I forgot my friend from high school went to Phuket for Christmas
quite a narrow escape for him and his family
from his blog
Sunday, December 26, 2004
7:47 AM
So today my family and I went out on a boat to visit Phiphi island, a tourist spot off the coast of Phuket. After an hour boat ride, we arrived but couldn't land because of turbulent waves, supposedly caused by some earthquake. We didn't think much of it...although there was debris around the coast and the place looked a little run down, it didn't look like there had been a lot of damage. If anything, we were more concerned that we had wasted an hour riding out there and would now have to turn back. It turns out that Phiphi island had been wiped out by an earthquake in Indonesia, resulting in over 200 people killed on the island itself and scores dead or missing on the main island of Phuket. Apparently the tidal waves hit both islands while we were on route to Phiphi...as we arrived back in Phuket I saw an ugly scene of capsized boats and wrecked piers. If the waves hit as we were leaving Phuket or while we were on Phiphi, we could have been wiped out. Instead, we were hardly affected since we were out at sea at the time, too far out for tidal waves to form. What timing. People on the beach of Phuket were swept away...the beachside restaurant where we ate xmas eve dinner isn't there anymore. Anyway, we ended up having to wait four hours to get home because roads were flooded...a small price to pay for narrowly escaping death. Thank you God for looking out for my family and I.