A Real-Life Tsunami Story

This is Jam, her face hides a multi-faceted story of tragedy and triumph. In the wake of the December 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and subsequent Tsunami, this is the story that has been too traumatic for Jam to share until now.

A brutal undersea earthquake that struck off the coast of Sumatra island, Indonesia, set off the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, also known as the Boxing Day tsunami, on Sunday morning, Dec. 26, 2004.

The magnitude 9.1 quake ruptured a 900-mile stretch of fault line where the Indian and Australian tectonic plates meet. This was a powerful megathrust quake, occurring where the heavy ocean plate slips under the lighter continental plate.

With absolutely no warning the mega quake caused the ocean floor to suddenly rise by as much as 40 meters, triggering a monstrous tsunami. Twenty minutes after the earthquake, the first of several giant 100-foot waves hit the shoreline of Banda Aceh, killing more than 100,000 people and pounding the capital city into a billion shattered fragments.

Then, in succession, tsunami waves battered the coastlines of Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka, killing tens of thousands more. Eight hours later and 5,000 miles from its Asian epicentre, the tsunami claimed its final casualties on the coast of South Africa. In all, nearly 230,000 people were killed, making it one of the deadliest disasters in modern history.

It’s been an absolute privilege to meet and interview Jam 16 years after the devastating tsunami. She wanted to share her story with the world to show how her community unified, in what would become the most arduous days of their lives.

Jam hopes that by telling this story now, in the hardest time that many of us have faced in a generation, people won’t ever forget what happened on Boxing Day 2004.

The Island of Koh Phi Phi is a unique archipelago sitting in between Phuket and the Malacca Strait. Its distinctive topography and lush limestone cliffs make it stand out from the other nearby islands. The thing that makes Phi Phi particularly susceptible to tsunamis and storm surges, is the island’s geography.

Located in the ring of fire, Phi Phi is vulnerable, with little to no sea defences. The shape of the island is extremely narrow, a small strip of sand connects two asymmetrical pieces of land and serves as the epicentre.

At many points along the main walking path, you can see blue water on either side, which is why the Island was hit so hard. The tsunami waves came in from both the east and west-facing beaches repeatedly, hitting harder each time.

Jam’s Story

Jam was born in Krabi town and decided to relocate to Phi Phi where she met her husband in 1999. Life was good for Jam who sold souvenirs for a living in her very own shop, whilst raising four children in what was the most popular tropical island getaway in Thailand.

Jam was at home that morning on Tonsai beach, located on the west side of the Phi Phi Don archipelago when all hell broke loose.

She’d spoken to her husband, who minutes earlier, had frantically called to warn her of the incoming wave. He told her to leave everything inside the house and run to an elevated area inland. But, before she could react it was too late.

In a matter of seconds, a wall of water came crashing in, destroying everything on both sides of the archipelago. This is called a ridge, and it happens when the positive peak of a wave reaches the shore first resulting in a massive breaking wave or sudden flooding.

A trough on the other hand will usually result in massive wave recession and will expose the seafloor. The drawback can exceed hundreds of metres and is a sure warning sign that something devastating is about to happen.

This is what happened after the first wave period ended. The powerful ridge wave which had destroyed everything in its path was now transforming into a trough. Receding into the ocean and gaining momentum for another deadly surge, the wave would wrap itself around the tiny island collecting debris and forcing it inland as much as 100 metres.

Seconds later, the wave tore its way through the front door. When it blasted out one of the bungalow walls, Jam saw her chance to escape and dove through the jagged hole into the raging black water.

The giant wave then took control, spinning and somersaulting her body, nearly ripping her arms and legs clean off. Heavy debris pounded her mercilessly.

After what felt like a lifetime underwater, Jam stopped spinning long enough to start swimming. She headed desperately toward what she thought was the surface but failed to find it in the dark water. Running out of air and strength, she panicked, burning more oxygen every second. At that point, Jam felt sure she would die and, in her mind, began her farewells to her husband and daughter.

Jam, now semi-conscious and struggling for her life, washed up in the centre of town, about half a kilometre away from Loh Dalum beach. The debris-filled waves battered their way inland, pushing Jam more than fifty feet into the air.

