DEADLY TIDE
I saw two buildings coming at me & said ‘this is it’… Boxing Day tsunami survivors reveal terror of disaster 20 years on
One survivor's injuries were so bad they were compared to a shark attack
“IS this it?” thought Rachel Hearson, trapped underneath a block of concrete with seawater up to her head.
Only minutes earlier she was enjoying a holiday in paradise, wandering through a Thai market on the hunt for a postcard to send home.
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Now, she was holding her breath for dear life after a devastating tsunami swept over the land, destroying everything in its path
It was triggered by an earthquake with a force 23,000 times stronger than the Hiroshima bomb.
The Boxing Day tsunami, as it became known, struck the coast of Indonesia, Thailand, and other nations around the Indian Ocean.
It left more than 220,000 people dead, making it the worst natural disaster of the 21st century and the deadliest tsunami in recorded history.
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Among the dead were 149 Brits.
Now, their relatives and those who miraculously survived have bravely shared their stories with The Sun ahead of a new documentary marking the horrific disaster 20 years on.
This includes Louis and Theo, who were 16 and 11 at the time and forced to check hospitals every hour in a search for their parents Leonard Barratt, 50, and Catherine Mullan, 53, who were both tragically killed.
Hundreds more were injured, including Paul Murray and his girlfriend, Sally, who received injuries so severe they were compared to a "shark attack".
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Coastal towns and villages from Thailand to Sri Lanka were swamped by a wave up to 100 metres high that destroyed everything in its path.
Many of the towns and villages never recovered - while survivors have been wracked with physical and mental trauma in the two decades since.
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Concrete coffin
Rachel and her husband CiCi were staying on the island of Koh Phi Phi when they first felt shaking that morning.
But being faint, they thought nothing of it. Two hours later, and they’d headed down to the market - like any other normal day.
Then they noticed something was up. People were screaming, and running from the beach, but Rachel and her husband had no idea why.
“There was this real sense of panic,” Rachel, who was 41 at the time, tells The Sun.
And then in a split second, everything changed.
“All of a sudden, I just became aware of this water coming up. I just thought it was a freak wave,” she said.
“I stood on a little fence, and within seconds the water was up to my neck."
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Her husband had grabbed on to a tree as the surge of water rushed through, sweeping up everything in its path.
They tried to hold on - but it was too late.
Struggling to keep her head above the water, Rachel witnessed a truly apocalyptic sight before she disappeared beneath the wave.
She said: "The last thing I saw before I went underwater was two buildings coming towards me. The force of the water from the other side of the island had taken these buildings with them.
“I went underwater and then there was something incredibly heavy on my head. I tried to dislodge it, but it was too heavy. It felt like a block of concrete.
“I thought, this is it - I can’t breath.
“Suddenly everything went dark, and I thought, this is the end. What happens? Will my family ever find out what happened to me?”
Having learned to dive, Rachel was skilled at holding her breath, which no doubt saved her life - but she was running out of time.
I'd been traumatised, nearly drowned. But there was no way I was going to leave his side
Fortunately, something dislodged and she was able to access a pocket of air.
“The next thing I knew, I was spat out to sea,” she said.
“Weirdly, it was very calm, but there was just debris all around me.”
A small fishing boat threw her a rope, and she climbed aboard.
The boat took her out further, to a pleasure craft that was unaware of the disaster that had just unfolded.
Huddled up in a towel, covered in cuts and bruises, she stayed aboard for hours - although by this point she had lost all sense of time.
All she knew was that she had to get back to the island, to find her husband.
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The captain said it was too dangerous - but eventually he relented.
“As I approached the island, I could see it was totally devastated, debris everywhere. Like a disaster scene," she said.
“I had no shoes - just had to kind of make my way across this debris, sharp glass, bricks, stone, wood, all poking out.
“I could see that there were bodies covered over with sarongs. I didn't look too closely, because I was too frightened of what I'd see - and I was too frightened that I was going to see CiCi.”
Heroic rescue
Rachel eventually made her way back to the hotel where they had been staying.
As if by a miracle, there was CiCi - not only alive, but helping out with the rescue operation.
“Don’t leave my side,” he told Rachel. “I’ve got work to do.”
How are tsunamis created?
Tsunamis are created by sudden movements on the sea floor, most commonly triggered by underwater earthquakes.
When the sea floor shifts abruptly, it pushes a massive amount of water upwards and outwards.
This sudden displacement of water generates waves that can travel across the ocean at incredibly high speeds.
As these waves journey towards the coast and enter shallower waters, their speed decreases, but their height increases dramatically.
Consequently, the waves can grow very large and powerful, ultimately crashing onto the shore with tremendous force.
Rachel said: “My instinct was to get off the island - I was terrified.
“I'd been traumatised, nearly drowned. But there was no way I was going to leave his side.”
For the next few hours, the couple helped the survivors: holding hands with the traumatised, handing out water, and looking after those who needed help until the helicopters arrived.
She said: “My reflections of that time were, you know, sort of quite blurred. I remember being just so frightened, but still determined to stay there and try and do some good.
“There were so many people sort of milling around at the time, people saying they'd lost loved ones.
“Have you seen my sister? Have you seen my daughter? Nobody knew what was going on.”
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As the day went on, Rachel felt the island take on an deathly stillness.
“I remember there being a full moon walking around the island and just seeing this scene of devastation everywhere.
“I'll never forget that in a way - it was such an eerie feeling.”
Twenty years on, Rachel and CiCi are set to celebrate their 22nd anniversary.
Inspired by the help they were able to give on the day, Rachel, who had previously worked in fashion, took up a career in the charity sector.
“I'm proud of what I did on the day, which makes it easier to tell our story.
