Phuket Reports

[Thumbs Up]

My deepest sympathies for the all the victoms. There, but for the grace of god, it could have been me. Like many here I have been there a number of times. One can only image how many people (esp. Farangs) would have been sweep out to sea (from the beaches) if the Tsunami had came crashing in at 2 in the afternoon. Or how many would have drown in Patong Beach (Bangla Road) if the Tsunami had rolled in around mid-night.

[JuiceSpike]

Troy Husum, a 28-year-old Canadian, was on holiday in Phuket, Thailand. He spoke of the devastation as the waves hit the town of Patong and how survivors are coping.

I felt the quake first at about 0915.
I went out on my balcony in the hotel where I was staying - it was a beautifully calm day - and talked to others on their balconies. The quake felt very slight so we thought little of it.

About 45 minutes later, I noticed that water had receded from Patong Bay. We'd never seen it before and we could hear people on the beach talking about it. You could even see fish flopping around on the beach, which was unusual.

I noticed small kids and tourists walking to where the water had receded, curious as to why the water had gone.

Then I saw it - I noticed people craning their necks and looking out on the horizon. You could see a wall of water about three or four stories high.

I felt like I was watching a movie, it was completely surreal.

It wasn't moving very quickly, it took between four and five minutes until I saw it hit and in that time slowly people started to realise what was happening.

Most disturbing was I saw people literally disappear when the water hit... people were literally swept away

People were saying 'Oh God, what is that?' I thought I was dreaming.

After a few seconds the wave hit and smashed against the beach.

It was incredible, it actually bent the trees, washed everything away - at least 1,000 beach umbrellas were swept along as all the water surged through.

There is a line of cars where people park by the beach and hundreds of bikes, I saw them all picked up like toys and moved along.

Most disturbing was I saw people literally disappear when the water hit.

I saw a lot running, but there were people snoozing on the beach, I saw small children hit. People were literally swept away.

A lot of injuries occurred from people being hit by debris from cars, from bikes.

Running for safety

I thought I should get some pictures because I was staying on the fourth floor of my hotel, but other people on the balconies said we had to get on the roof.

I grabbed my equipment and ran outside into the hall. People were screaming "Go! Go!" I ran up the stairs and saw the water coming.

It flowed up to the third floor, you could see it in the stairwell, some people were completely wet.

We watched the chaos from the roof. The water had already started to recede as we got there.

The hardest part for survivors was actually when water receded - the undercurrent sucked people back into the ocean.

Bodies

The most frightening part was not the wave - it was the panic that ensued.


There were car accidents, people were trying to escape as everyone was positive another wave was coming.

People - mainly local Thais - went up the roads to the mountain and slept up there for safety.

Within an hour I went back to the beach. I saw bodies. The rescue crews were panicking and there was not much control.

Bodies were pulled from the debris - most had clearly drowned. I also saw a number of fractures - one tourist had a very badly broken arm.

You could constantly hear helicopters - they flew up to about one kilometre out to sea to try to rescue people.

Last night most hotels allowed tourists to sleep for free in their lobbies or by the pool and there was still a lot of fear and misinformation about other waves.

Aftermath

This morning the cleanup started. All the foreigners are in disbelief, there are two or three feet of sand in all these devastated restaurants.

There are piles and piles of rubble deep inland - it looks like a bomb has gone off.

Some bars I went to the night before on the beach are completely gone,. All of the palm trees were flatted or removed. How is water capable of doing that?

They are carting out hundreds of cars and bikes and the streets are still covered with sand.

They really should have cordoned off the streets. There has been a little looting, some last night and today. I saw guys with televisions and computers.

There are people staggering around with injuries, I saw a girl with bandage on her head. Today there have also been sirens which have now died down.

They are still pulling people out of the debris. One was a small Thai girl - she must have been there all night but she was still alive.

[Duniawala]

Regarding the tsunami warning, this region has not seen any in the last hundred years at least. The warning systems are in place in the Pacific as it is more common there. I doubt anyone had forseen such a tragedy would occur. Hopefully something will come out of it (a warning system, that is.).

The following is the list from Los Angeles Times, where relief donations can be sent.

Aid for quake and tsunami victims

These aid agencies are among those accepting contributions for assistance that they or their affiliates will provide for those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Asia. For links to these and other aid agencies, go to http://www.latimes.com/tsunami .

