Quake Ordeal
Take cover the tidal wave is comingJanuary 05, 2005 Edition 1
Candice Soobramoney
It's an ordeal we will never forget for the rest of our lives. That was the chilling response of the Pillay family after arriving in Durban over the weekend, days after being caught in the middle of the tsunami disaster while holidaying in Phuket, Thailand.
What was to have been a well-deserved, relaxing holiday turned into a nightmare for this Johannesburg-based family, who watched in horror as corpses of other holidaymakers crashed against the walls of the hotel where they were staying. Yesterday they recounted their ordeal, still shaking from their experience.
Nad Pillay, 36, an insurance assessor from Bassonia, Johannesburg, and his family experienced first-hand the wrath of the tsunami while staying at the Holiday Inn at Patong Beach, Phuket.
Pillay, his wife, Ragini, 30, self-employed, and two children Kimberly, 10, and Pamlyn, five, arrived in Phuket on December 17, after touring Hong Kong for five days and then heading for Bangkok, to the resort in Patong.
"The resort (before the tsunami) looked like something out of a movie," said Nad, who returned to South Africa last Thursday (December 30).
"You could play with your kids on the beach and go 500m out to sea and the water would reach your knees. It was the most popular and idyllic place to be. There were no waves or ripples like Durban and Cape Town's vicious waters. It was tranquil."
He said his family (up until the tsunami) had a fantastic holiday visiting safari parks and enjoying boat trips on a Four Island tour. The day before Christmas, while on the Four Island tour, he even swam 300m from the boat to the shore because the water was too shallow for the boat to dock.
"There was no indication of what would happen," he said. On that fateful day and because they were checking out of the hotel (on December 26) to board a flight to Bangkok, they awoke at 7am for an early breakfast and to have enough time to pack.
"At 8am I came out of the shower and was feeling dizzy. I saw the curtains and beds move. But because we are foreigners in a country that knows no natural disasters my wife and I brushed it off and headed for breakfast downstairs." He said the breakfast area faced a pool, which faced a road which was sea-facing.
"After breakfast we said our goodbyes to the locals and went back to our room on the second floor to pack at 9.40am. That's when our nightmare began. I opened the balcony door (which faced the hotel parking and lobby) to light a cigarette and saw the street flooded. The entire area (the parking area and lobby) was under water, about two metres deep.
"There was a tree in the parking area that was roughly five metres high and the water reached the leaves. I could not even see the trunk. When I saw cars washing away and bodies floating below I panicked. The force of the water was so fierce it was sweeping along people - who had been lounging at the pool or sunbathing on the beach - and banging them against the hotel wall. Children had no chance of surviving."
Pillay said three waves, about 10m high, stormed the land but they managed to see the full effect of only the third wave.
"Our room was about eight metres from the ground and the water was half-a-metre short of reaching us. I immediately closed the balcony door and ran out into the passage to the reception. People there told me to take cover, a tidal wave was coming. I ran back to my room, grabbed my kids and wife and ran up the fire escape to the third floor, and then up again. The water kept rising.
"On the sixth floor there was chaos all around. The water was sweeping 4x4s and boats along from the shore. Unfortunately, the staff, bathers and vendors (from the street in front of the pool) had no chance. They were hit first. They must have been crushed."
He said the water then washed back to the ocean before continuing on its path of destruction destroying everything in sight, including restaurants, stores and homes, or forming a dam in low lying areas.
"By 5pm the water had begun to settle in dams and the backwash dragged hundreds of bodies out to sea. Rescue teams had to pluck corpses from the ocean.
"When my family was safe I headed downstairs to help. Most people were using buckets and spades to clear the mess. The cleaning-up process was slow.
"I tried to reunite families and helped rescuers find a German woman on the beach. The force of mother nature was staggering. There were dead bodies all over, and fish were lying dead on the floor.
"We were soaked from trying to save and locate survivors. I'm a good swimmer and ventured out to try to make a difference.
"I turned over one corpse and to my horror recognised the German woman who had sat next to me at Christmas lunch. Although I don't remember her name, the lady, who was about 70, was on the island with her husband. She had told me Phuket was their annual holiday destination."
Pillay said before heading to the airport the next day (December 27) to board a plane to Bangkok, they had to walk through the stench of decomposing bodies and rotting fish. They waited from 9am to 3pm before boarding a flight.
"My family and I will have nightmares about this for the rest of our lives.
"We appreciate our country now more than ever because we don't have natural disasters. Despite what happened, the Asian continent will always be the most lovely place in the world.
"I plan to tour Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia and Indonesia in December," he added.
"After a late 16km walk in Tiruvannamalai around the Shiva Temple my family and I had driven to our guest house in Annanagar in Chennai last Sunday at 5.45am. We had bathed and were lying down when the bed started to shake uncontrollably at 6.20am.
"I thought someone was under it," said Tilly. "Then the ceiling fan began to dance. I was trying to figure out what was happening but the bed was bouncing all over the floor.
"My son Nishshalan, 27, a radio frequency engineer at Motorola in Sandton, thought it was a plane but when a flock of crows outside began to squawk in fear I knew they sensed danger."
She added: "I thought it was a tremor but I never expected this. I have been overseas 15 times. India is my second home and even though we were traumatised we will return there."
"This is a private trip. I have to be in Asia to see for myself the full extent of the devastation and help where I can." He will return to SA at the end of the month.