Holding onto a coconut tree for her dear life, the water actively pushed Jam upwards. She was able to use this force to climb to the top of the tree and secure herself, but only for a short while.

Not being able to swim was her main concern at this point because she knew that it was only a matter of time before she’d lose her grip and be swept away into the crashing black waves below.

The devastation was unlike anything that had come before. The only thing now standing amidst the sea of wood, metal and rocks was the coconut tree that Jam was holding onto. Luckily this tree was old and firmly rooted into the ground, otherwise, Jam may not be here today to share her story with the world.

As the water started to successively ebb and flow, waves of destruction battered inwards and dragged the last remaining remnants of the town out to sea. The water was coming in from both sides, clashing together with a tremendous amount of force. This energy created a mound of water and debris in the centre of the island which would eventually be dragged back out to sea and spewed up again, in what felt like a never-ending cycle of destruction.

At this point, Jam was able to see the true impact of the disaster. She looked out over the horizon, battered, bruised and barely able to stay conscious. She wasn’t prepared for the menacing sight right in front of her eyes.

A beach hut, all the way from Tonsai pier had become dislodged and was heading straight for her. Crashing like thunder through the monstrous waves, it broke up into pieces just before it hit her.

The fragmented bamboo strips raced towards her, cutting into her forearm and stripping the skin clean off. Still, Jam had to hold on because letting go meant sudden death.

In this very moment, which felt like a lifetime, Jam thought she was going to die. Gasping for breath, her energy was slowly waning, her blood running into the black waters, Jam was losing consciousness.

Tunnel vision ensued; all she could see was a couple of yards in front of her. Barely being able to make out the distant calls from a voice that felt very familiar to her. It was her husband, Lee.

Lee was on the roof of a nearby resort. He’d been alerted to her presence by a neighbour who frantically told him through hand gestures where she was.

He spotted Jam amidst the water and debris in the distance and immediately began the arduous journey of jumping from roof to roof to save his nearly unconscious wife. It took over 25 minutes to cross a 200 yard stretch of duplicitous terrain, all the while calling his wife to make sure she stayed conscious.

The waves suddenly started to recede at a rapid pace. This was Lee’s chance to save Jam and bring her to relative safety. Jam could instinctively feel her husband’s efforts and listened carefully to what he told her.

He grappled his way from the roof onto the tree where Jam lay, stricken, in shock. He put his arms around hers and cupped her body into his own. Slowly, he made his way down the tree with Jam in tow.

On the ground, exhausted and barely conscious, the couple didn’t have a lot of time to think about their next move. Wounded and semi-conscious, Jam was in danger of going into shock. But she tells us that her motherly instincts kicked in immediately and the search began to find her daughter.

Instinctively they knew they needed to get to higher ground. The only place on Phi Phi which was high enough for zero impact was the viewpoint, so they figured they would start the search there.

The gruelling journey began, the viewpoint was about half a kilometre away. Sharp splintered pieces of wood and metal lay everywhere in every direction. The island was devastated, unrecognisable, with very few remaining buildings standing.

Too shocked to cry or show any emotion, the couple marched forward, in utter silence until they reached the steps of the viewpoint. With an elevation of 568ft, they both knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but began the taxing 1.4-kilometre hike without any hesitation.

About halfway up, they heard the sounds of voices and the distant rumble of a helicopter. Jam and Lee looked each other directly in the eye. If looks could speak a thousand words, it was at this very moment that they had the hardest conversation of their lives.

To even contemplate for a second that their daughter may not be up there was too hard a thought to imagine. They quickened their pace, even though they were on the verge of exhaustion, their daughter’s safety meant more to them than their own lives.

At the top, they saw all the survivors dispersed into different camps. The Thai army had arrived with a helicopter full of supplies, food and emergency medical aid. A handful of doctors and nurses had set up a few makeshift hospital beds for the most critical.

Jam looked around at her neighbours and saw ghosts, former shells of people who had nothing more to lose. Her heart, already broken, was now having to contemplate the loss of a child when she laid eyes upon her daughter. Only twelve years old and already wise beyond her years, she’d run to the viewpoint out of sheer instinct.

