Only stay the night as I want to get over to Koh Phi Phi the next morning to do some diving. Already checked out and waiting in the hotel restaurant, when rumors start coming in of some kind of landslide out on the island causing an inbound tidal wave. Hysteria hits the streets as people and vehicles are making for higher ground, I grab my camera and head out to see what the commotion is all about. By the time I reach the shoreline the first wave has hit sending water rushing inland, loaded with all manner of debris including tires, bricks, sign posts and furniture. Motorcycles are lost beneath the torrent and people are fleeing.
The next wave is already on the horizon approaching, the tide seems unusually high, almost breeching the half built breakwater. The wave forces all of this water, and most of the construction material inland; I grab the nearest post and hold on, waiting for the force of the water to subside. Fortunately the only thing lost is my shoes. Over the next 15 minutes another 3 or 4 waves hit and sweep inland causing more destruction.
The damage to the beach front is immense, fishing boats are shattered, vehicles abandoned, bricks and debris covers the road. The little restaurant where I stopped for a beer the previous evening no longer exists. A small inlet at the end of the bay is blocked with around 12 long-tailed boats that were forced up there during the surge of water. A mangled pile of wrecked engines and splintered wood is all that remains of many of them.
We hear warnings of more waves and aftershocks but nothing comes. People are on edge, the air is tense, many leave and close up their businesses to seek out lost relatives on the islands.
Two days later more rumors fly and crowded restaurants are cleared within 30 seconds as a surge of panicking people flee to higher ground. Nothing comes. The authorities have done a remarkable job of cleaning up Ao Nang, three days later and sea front businesses were starting to open.
Manage to get one of the dive operators to run a boat out to the local islands on Thursday as I’m curious to see the state of the coral and fringing reefs. Outer islands and deeper waters seem relatively intact but those closer to shore are battered beyond recognition. It will take at least a hundred years for the coral to grow again.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all those that have lost loved ones in the disaster, we were fortunate, many were not.
Here is the story by a colleage who was with me at the time and my photo gallery
