A remarkable story of survival on an island near the epicenter. The water came in twice, once 40 feet high and once fifty. These people seem remarkably blessed. They got a fishing boat to the main island, then an airplane out.
Here's another couple survival stories from Yahoo.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20041230/ca_pr_on_wo/tsunami_cda_survivors&cid=2149&ncid=2149
Canadian survivors recall tsunami horror on Thai tourist island
1 hour, 55 minutes ago
DEDDEDA STEMLER
PHUKET, Thailand (CP) - After being tossed around underwater like a rag doll for what seemed like an eternity, Rachel Gobeil was finally thrown to the surface and gasped for air. As she inhaled a life-saving breath and looked into the bewildered eyes of the French woman she had just met, they were suddenly pulled under again.
"I thought, 'That's it, we will both die,' " the 27-year-old from Les Escoumins, Que., recalled Wednesday as she lay on a thin mattress on the floor of Bangkok Phuket Hospital, bandaged and unable to walk. Next to her was injured boyfriend Jean-Francois Joly, 35, a marine engineer for the Canadian Coast Guard.
The couple had travelled to the popular tourist island of Koh Phi Phi three weeks ago where Gobeil hoped to fulfil her dream of becoming a scuba instructor. They were preparing to board a dive boat with eight others when, without warning, the first wave hit. The couple was swept off the floating pier and became separated.
"The water at the pier is 18 metres deep, so there was no warning," she said. "The wave just came up. It was 10 metres high. My boyfriend yelled to run, but I froze and could not run."
Gobeil said she managed to hold on to the railing of the pier until the metal broke loose in her hands. Thankful she was wearing a backpack that offered some initial protection, it wasn't long before it was ripped to shreds.
"I saw a long tail boat (traditional-style wooden Thai boat) jump over the wave above me. Then all the long tail boats came at me. One of the boats passed over me and the propeller cut my hip."
Pulled to the surface three times while in the wave, she said the force of the water pushed her onto one side of a mountain and through a bamboo hut full of people that were washed away alongside her.
"I landed on the roof of the compression room in the dive shop 120 metres away," Gobeil said. "Then I fell off the roof and landed on a dead body. I had electric cables wrapped around my wrist and I could not walk."
Joly, her boyfriend, nearly drowned and is suffering from a lung infection from inhaling water. He suffered severe cuts after he was flung through debris of trees, furniture and construction on the side of another mountain.
"He landed next to many dead Thai children in a schoolyard," Gobeil said.
Gobeil and Joly were separately assisted to higher ground in the jungle by local people and, for five hours, didn't know whether the other was dead or alive. Eventually, a Thai boy Joly had befriended found Gobeil and the couple was reunited and spent the night in the jungle.
"The Thai people who survived helped everybody, even though I know many of them lost their own family members," said Gobeil. Twenty-four hours later, they were airlifted by helicopter to Phuket.
Expressing mild disappointment that the Canadian government had not sent planes as other countries had to transport injured people home for medical attention, Gobeil said they are on a list compiled by the Canadian Embassy for transfer to a hospital in Bangkok for treatment.
"We don't have a flight home to Canada and we have to get some money," she said. "We need proper treatment as Jean has a bad lung infection and I have problems with my spine and hips.
"The other problem is that our visas expire tomorrow (Thursday)."
Nevertheless, Gobeil is grateful to be alive.
"The miracle is that we are alive and together," said Gobeil, glancing over at Joly and producing a weak smile.
Another lucky fellow is John Austin, who arrived in Thailand on Dec. 22 for a vacation from his cleaning and maintenance business in Montreal. He was dozing in front of the TV early Boxing Day after a night of partying. He heard a rumble and looked outside the window of his main-floor hotel room on Patong Beach to see water rushing over the swimming pool.
"Next thing I know, the bloody patio window doors were blown into my room!" Austin recalled Wednesday from his hospital bed, attached to an intravenous drip with scrapes and bruises covering his body and a bandage wrapped around his right ankle. "I knew right away it was a tidal wave."
Austin prides himself in being water savvy.
"I've been around boats and water my whole life. I'm a diver. I've been in hurricanes. I've survived severe storms. I've seen it all! Or so I thought."
Austin said that as he headed for the door, the room filled with water to the ceiling within three seconds.
"The TV, bureau and cabinets were floating and the bed was coming down the corridor toward me. The sheer force of the water and the furniture pinned me against the door instantly. I was under water for two or three minutes when the door suddenly burst open! My body left its impression in the plywood as I was forced out into the hall."
As Austin flew out of his room like a torpedo, he said he slammed into the concrete siding of a walkway 20 metres away.
"I had debris, furniture, you name it, and the pressure of the water pounding against me until both of my arms got pinned. Then the second wave hit and I was underwater once again."
Austin said his lungs began to fill with water and he thought his life was over.
"I began to think about death and people finding my body trapped here. Then my killer instinct came in and I had to give one more try to live. I pulled and turned my body until I freed my arms and legs. Then I shot up to the surface to get air."
He said he managed to grab hold of and straddle some railing until the water receded. Another man was also holding on to the railing for his life.
"He was completely butt-naked and was in shock," explains Austin. "He probably wondered where I came from."
While Austin was fighting for his life, John Macdonald of Collingwood, Ont., who turns 68 on New Year's Day, stood enjoying the sunshine and the view of crystal-clear turquoise water from the waterfront deck of a hotel restaurant on Nai Harn Beach. Before he knew it, a wave rushed in and lifted the entire deck structure.
Sitting in his hospital bed at Vachira Hospital, he supports his right leg, which is bandaged at the thigh, and smiles at his only son, David, who flew in Tuesday from Kuala Lumpur.
"I was forced under the hotel into a basement of rock and cement," he recalled Wednesday. "I was turning and tossing with 2x4s, trees and debris. I couldn't get air. The basement filled to the ceiling with water."
When the water finally receded, he said he managed to touch the bottom and search for an escape route.
"I was completely exhausted by this time, but found a small window to climb out of. I saw another man crawl through the window and called for him to help me, but he didn't come back."
After crawling through the window, Macdonald said he found himself next to the hotel reception desk, completely naked. He asked some staff who had survived the wave for some clothing and the only piece they could find was a chef's apron.
Macdonald, who came to Phuket to teach English, said he received approximately 75 stitches in his leg with no anesthetic at the hospital.
"That was very traumatic for me, but the painkillers work wonders. I check out tomorrow (Thursday)!"
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041227/325/f98km.html