[Kubasarika]

Where were you on Dec 26-Tsunami Day? I was in Chiang Mai. Went out of town to the country early in the morning-got back to the Hotel about 2pm and the TV was full of it, of course

[aideriimibion]

We spent the morning in some shopping mall in Bangkok and the afternoon just sleeping in our hotel room until my brother called us from Wales. We then put the tv on. The next morning I flew home via Moscow.

David

[Kubasarika]

I will never forget the literally hundreds-thousands?- of Khom Loys in the sky over Chiang Mai on New Years Eve to represent the souls of those killed. Or speaking to some of the survivors and hearing their stories. One woman went out to sunbathe with her friend on a beach in Phuket. She escaped with a broken toe. Her friend was lost (at that time, anyway).
Wish i was going to Thailand for Christmas again.

[cefunonge]

I was sitting at home - reflecting and relaxing after a busy Christmas season. I heard it on the news - for some reason my first reaction was to start searching for a charity that was reliable and quick to react to relief efforts - and made a donation specifically designated for the Tsunami relief effort.

[PVaQlNaP]

I was working.

I had planned to go to Thailand in january just a few days afterwards. I remember the first report were just a notice, about a day before media coverage broke loose. But we have Thais in our staff and they told me.

[zueqhbyhp]

Where were you on Dec 26-Tsunami Day? I was in Chiang Mai. Went out of town to the country early in the morning-got back to the Hotel about 2pm and the TV was full of it, of course

Photo taken 24 hours before Tsunami. I left Phi Phi to spend Boxing day with my family on Ko Samui. First I knew something bad happened was when I started receiving calls and texts asking if I was OK.

I am lucky, all my friends survived, although many lost a huge amount financially. I will revisit Krabi province this year for the first time since 2004, will spend a quiet moment, as I have done every year, thinking about those not as fortunate as my friends.

[AntonayPina]

I was living in Hungary at that time, visiting family at Christmas. my father told me about it but I thought he was drunk as usual. then my boyfriend called me and told me to switch on the news because he remembered that I had been to Phi Phi previously.
my sister is coming over to Thailand for Christmas this year and she said she wants to go to Phi Phi, but I told her no way I am going back to that island. I don't want to see everything that's changed or missing.

[feedcomnet]

I was in the U.S., on vacation leave. I couldn't believe the devastation, pictures and videos of what happened, it was so shocking. I was in Phuket in August of 2002 so it was sad to see.

[nAKMzyBN]

I was in Australia visiting my family on my honeymoon. My grandfather pulled me aside in the evening and asked me if my wife's family lived anywhere near Phuket. I didn't know why he was asking me but he soon schooled me.

We had reservations at the Sheraton in Krabi from Dec 29th.......

[bobibnoxx]

My country is the worst affected of all. I was just watching TV in the morning. The news stories coming immediately therafter seemed just incredible.

Two days later, I visited the areas. The highways were devastated and so I had to take detour and detour.

Oh. My God.

[Oswczrdz]

I was at home here in the US. Although we had been divorced for many years, family and friends began calling and emailing to ask if Mr X's family were safe. Many good vibes and prayers were offered from strangers around the world.

[AntonayPina]

Senaratne, do you live in Aceh, Indonesia?

[bobibnoxx]

Senaratne, do you live in Aceh, Indonesia?

No. Betti. I live in Sri Lanka. Aceh was very much less affected.

[aideriimibion]

Sri Lanka 31,229 confirmed deaths, 4,093 listed as missing.
Indonesia (mainly Aceh) 131,028 confirmed deaths, 37,000 listed as missing.

Worst affected? you decide.

David

[AntonayPina]

by the way, I was not trying to belittle anyone's suffering or the significance of their suffering. even one death is too many. but it is a fact that Aceh suffered more loss in terms of number of dead people and devastation.

[occafeVes]

We were sitting in a restaurant in Kerala on the beach watching a large fishing boat come closer and closer.It finally stopped a few feet from where we had escaped to.The fishermen knew exactly what was happening and cleared the obstinate westerners from the beach in time and stopped the kids from running after the fish that were left on the sand.A couple of kilometers either way from us a lot of people had drowned.
A few of the tourists from the beach went down to Aceh to help and the stories they came back with were horrendous.

[bobibnoxx]

OK. To make fun out of tragedy - some say it is Tee-sunami - that Japanese word, LOL

[feedcomnet]

What I found interesting in the aftermath of this tragedy was how some people started to come out of the woodwork and say how close they were to being a part of it. For example Star Jones, former host of some American talk show, came out practically saying she could have died in the tsunami if not from divine intervention, but she wasn't even booked to be in Thailand for months, lol. Same thing with Jackie Chan, I think he was going around saying he could have died.

It's a common phenomenon, when the September 11 attacks occured, all these people were saying how close they came to death. It's an interesting, the need for people to say how close they could have come to dying from great tragedies.

[agiopwer]

I was in Mexico vacationing with my sister. We only had spanish language tv...(and my spanish is iffy) and I kept reading things on the scroll... I think... oh my goodness...does it say?? It was 2 days before I could get a call out to Thailand and it was a very scary 2 days. I was very relieved to see that Trang was not hit as directly as neighbors to the north.

[nAKMzyBN]

OK. To make fun out of tragedy - some say it is Tee-sunami - that Japanese word, LOL

Actually Tsunami is a Japanese word.　”nami" means wave.