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wonderwoman
Dec 27, 2004, 9:39 PM
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Registered: Dec 14, 2002
Posts: 4275
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I was honeymooning in Thailand with Blueeyedclimber in June. My heart goes out to all the death and suffering in India, Malaysia, Thailand and elsewhere caused by the tsunami. This is a poem that I wrote about one day on Ton Sai Beach. I thought I would share it with you today.
The new moon has peeled back the ocean
A marathon of waves fall short at a briny finish line.
Limestone
Sandsweat
Pushpull
Bodies strain
Silhouette
Against a new
Thai sky of blue
Streaked orange
by Gods rusty fingertips.
A strange moonscape for newlyweds
A typical days end in the Land of Smiles.
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veep23
Dec 27, 2004, 9:53 PM
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Registered: May 15, 2002
Posts: 125
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A very sad situation. Here is the latest from Simon Foley's Thai climbing site. I'm sure there will be many more updates.
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Tsunami hits Railay Beach 2004-12-26
A tsunami created by an eartquake hit Railay Beach in Thailand at 11.00. All restaurants by the beach have been destroyed but no climbers have been reported seriously injured.
Some 100 climbers ran in panic from the beach and some red-points had a dramatic finish, when suddenly a 10 meter wave appeared.
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Tsunami at Railay was mild 2004-12-27
It seems like the tsunami that hit Railay beach and especially Tonsai were very mild compared to other nearby tourist resorts like Ao nang and Phi-Phi. This is most probably due to some islands that acted as a shield against the full force of the tsunami.
One climber had to clip himself in to a quickdraw when the belayer had to leave the beach in panic and several, who didn't see the big wave comming, were caught by the tidal wave. Some persons have been reported as missing but no climbers are among them, as far as we know.
Life is slowly getting back to normal and there has actually been some climbing activity today but most climbers have been helping out to clean and build up the restaurants again. The climbers were very lucky at Tonsai!
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Dear all,
Where to begin.... don't have too much time to write an all inclusive account of the last 24 hours, but wanted to let you know a bit about how it all went down, how I am doing, and how things are here in the aftermath.
Yesterday at 8am the earthquake hit. Suprisingly to me, I didn't feel it. I must have been walking down towards the beach at that point, and there were only a few who actually felt it. Strange that it was that big and only very few felt it. I was climbing down at the beach and I remember commenting to someone near me that the tide went out extremeley fast, but I didn't think twice about it, and no one seemed to be at all concerned.
Sometime around 11am the waves showed up on the horizon. When I first saw them they were about 1km from the beach, so we did have quite a bit of warning. It must have taken about one min or more from teh time I saw them to when the first ones starting coming in to the beach, but the tide was so extraordinarily low that it took 7 or 8 waves until the water was really reaching up towards the buildings. (there was not any one big wave, but more a series of say 10-12 waves that came in with only 4 or 5 hitting the buildings).
I had just packed my backpack up with all my stuff when I saw them. Big crests very far out and hard to really tell how big they were. I ran from Dum's kitchen over to the freedom bar (for those who know where that is). there were a number people standing there watching, so i took a moment, put my bag down and started taking pictures. I had the zoom on full so it was hard to see the size of the waves that at that time were out pounding the sailboats in the bay. In the picture i sent along you can see that they were cresting at maybe 5m, but still very far out. I took about 10 pictures and then realized that the waves were going to hit the shore and i was in a bad spot, standing right on the patio of the freedom bar. I turned around, grabbed my bag and started running for the path heading towards the hills. I only got about 2 meters before a wave hit me from behind, taking out my feet and i found myself being swept in to the bar. I remember chairs banging into me and maintaining some sense of balance in the 1.5m of water that was in the bar. I got to my feet after having been under for only 1s or so, and i was struck again from behind by another wave which pushed me up against the bar. Without thinking i jumped up into the dj booth, perched about 2m over the floor of the bar and was out of the water. I was completely soaked, knew that I had lost my camera and some other things from my bag, but was only thinking about the next set of waves coming in. I then realized that the internet cafe/massage parlor next to freedom had been washed away and that the roof of the freedom bar was beginning to sag. I was in a very bad spot since if the building had collapsed i would have been totally stuck. Luckily, the worst of the first wave had passed and the water topped out at about 1.5m in the freedom bar. 1 minute later it had drained out and i climbed down the from the dj booth that had saved me. I got a couple of scratches, but survived remarkably intact.
for the next 10 15 minutes people showed up on the beach again but then a second set of waves came in. This time I ran up the ladder to the platform above tonsai wall, about 15m above the sand. from there along wtih about 10 other people we watched the second set of waves come in which were about the same size as the first.
That was the last of the real waves though a lot of people were very worried the whole time that another set would come in.
In the end, no one that i know is confirmed dead here on tonsai beach. There are some people saying that this person or that person is missing, but it's impossible to know for sure. I only saw one person who was seriously injured, a woman who was in one of the sailboats from the picture that was smashed up against the rocks, but she didn't look too badly injured besides a lot of scrapes and bruises.
As far as the beach is concerned. Nearly all the longtail boats were tossed up on the beach, sometimes as far as 30m from the shoreline. The N side of tonsai was protected a bit from the direct waves and more boats survived there, but every boat by freedom bar and over on railay west was destroyed. The whole area around tina's and sawadee bar was completely flattened. The area around freedom bar and the tourist office was cleaned out but the buildings are standing. over in railay all the concrete structures on teh beach are okay, but everthing in them was washed away.
Today has been quite amazing. Some people have left via the few boats goign back and forth to ao nang, but huge numbers of climbers/tourists are helping the locals sift through the rubble, tear down broken buildings, and start to clean up. they are safing gas for the generators, so the thais have been giving away food that is spoiling, and in general a very positive atmosphere is present. i imagine it's a different story in railay, but here on tonsai the climbers are doing a great job helping out and staying here to start the rebuilding process. Go climbers!
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