Unharmed apart from a few cuts and grazes, little Min was okay and embraced her parents who had before now thought the worst. Jam’s arm was bleeding out pretty heavily, but there were still people coming up from the devastation below. She bravely decided to forego medical attention so that others with more life-threatening injuries could go first.

Sitting down with her family side by side, Jam cleaned and dressed her wounds. She explained to us that euphoria set in, all she could think about was her family and friends who hadn’t made it to the viewpoint and if they ever would.

The whole family could see the island in ruins below, the east and west beaches annihilated. The ancient palms torn from their seams and violently catapulted hundreds of metres away. Every recognisable landmark was rubble, it was hard to believe that anyone could survive such an atrocity.

A second helicopter arrived and brought supplies, but was only able to offer limited medical assistance. A food and water station was set up at the top of the viewpoint and the remaining disabled, injured and elderly were helped to reach the top. Unfortunately, over 25 percent of the people who made it to the viewpoint that day, died from their injuries.

Amid the chaos, Mai looked at Jam who was slouched down, barely able to stay on her feet. She remembered that her mother suffered from hypoglycaemia and needed something to increase her glucose levels quickly. The beauty of the community shone through, as it just so happened a neighbour had an energy drink and swiftly offered it up. She had overheard the conversation between Mai and her mother and was more than willing to help.

Once the final wave had receded and it was safe to go down, Jam’s husband Lee, bravely volunteered to assist the army and help save more lives. He served as an ex-soldier and had participated in numerous training exercises during his stint in the army.

A group of about twenty-five people had become disbanded, ending up on the far north side of the island. Though relatively unharmed, they were isolated, hungry and in shock. Lee assisted the army, travelling by helicopter in an impromptu rescue effort to get the survivors to safe ground. It took two separate trips back and forth from the viewpoint to rescue everyone. Mountains of rubble, murky water and fallen palms lay below. The sound of the blade slap from the rotors of the helicopter smashing against the wind was formidable and a lasting memory for everyone. It wasn’t easy navigating the island during the tsunami, there were barely any safe spots to land and most of the rescues had to be attempted from the air.

The resilience of the local people and the brave soldiers of the Thai Army rallied in a partnership and proved that against all the odds, people were willing to come together and put their own lives in danger to help others. This is humanity working at its best and is one of the reasons why we chose to start the Humanity in Reality Project in the first place. It’s not often you hear stories like this. A personalised account of the worst day of a fellow human being’s life, we hope that you don’t forget what happened the day of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Whilst in the helicopter flying back to the viewpoint, Lee caught sight of his house or lack thereof. It was completely gone, totally unrecognisable, just a plot of land where a home once stood. The sheer emotion of the day was too much and he broke down in a million tears. The struggle was apparent, although he was grateful for the safety of his family, it was nonetheless daunting to have to restart your entire life, with nothing.

After Lee had reunited with his family at the top of the viewpoint, they were told to sleep there for the night. Local restaurant owners banded together and made noodle soup for everyone, with rations supplied by the Thai Army.

That night the family huddled together in sleeping bags. Monsoon rain pounded down, crashing onto the corrugated iron roof. The makeshift shelter, battered by 50 mph winds, was at risk of collapsing. Jam closed her eyes, visceral visions of death and destruction filled her mind. Her heart broke, again and again, repeatedly replaying the course of events in her mind, weeping until she fell asleep.

The next morning around 7 am, the survivors were woken by the sound of helicopter blades gearing up for a flight. Everyone was told to make their way down to ground level if they could. The sick and injured that remained were airlifted to hospitals in Pha-Nga province because the hospitals in Krabi were already at capacity. Lee looked at his wife, took her hand and slowly led his family down the steep decline. Nobody was prepared for the sight that was to greet them at the bottom.

The storm surge, along with the natural movement patterns of the waves, washed hundreds of dead bodies inland overnight. Bodies lay strewn across the island in droves, most of them unrecognisable due to their injuries. Jam tells us that stepping over her deceased friends and neighbours triggered a feeling of guilt that she still carries to this day. She didn’t understand why her life was spared and why so many others weren’t so lucky.

Lee told his family to close their eyes and not to look at anything. He led them through the stricken streets and to the town hall where people were told to gather who lost absolutely everything. Generations of families were forever broken. Mothers, Fathers, Sons and Daughters, taken away by the will of the ocean.

