Martin Markwell, 38 from Porthcawl, South Wales, UK shows how high the water was when the tsunami hit in Hikkaduwa, south of Sri Lanka on December 31, 2004. Markwell was paddling on his surfboard on Sunday off the popular Hikkaduwa beach resort on Sri Lanka's palm-fringed southern coast when he was swept up by a tsunami wave and sent crashing over a white sand beach and into a hotel restaurant.
Martin Markwell, 38, his wife Vicki, 41 and her son Jai, 7 stand together while explaining how they survive when a tsunami flooded the beach in the city of Hikkaduwa, south of Sri Lanka, December 31, 2004.
Vicki Markwell, 41 from Porthcawl, South Wales, UK shows where she was standing with her son Jai, 7 while her husband Martin, 38 was surfing when a tsunami flooded the beach in the city of Hikkaduwa, south of Sri Lanka, December 31, 2004.
Martin Markwell, 38 from Porthcawl, South Wales, UK shows how high the water was when the tsunami brought him into a restaurant dining room while surfing in Hikkaduwa, south of Sri Lanka December 31, 2004. Martin, his wife Vicki, 41 and their boy Jai, 7 survived the disaster and have decided to stay in Sri Lanka to help local people and friends to clear wreckage from the destroyed buildings.
Women give floral offering for 'Yemanja' the Goddess of the Sea, at the Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday, Dec 31, 2004. People dance, sing and carry flowers into the water, giving them to Yemanja, asking for good luck for the New Year 2005. Yemanja is the Goddess of the Sea, African slaves from the Yoruba region brought their beliefs of Yemanja to Brazil. (AP Photo/Douglas Engle)