Tsunami: 26 December 2004

An account by Amanda Beaven

On the 26 December 2004 my family; husband Mark, 16 year old daughter Laura and 15 year old son Jack, were staying in a bungalow in Unawatuna, Galle, Sri Lanka. We had been in Sri Lanka since the 14 December. We had spent the first 2 days travelling from Negombo down to Hikkaduwa and onto Mirissa, arranging accommodation for our stay from 27 December to 10 January. I had arranged our stay at the Strand over the internet back in Australia many months previous. We had planned 6 days in Unawatuna, then 4 days in Mirissa and then the remaining time in Hikkaduwa and Columbo. It is funny that during our time in Unawatuna we cancelled some of the time in Hikkaduwa and planned to return to Unawatuna for New Year. This was at the request of our children who were enjoying there stay so much.

On the morning of the 26th we went to the main house for breakfast as usual. This morning was to be a bit different form others as Laura and I were going scuba diving and Jack had decided to come with us and go snorkelling instead of surfing with his dad. It seems in hindsight that the time of 9.30am was quite significant. Each morning the young boy with his tuk would arrive to take Mark and Jack to a different surfing location. Mark would load up his surf board and Jack his body board (his birthday gift and very special to him). That morning we were to meet at the dive shop at 9.30am and it was also the time the tsunami hit. We were delayed at breakfast because a new couple had arrived and we were chatting with them and to Phillip (another visitor to Unawatuna). They were having trouble getting their children adjusting to the new surrounds. My children got a little impatient and returned to the bungalow to get ready. I decided to have another cup of tea, although I knew that it would make us a little late at the dive shop. I was on Sri Lankan time.

We heard loud noises and I thought that it might be a parade due to the full moon day. Mark and I jumped up and looked up the driveway and saw water coming down. In my mind I tried to think what it could be. Each day we had past a work site and each day there would be loud noises coming from there, so I assumed that they had burst a water main. Mark assumed a flash flood. Either way we thought that the things on the floor of the bungalow would get wet. We rushed into the bungalow and the back door was open. Mark went to push the door shut and I went to get our bags which contained the passports and tickets. Mark realised the water was rising too rapidly and screamed for us to get out. He made it just out the front door, I was nearest to him and the children in the room. On the third ‘get out’ the building collapsed. Not that I knew it was collapsing, I 'awoke' to find myself under water, trapped under something. I couldn't move my legs or arms as they were pinned against me. I remember thinking that I was about to die and that drowning wasn't very peaceful. I also said in my mind that I wasn't going to take a breath (I had just completed a book where someone had died drowning, the writer had described his peace and how he took his final breath). At that moment a surge of water pushed whatever was on me off, once my arms were free I was able to get my legs out and kicked with all my might.

As I came up I could see the water going from a very dark colour to lighter and knew I was going in the right direction. When I surfaced I took a deep breath and then was pulled under again. This time I kicked harder and decided I wasn't going under again. When I came up this time I felt myself flowing with the water and I could see trees falling in all around me. I had nothing to grab but knew I had to stop. I could see a coconut tree up ahead and steered myself into it. Once I hit it I wrapped my arms and legs around it. My first thoughts were "what was that" and then I remembered my children and a primeval scream erupted from inside of me as I thought my children were dead. I pictured pulling them out of the water and life without them. I didn't dare let myself think that Mark hadn't survived, how could I cope on my own. How had this happened??

I stopped for a moment and started looking around, seeing the destruction and wondering how to get to my children. I looked up to see my son Jack on a roof, screaming for his mum and dad. It took me awhile to get him to see and hear me. I screamed to him, "where is Laura" his reply was that she was with him. My joy of knowing that, was soon tempered when I asked him if dad was there, his reply was the screaming for dad started again.

I don't remember how I got to Laura and Jack, I must have swam. I was so relieved to have them in my arms, comforting Jack was difficult but Laura and I managed to quieten him down. Up on the first floor of the guest house we began to take stock. I noticed the cuts to my legs and thought I should do something about them but couldn't. There was an English couple talking about how they had cancelled their driver the night before, they were meant to have left for Kandy at 7am but had spent the night before drinking and ended up talking about how they would least like to die. This particular girl had decided she didn't want to die in a tsunami. She put a name to it and it hit me like a bullet. That's what it was! On the landing was an English guy who had been separated from his wife. They had been having breakfast at a beach café. He had a huge hole in his shoulder. Up on the landing were Marks surfboard and Jacks body board. Jack had found them in the water and grabbed onto them, I couldn't believe that he had salvaged anything.