American Jewish World Service
45 W. 36th Street, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10018
800-889-7146
http://www.ajws.org

American Red Cross
International Response Fund
P.O. Box 37243
Washington, DC 20013
800-HELP NOW
http://www.redcross.org

Catholic Relief Services
P.O. Box 17090
Baltimore, MD 21203-7090
800-736-3467
http://www.catholicrelief.org

Direct Relief International
27 S. La Patera Lane
Santa Barbara, CA 93117
805-964-4767
http://www.directrelief.org

Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres
P.O. Box 2247
New York, NY 10116-2247
888-392-0392
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

International Medical Corps
11500 W. Olympic Blvd., Suite 506
Los Angeles, CA 90064
800-481-4462
http://www.imcworldwide.org

Operation USA
8320 Melrose Ave., Ste. 200
Los Angles, CA 90069
800-678-7255
http://www.opusa.org

[MacMac]

Here is an article on the topic I just posted about:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6756409/

Apparently it was 1 hour, not 2.

[Nutso]

a friend was able to make it out in one piece. but here is his story. gives us all a reason to be thankful.


***************

where to start? well, i'm alive, that's a start. quite an interesting day, to say the least. i woke up about 7:30, showered and came down to the open air lobby for a cup of coffee and to decide what to do for the day. since i'm on vacation, i've been deciding things on a whim, and yesterday was no different. while drinking my coffee sue, the owner's girlfriend, came over and we started chatting about my plans. i spent the previous day on railey beach, so i figured to head to phi phi. this is at 8:20. she said there are two ferries, leaving at 8:30 and 10:30. hurry, she said, and i can get you on the 8:30. so i rushed to pack and get on the bus to the ferry landing. no problem. stopped at railey beach to pick up a few more people, and then we motored on towards phi phi.

nearing the island, a few people on deck noticed a wall of white water further out to sea, like a wave breaking early. thinking nothing of it, we sat back down and waited to get there. wait is the key word. when we got to phi phi, there were several boats waiting just outside of the harbor, and no boats in the harbor...i mean nothing was there. this is when the information we were getting starts to get sketchy, and rumors are flying. first we are told the tide is too low, and the waves are pushing the boats too much.

soon after i hear this, i see a giant white wave breaking over phi phi, the second or final tidal wave to crash over the island. we arrived at about 11:00. the first wave hit at about 10:45, followed by two more, devasting the island, killing many. we were at the right place at the right time, within minutes of being overturned. the shelter of the island actually took the brunt of the force, sparing us. as we were sitting in front of phi phi, which we did for 6 hours, we started to get news. first, we saw boats floating by, speed boats overturned in the trees at phi phi, trees and rubish in the water, which got heavier and heavier as time wore on. a large ferry, similar to ours, pulled up next to us; it had left just after we did from ao nong. there were a few people aboard, and one of the crew came on, bleeding from a would to his chest, hysterical. another was carried on board, with scratches and cuts all over his body. they were missing the rest of the crew; the boat was tossed in the air by the wave we just missed.

oddly, the thais on our boat didn't seem too terribly concerned about this guy. i mean he has gashes all over his body, his feet are bleeding through his dirty bandages, and all they can do is lay him down. a german couple and i gave him first aid, cleaning his wounds and putting on new bandages. deep lacerations and puncture wounds all over his feet and ankles. by this time everyone fairly understands something has gone terribly wrong, but still, no announcement come from the boat, just rumors from one of the crew members. at no time did they make an announcement telling us what to do, or when we'll go. up until we left, we were still thinking we were going to phi phi.

rumors of a tidal wave, killing thousands, began to surface. another boat pulls along side us, loading a few more injured people for us to take to the mainland. finally, after 7 hours on the boat, we started back to ao nong, where we started. as we began to approach the mainland, the rubbish started to show in the water. kilometers from land, whole trees, bottles, trash, and boats...lots of longtail boats destroyed. pulling into krabi, not ao nong, was our first surprise, then the rumors started getting mixed with the facts, and we all realized how lucky we were. ao nong, hit by a wave 20 feet high, gone? railey beach, washed over, gone? 200 dead on phi phi, all but 2 hotels gone? hard to know what to beleive, what to do. do i leave, stay and help, where do i go?

i decided to head back to ao nong, as i heard the wave hit it hard, but most of the hotels are still open. i got a ride in one of the many ambulances gojng there, which was, i must say, a bit disconcerting. as i came into ao nong, there was complete mayhem. streets closed, police cars and ambulances everywhere, people milling around looking dazed. a guy came up and started filling us in. fifth largest earthqauke ever, massive tuisnami killing thousands. i walked down to the beach, and saw the damage. mud spilled fifty feet back from the headwall ( which saved many people), broken glass, felled trees, boats sitting on the street, sunken boats on the beach. ominously, there were a few search and rescue boats in the water, trolling, looking.

a guy i met said he was standing on the beach when it came. on a side note, i have met some of the most interesting people in the world in the last week; he was one of them.