“And the fact that I can hold my head up high and say, you know, we stayed on the island that day helping people.
This is my way of giving back because it wasn't my time
“It's kind of locked in a little box in my mind. It's there, it's a memory. But I'm proud of my reaction.
“This is my way of giving back because it wasn't my time then. It could so easily have been my time, but actually the time that we have on this earth is precious.”
Rachel and CiCi were one of around 10,000 Brits affected by the terrible tragedy of that day.
Survivor's guilt
Paul Murray and his girlfriend Sally had headed to Thailand with two other couples on what should have been a joyful Christmas escape.
For 18 years, he hasn’t spoken to anyone about what actually happened on Christmas Day 2004 - and this is the first time he’s spoken publicly.
The couple and one of their friends had been lounging by the pool when the wave was preparing to hit the island.
Paul told his girlfriend, now wife, and their pal to run as he saw two travellers frozen in fear and rushed to help in a bid to get them to high ground.
“Looking back now, I don’t know if I’d have gone to help those two people if I’d realised Sally hadn’t run like I told her,” he tells us.
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“Perhaps if I’d helped her she wouldn’t have a mark on her. She wouldn’t have had 15 years going in and out of hospital, or panic attacks. But you never know.”
Sally suffered devastating injuries, which were described as not dissimilar to a shark attack, to her abdomen and ankle.
It was running to save the strangers that placed Paul in the path of the water, leading him to be swept into the hotel’s events hall, battling against the currents and furniture to find a place to survive.
“I struggled a lot with survivor's guilt,” he told The Sun.
“I feel like I’m stuck in a Catch 22, because I’d have gladly given up my life for any of the kids who died, especially before Sally got pregnant. Now I don’t want to leave my son.
“But I’d already had 32 years on the planet having the best time and they’d had no life at all. I remember stepping over the bodies of kids who died there.
“I still struggle with the fact that I survived even now.”
21st century's deadliest disasters
The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami is far from the only natural disaster to have caused devastation this century.
- 2010 Haiti Earthquake On January 12th a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck near the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, followed by powerful aftershocks. Over 200,000 were killed.
- 2005 Kashmir Earthquake On October 8th, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake killed more than 79,000 in the north-west province of Pakistan.
- 2003 European Heat Wave Over 70,000 people were killed across Europe in the deadliest heat wave for more than 500 years. Average temperatures across France, Spain and Italy exceeded 45°C.
- 2001 Gujarat Earthquake On January 26th a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit this state in India, killing 20,000 people and causing over 400,000 buildings to collapse.
The events hall Paul found himself trapped in looked like a typical school hall with a stage and double doors at each end.
The force of the tsunami had caused the chairs to act like a sieve at the exit side, blocking him from getting out.
But before he was able to leave, a second wave hit, forcing him to climb towards the ceiling so he could survive.
“The water was coming up and up,” he said.
“I knew the higher I was, the less time I’d have to hold my breath. The water came up and I wasn’t far off from having to take that breath before it started to stop.
“I’ve never climbed down something so quickly.”
Lucky escape
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While trapped in the events hall with another survivor, a seriously injured young woman appeared as well.
Paul recalled: “The front of her right thigh had peeled off and was hanging in front of the bottom part of her leg, so you could see a femur.
“At this point I was in just a vest, but I took it off and flopped the muscle back up and tied it in place with my shirt.
“She didn’t speak English, but I indicated she needed to get higher before another wave hit.
“Then my next priority was trying to find Sally, which is what I did running around naked shouting for her.”
Thankfully, the couple were reunited when he found her on a tuna boat which was serving as a makeshift hospital.
Tones of people died and some of us survived. It takes a look of time to look back at it and think you were lucky
Sally spent five years undergoing numerous operations in hospital to repair the injuries she suffered.
A large shard of glass had lodged in her stomach, and the back of her thigh looked like it had been attacked by a shark while her foot was hanging off.
“I’ve struggled with the decisions I made that day because Sally was hurt so badly and could have quite easily died,” he said through tears.
“I think she would have done if we hadn’t got off that island.”
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Family devastation
Louis Mullan was 16 when, while on the beach in Takua Pa near Phuket with his family, the sea retreated from the shore - a warning sign of what was to come.
“Our dad came over to where we were to tell us there was something happening, and to come and have a look,” he tells us.
“We went to the waterfront and saw some locals and tourists just looking interested and confused at why the water had retreated so far back.”
He briefly returned to lock his hotel room - but by the time he’d made it back, the atmosphere had turned turned to panic.
You still have hope, but then reality dawns
“Everyone was running the other direction, so we joined the rush. But after a few minutes, the water caught up with us and knocked us off our feet.”
Louis was caught up in the heavy tide, and separated from the rest of his family.
“The feeling was absolute confusion - no one had experienced this before. No one was expecting it. No one really understood what was going on," he said.
“I remember seeing whilst I was in the water... a waitress that was at our hotel, who I think had served us breakfast that morning. We were both just distressed and confused.”
Despite being swept away, Louis was able to reunite with his younger brother Theo, who was 11 at the time.
But their parents were nowhere to be found.
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Amid the confusion and devastation, Louis and his brother had no idea if they were safe or if they would ever see them again.
“The immediate couple of days after we were in the hospital, Theo and I had a little room," he said.
“I’d walk the hospital every hour - every corridor, ward, and room to see if our parents were there.
“But as the days go on and you kind of realise the magnitude of the event, and the devastation that it caused.
“You still have hope, but then reality dawns.”
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After losing both their parents, Louis and his brother were later adopted by a family in Cornwall.
Tsunami: Race Against Time premieres 25th November at 9pm on National Geographic and will be available for streaming on Disney+ the same day.
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