyes. My return to diving was THE key turning point in my mental recovery.
So, that's it. Sorry that it's a bit lengthy.
At the time I was in Phuket, due to sail on a 7 day New Year liveaboard cruise in the Similans with Dive Asia. I was sleeping off the effects of a merry christmas in my bungalow situated on Patong Beach.
I heard a rushing sound and, as I got out of bed to investigate, the front wall of my bungalow caved in and in poured a mass of swirling black water. The water completely filled the room and I very quickly found myself floating in complete darkness. With no air in the room at all, unable to see, and not knowing what had caused this sudden flood, I began to think that I might be drowned. Pulling myself together, I swam as strongly as I could toward where I thought the front of the bungalow was. My fingers brushed against the outline of the window and I managed to swim through and headed up for the surface. I could still see no light and, in a moment I found out why - I was still under the eaves of the roof and had to wrestle myself out from underneath before I could surface and take my breath.
The water was now sweeping back toward the beach and I had to hold on as best I could to stop myself from being swept away. Once the current had died down sufficiently I was able to look around myself - what I saw was just terrible; the bungalow complex was right on the beach and my own was only 20-30 metres from the sand, my bungalow and many of the others were severely damaged and here and there I could see figures emerging from the wreckage. As I usually sleep in the nude, this was how the retreating wave left me, naked apart from my wristwatch which I had forgotten to take off the previous night. Looking down at my legs I saw a large gash on my left leg and it felt like a piece of glass was stuck into the back of my right ankle, I couldn't see very well as the knee deep water was very dirty.
I waded over to the bungalow next to mine, which was still relatively intact, and knocked on the door. The curtain twitched to one side and I heard a woman's scream, eventually the lady occupying the bungalow opened the door and passed me a pair of her partner's underpants. These, though small and in a style which I would not normally select, were very welcome and I was most grateful to be at least partially covered. As I was pulling on my new underwear I heard shouting and, in between the shouts, the roar I had heard before could be made out. Afraid of being caught in the open and swept away I had myself and the underpant lady stand inside the door of her bungalow, I hoped that the structure would stand up to the wave as it had previously done, and if it filled up with water I figured we could swim out the door.
My plan was flawed. This next wave was carrying a huge mass of debris from its previous landfall and this smashed into the flimsily built bungalow like a wrecking ball. It tore down the front wall and swept us both to the back of the room, filling the room up with debris. With the room full of debris our escape route was blocked and as the room quickly filled with water I thought to myself "This is it". I filled my lungs with air and resolved to last as long as I could. The water kept rising and then, blackness, I was again completely submerged in filthy seawater without air. I tried to remain calm, but as the seconds ticked by I rapidly became more frantic. I started scrabbling at the ceiling with my fingers trying to burrow my way through, but the plaster was as hard and smooth as a piece of glass. An eternity passed as I worked as I dug away and then a miracle. The smallest gap of air formed at the ceiling and I forced my lips into it to get a breath. The water continued to slowly drop and as it did so I felt the fingertips of underpants lady, grabbing her I lifted her tiny body up into the air gap and shouted at her to breathe. She fought me, kicking and scratching, trying to climb over me to get to the air, but once she had taken a few breaths she calmed down.
With the water again on the retreat we could pick our way out of the bungalow and we resolved to head for high ground as quickly as possible. I was certain that, if I tried to weather another wave so close to the beach, I would be killed.
We made our way through waist deep murky water toward the main beach road behind the resort, picking up a few more cuts on the way. Underpants lady told me her name was Gail and we went as fast as possible, though the piece of glass in the back of my leg was slowing me to a snail's pace. We were still in the open when we heard more shouts warning us that another wave was coming, looking around quickly I saw two walls built parallel to the beach and we got ourselves between them and held on to a small palm tree which was growing there. I hoped that the walls would withstand the force of the water and that, if the level rose too much, we could climb the palm tree. Luckily, this plan worked better than the last one and once the water level dropped again we were able to resume our journey.
After crossing Patong Beach Road we took shelter in a sturdy four story bank building with about fifteen other survivors. There we stayed for around three hours before braving the street level in order to try and get to the hospital. I later learnt that my two dive buddies were both alive and had only suffered cuts and bruises, they too were both close to the beach, one asleep like me, the other breakfasting. We were very, very lucky.
After spending the night in Phuket, I managed to get out to Bangkok on the 27th and, after renewing my passport on the 28th, returned to Taipei on the 29th.
All of us had suffered cuts and all of these became seriously infected from the dirty water. I had to take antibiotics for about four weeks and one of my buddies ended up being hospitalised with infection.
After replacing all of my dive gear I returned to diving in Puerto Galera with Atlantis on 6th February, even though I was still having a few problems walking. I started off with a nice easy 18m "vanilla" dive with one of the guys I was in Thailand with, but for the rest of the holiday managed to successfully complete the TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures courses.
Scuba diving has a lot to do with this story. Scuba diving brought me to Thailand that morning, and I believe that my dive training, especially the rescue and DM training, played a key role in my survival. Being trained to deal with stressful situations whilst underwater meant that I didn't panic and I think that more than anything saved my life. More significantly, scuba diving has played a vital role in my recovery. Once I had returned to diving I had no more problems sleeping and no more nightmares. Though the events of that day will always be with me and a part of me, I no longer see the room filling up with black water every time I close my eyes. My return to diving was THE key turning point in my mental recovery.
So, that's it. Sorry that it's a bit lengthy.