"i beat cancer...i crashed my bike last night and broke my arm...sharks almost got me twice...and this wave tried to kill me. but not me, i'm not ready to go."

standing there, he saw, like everyone else on all the beaches, the water receeding dramatically. fish are flopping, boats are overturning. then, the thai girls selling foods and things on the beach start screaming run, run, run. a wall of foaming water was coming in, and people were running up to the safety of high ground. those in the water were swept out, then hurtled in, dashed and thrown. the wave broke on the head wall, but that just threw it up and out, as high as the street lights, up the main street. at railey, people saw the receeding water and started running for the mountain. many didn't make it. the stories i heard last night, of the close calls, the not as close calls, the near misses...and those with friends, family and loved ones who were missing are astounding.

one woman i met at dinner was diving at phi phi. this is interesting because one of the women on board our boat had a boyfriend diving at the same area, only early in the day. they were in the water, getting ready to submerge, when the captain of the boat started waving his arms, yelling at them to wait, something wasn't right. as they floated, she looked down and saw a wall of white water rush past her, under her feet and heading for phi phi, where it crashed up and over everything. anyone under water at the time...i haven't seen the woman yet whose boyfriend was diving, but reports of 40 divers missing doesn't sit well.

finally, i made my way to the hotel i had the night before, the one where they rushed to get me on the ferry to phi phi. i think this is where it really hit me that i was very lucky...timing is everything. the staff ran up and started hugging me, the owner kept poking me, asking if i was really ok. (unfortunately for him, as of this morning, his parents are missing.) you so lucky...you so lucky, they kept saying. apparently, they had heard that the boat i was on had been one of the boats to overturn. they thought i had taken a swim, and for those of you that know my swimming abilities, that didn't bode well. the boat that came up to us while we out in front of phi phi was the one that got hit, just behind us.

well, i guess we all have stories of near misses. this is mine. i hope to never have to tell you all about another.

the ambulances keep going by. i'm getting out of here. bangkok, here i come.

"not swimming with the fishes" r.

[MacMac]

What I dont get is: there were a couple of hours between the quake and the tsunami hitting Phuket, right? And it clearly was going to hit, this was well known for those 2 hours. Lots of people knew a wall of water was moving across the ocean toward Thailand, and Indonesia just got slammed by it. There's no warning sytem on Phuket, but why werent the hotel owners on the beach alerted? And local police? There was something like a 2 hour window to get the word out. Its not like Phuket is an Indian fishing village, its a major international resort island with plenty of expensive hotels with phones and internet access right on the beach. Why werent there hotel waiters, owners, police, anyone and everyone running around on the beach screaming their heads off? If they werent notified, why not? The information was out there, why werent they called? Why werent police trucks going nuts on the beach, warning people? This is a real question, not a rhetorical one, if anyone out there knows how it went down on Phuket please let me (us) know. To me, even without an official warning system, what happened could have been prevented, a lot of lives could have been saved -unless theres something I'm missing here. Like a lot of other people here, I'm a frequent visitor to Thailand and am really disturbed about what happened.

[Daijek]

Very sad, dunno what to say.

Lets pray for the death toll stop climbing.

Daijek

[My Alias]

As someone who went through the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake and tsunami in Alaska, my hopes and prayers are with each of you. If you have any suggestions for active relief agencies that seem to be making a difference, please post contact info so we can make donations.

[Nauskas]

As the death toll approaches 30K, it is clear that this was avoidable.

The ocean bouy warning system was not able to protect Phuket, because in Thailand only the other shore is protected for Bangkok and Pattaya.
USGS reports frantically alerting countries effected, but few if any had any type of national alert system.

Possibly with this well known issue, Phuket will be protected in the future.


Killer tsunami takes high toll in Thailand
By John Hail
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

Bangkok, Thailand, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Frantic search and rescue operations were mounted Monday for thousands of foreign tourists and Thai coastal residents missing or cut off after massive tsunami waves hit the region.

Thai officials said 451 people were confirmed to have been killed after the waves crashed over some of the country's most popular beach resorts Sunday, with at least 2,000 injured and nearly 400 missing and feared drowned.

They said they expected the death toll to rise further as rescue teams reach several outlying islands, including Kho Phi Phi, where about 200 scuba divers and other foreign tourists were among the missing.