The Aftermath

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the permanent residents of the island were housed in a refugee camp at Nong Kok in Krabi Province.

After the Tsunami, over seventy per cent of the occupied buildings on the island had been destroyed. Over the next three months, a clean-up operation began. Volunteers from all over the world began arriving at the shores of Koh Phi Phi to assist in rebuilding the island from the ground up.

Foreign aid poured in from governments around the world who were grateful for the efforts made by the Thai’s to save their people. It was a painstaking effort that saw locals, divers and farang (foreigners) push forward to rebuild the sense of normalcy that everyone needed to be able to move on.

By the end of July 2005, an estimated 850 bodies had been recovered, and an estimated 1,200 people were still missing. Sadly, the total number of fatalities is unlikely to be known. Local historians cite the figure around 4,000.

On 6 January 2005, a former Dutch resident of Phi Phi, Emiel Kok, set up a voluntary organisation, Help International Phi Phi (“HI Phi Phi”). Hi Phi Phi recruited 68 Thai staff from the refugee camp (Including Jam & Lee), as well as transient backpacker volunteers (of whom more than 3,500 offered their assistance), and returned to the island to undertake clearing and rebuilding work.

Jam attended a web design course funded by HI Phi Phi and led the way in putting together a Thai language relief website that she ran for the three years following the tsunami. It was important for local people and those affected by the disaster to actively partake in the reconstruction efforts.

On 18 February 2005, a second organisation, Phi Phi Dive Camp, was set up to remove the debris from the bays and coral reef, most of which was in Ton Sai Bay.

By the end of July 2005, 23,000 tonnes of debris had been removed from the island, of which 7,000 tonnes had been cleared by hand. “We try to do as much as possible by hand,” said Kok, “that way we can search for passports and identification.”

The majority of buildings that were deemed fit for repair by government surveyors had been repaired, and 300 businesses had been restored. Millions of Baht was injected into Thailand’s west coast, but Jam knows all too well that there isn’t enough money in the world to truly wipe away the memories so deeply ingrained in the minds of the millions affected by this traumatic event.

In the centre of town, there stands a beautiful memorial garden and altar, with plaques naming those tragically passed. It’s a place of mindfulness and tranquillity. Many locals visit the gardens to step back from reality and remember those friends and family members who are gone but not forgotten.

Notes of Humanity

Sixteen years after the Tsunami we at the Humanity in Reality Project were lucky enough to spend six months on Phi Phi at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and throughout lockdown. This unique time was spent canvassing for stories and meeting different people from across the island who wanted to share their anecdotes with us.

It was never our intention to find Jam, nor was it her intention to find us. It just so happened that she was willing to share such a poignant and important story with the world. We’re delighted to be able to use our platform and highlight the untold stories of the beautiful people we meet every day.

Everyone has a story to tell, a distinct perspective on a life journey. We can all learn from the footsteps of our brothers and sisters. We can acquire knowledge, compassion and empathy through the words crafted in this story. We hope that you resonate, respond and share the message of this piece of very special history that has gone on to shape the lives of the countless individuals involved.

Jam’s Update

Jam is still living on Phi Phi happily with her husband. She says “I am never sad, but I will also never forget what happened. I want everyone to remember all of the people that were lost. We came together and beat it.” She now works as the manager of an eco-resort called Focus Green. She is currently writing a novel in her spare time and is glad to finally share her own story with the world.

The Reunion

The 26th of December is marked as National Disaster Prevention Day in Thailand, which was created after the tsunami.

The event is traditionally marked by candlelit rituals, memorials and gatherings not just in Koh Phi Phi, but also in Phang Nga and other areas which saw a severe impact from the disaster. Sadly, last year’s ceremony was cancelled by the government in November, due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Further Reading

If you or anyone you know has been affected by the issues mentioned in this piece, you can contact the below agencies for help and further information.

UNICEF – https://www.unicefusa.org/mission/emergencies/tsunamis

International Red Cross Thailand – https://www.icrc.org/en/where-we-work/asia-pacific/thailand

Direct Relief – https://www.directrelief.org/emergency/south-asian-earthquake-and-tsunami-2004/