After the Waves: The First Email Home
A message from us to worried friends at home.
We were lucky enough to find a way - which is part of the bigger story that is too long to go into in this post - to get word to family first that were alive and essentially ok. What follows below is the first email that we were able to send to work friends (who were almost like family) a day and a half later once we got back to Bangkok. There were no cell phones in 2004, no omnipresent wi-fi, no hotel business center. We had to find an internet café and rent a computer to send this.
I am so glad to have this saved because it captures some of the points and precise timing of that morning. A lot of what is captured here is what I have written about and will share here in other forms, but as for the nuts and bolts of it all, this is how the morning went.
I’ve edited this slightly only for format, a typo or two, and to remove personal emails and phone numbers. This email was delivered from Ush’s email address on December 27, 2004 and the first person perspective is hers.
-----Original Message-----
From: Usheen & Kim
Sent: Mon Dec 27 07:00:27 2004
Subject: We are ok
Hi Everyone.
We have made it over to Bangkok and are ok. I don't have everyone’s email or the energy quite frankly to write to anyone. Please pass the word that we are fine.
The last 36 hours have been indescribable. We were in Phuket on Patong beach yesterday, the area that was the hardest hit. Our trip was going "perfect" until yesterday at 10:30 am. It is amazing that we are alive. I seriously do not know how we made it off of the island with only a few scratches.
Words cannot describe what we have just witnessed. It seems so unreal. I will try to give u a quick re-cap....
9 am i go downstairs to check my email. Front desk asks me if i am ok with the earthquake that hit at 8am. Kim and i both noticed something, but had no idea it was an earthquake.
Kim is in the room showering while i am checking email. She comes down at 9:30. We go to breakfast and admire the wonderful ocean view we have from the outdoor cafe at our hotel.
10:00 am we go up to get our bags ready, as we were moving hotels to the JW Marriott on the other side of the island for 2 nights.
10:15 bellboy comes to get our bags. I am about to go with him into the elevator but Kim needs to go to the bathroom. I decide to wait with her as the bellboy goes down with our luggage. Thank god i did, as i don't even want to know what the situation would have been if we had not stalled a few minutes. And well, the rest is history.....
Screams, panic, running, I can't even describe the intensity. An earthquake and then a few tidal waves. People being washed into the sea, vehicles flying , blood everywhere, etc. We grabbed water from the mini bar, bedsheets and some leftover food from the room and just ran.
We along with other tourists ran to the roof of our 4 story beach front hotel in panic watching the waves come higher and higher. I seriously thought at one pt. that we were going to drown. Debris flying, people bleeding, our luggage washed into the sea...(all the wonderful shopping ...gone....and all my favorite clothes from my closet...gone....).....it was so awful I can't even begin to get into the details.
After about 2 hrs on the roof, we decided that our only option was to run away from the water and try to get to a high point.
Others stayed at the hotel, and I am not sure what happened to them. Climbing walls, jumping over falling bricks, etc. just to get away from the water. Gosh , i wish i was more fit....running in flip flops and a white skirt was def. not fun.
The important thing is that we are ok. I don't even want to try to describe the rest of our evacuation process, as it is pretty grim. I am thankful we had each other and were thinking smart. There are so many injured and missing--its absolutely devastating.
We are at the JW Marriott in Bangkok now and heading to the local mall to buy clothes as we have nothing. We need to stay here a day or two just to calm down a bit. I think Kim will try to get a flight out before the 31st and I am planning on going to Karachi a few days earlier, as my whole family is on vacation there and has been pretty upset the last 2 days.
We got a flight out of Phuket after some bribing today. I have never wanted to be off a beach so bad in my life. Our room # here in Bangkok is 1052 under DAVAR and the phone # is X.
It is 7pm our time and 7am on Monday morning your time. We will be back to our hotel at 1am or so (1pm your time). We have both decided that it is a good idea for us to have a few cocktails tonight, as they are well deserved & are a good solution to the nerves.
Thanks for your concerns.
Usheen and Kim
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