The idyllic island, which was used as a backdrop for the 2000 film, "The Beach," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was devastated by the tidal waves, with scores of divers swept away.

Among those killed was Thai King Bhumipol's American-born grandson, Bhumi, 21, who was reported to have been out on a jet ski off the southern resort of Khao Lak in Phang-nga province when the killer tsunami hit Sunday morning.

Thailand's world-renowned beach resorts at Phuket were also hit hard by the tidal waves, which crashed into beach-front bungalows and bars and sent fishing boats smashing into hotels and shop houses.

"The beach front is ruined and will take months and months to get back to its former self," Swiss national Shankar Biman told United Press International on Phuket island. "I have not seen such devastation since I experienced ruins left after World War II in northern Italy. And it is the first time I have seen the results of unleashed natural forces.

"The tourists have packed their bags and left," Biman said. "Many thousands of people have lost their livelihood, luckier than the many who lost their lives," he said.

Phuket's governor said the bodies of more than 35 foreign tourists had been recovered from the island's beaches.

Two trawlers were reported missing off the coast of Ranong province, and dozens of fishing boats were also swamped by the tsunami.

The waves hit at the height of the tourist season, when thousands of Western tourists and locals were enjoying their Christmas holidays.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who flew to Phuket Sunday night to take charge personally of rescue and relief operations, said the evacuation of tourist beaches was proceeding smoothly.

"Don't panic," he said. "Now, there is no problem in the inner city (of Phuket). People have already been evacuated from risk-prone areas. We will try to give them comforts and accommodations as much as we can."

He said ambassadors and other officials from 25 countries were going to Phuket to keep track of their nationals who have been killed, injured or are missing since the killer waves struck the area.

Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphun said medical personnel were being rushed to Phuket's Patong Hospital, which was swamped with hundreds of people injured by the waves.

Thousands of Thai and foreign relatives of the victims waited at the hospital and other points on the island for news of their loved ones.

[Ice Raj]

guys,

hope all of you are safe.

wish you godspeed.

ice

editor's note: posting of this report was delayed pending revisions to correctly spell the words "you", "are" and "because". to avoid delays in future reports, please refrain from using "u" instead of "you", "r" instead or "are", "em" instead of "them", and "cuz" instead of "because", etc. thanks!

[Killroy]

My prayers goes out to all of you in Phuket,I've been following it all from Bkk,and I have to say it's the scariest I've seen for a long long time.

Luckily all of my friends that where there survived,with some bad bruces tho.

Once again all my prayers to all of you!

[Starfe]

Feel your pain and only wish those that are there a safe return to your families.

[Magic501]

Thanks for the link, Traveler. I passed it on to a friend of mine who, while not a member of this board, traveled in the area a lot and was grateful for the information. Hope you guys are keeping safe over there.

Magic

[The Traveler]

If you like to see some pics of the desaster area on Phuket you have to go to

http://www.************.com/.

There is a message board section. When you get in that go to its general thread. The photos are there.

A direct link doesn't work, sorry.

[JuiceSpike]

from the bbc...

at least 257 people died and 1,000 were injured after the massive sea surges caused by an earthquake smashed into thailand's western coast.

the worst hit areas were on beaches near phuket, with reports of divers and sunbathers being swept out to sea.

hotels were under water after 5m-10m (16 to 33 feet) waves hit the coast and there were reports of tourist bungalows being carried away by the water.

tourists spoke of their disbelief at the scale and speed of the disaster.

"the beach is a disaster now with all of the local restaurants and beach chairs businesses totally destroyed," one reader in phuket told the bbc news website.

one hotel worker in phuket said the tide of water flooded the hotel lobby and pulled furniture onto the street.

"as i was standing there, a car actually floated into the lobby and overturned because the current was so strong," boree carlsson told reuters news agency.

thai officials said the toll was expected to rise because scores of people were still missing.

there were particular fears for divers, since the tidal wave hit when hundreds of tourists and instructors were in the water for a boxing day dive.

up to 80 divers were reported to be trapped in the famous emerald cave, which divers can only reach by swimming underwater.

on the island of koh phi phi, made famous as the location for the 2000 film "the beach", officials spoke of widespread damage and islanders and tourists being airlifted to safety.

one report from the island said 200 bungalows had been swept out the sea.

tourism is one of thailand's most important industries, with hundreds of thousands of western and asian tourists drawn to its beaches each year.

in neighbouring malaysia, at least 20 people were reported killed after the tidal waves hit. most of the dead were in the holiday resort of penang.