Meanwhile Laura had found that a young girl was trapped in the cottage next door. She was busy pulling tiles off the roof to get to her, she called to me to help her but I could hardly move, I was so distressed. I asked one of the men on the landing and someone did. They pulled the girl up, she was terrified and asking for her grandfather. (He turned up a short time later). Laura came to me to tell me the lady next door lost her 2 month old baby and some boys pulled 2 dead elderly people from the water and laid them on some doors. We still hadn't found Mark, I didn't know whether to go and look for him, I couldn't even work out where we were. Jack would call out from time to time and it was Laura who settled Jack and me down. While standing looking on the stairs we noticed Asoka in the distance and tried to get his attention. We weren't sure if he saw us as he disappeared quite quickly. I was pleased that someone at least knew we were alive.

A few minutes later, an hour after the tsunami hit Mark walked around a corner from the same direction Asoka had come from (he had gone to get him). Mark was in tears as was I, it was great to know we all survived.

Back on the landing, Mark had noticed my legs and knew we needed to get some help. He also knew another wave was possible. I don't know where the next hour went but it was now 2 hours after the tsunami hit and Mark thought it was now safe to move to higher ground.

We had no shoes and the ground was covered in debris. I thought we could go via the bungalow as I couldn't believe that nothing was left and surely our things would be safe. I had no idea of where we were and followed Mark. We stumbled through the filthy water and all the rubble. People started yelling at us to get out as another wave was coming. Jack had his bodyboard, Mark his surfboard and Laura was carrying the cover. As we panicked and tried to rush Mark realised he couldn't continue to carry his board and threw it away, Laura tossed the cover but Jack wasn't letting go of his board. We didn't get to see where the bungalow was we just went in the direction of higher ground. As we went we started picking up bottles of water that were around. We could now see the devastation of Unawatuna and knew we were in trouble.

We arrived at the Rock House and could see other walking wounded. I was directed to sit down and someone put antiseptic on my wounds, it was so painful. We then made our way up to the temple. Lots of people, speaking many languages, all confused and distressed. My daughter appeared with some clothing that some very kind person had given her. Another kind person helped me put it on. I was babbling on about almost losing my children, my husband and my own life and then she told me how she watched her friend die as she sat on the upstairs verandah of the guest house they were staying in. I didn't feel like complaining after that.

Soon after we arrived at the temple everyone began to climb higher. The word went round that another wave was coming. Everyone surged higher, the sick were assisted to get up and some of us struggled to climb. The wave never reached us but the fear was palpable. Back at the temple we began talking to others. We met a young guy from New Zealand and his English girlfriend. Their guest house (Birdhouse) was still standing. The other family staying at their guest house were French and had 2 young girls. We decided to go back with them and stay the night there. They had water and Tracey had a pair of long pants for me to cover my wounds and keep the flies out. We were also concerned about mosquitos. On our way upstairs to their rooms I looked out at the mess that was left. I spotted a bag, a bag with a rabbit on the side. One of our bags. Mark said no that it couldn't be it, but I was sure. Laura borrowed a pair of shoes and set out through the mud to claim what turned out to be her bag. All the contents were gone except for her bag which was in the inner zippered section. In this was her purse with her money (AUD$500), her licence and her key card and her jewellery. It was great that she also managed to salvage something.

Back upstairs we made plans to stay the night. Jack began to get distressed. He shouted at us that we couldn't stay, what would happen if another wave came through the night and the weakened building fell down, did we want him to die. Mark and I made the decision to move back up to the temple. Someone came by and said that lots of people were staying at the Rock House but that wasn't high enough for Jack. When we got back, there were other homeless people up there, Sri Lankans and tourists. Someone gave us some towels and sheets, nothing to make the concrete softer. Soon after this Veronique and Frederick arrived with their girls. A decision for sanity not a rational one. And then Hayden and Tracey arrived to set up camp. They bought pillows (which they gave to us) and their mosquito net. Jack, now that he felt safe, settled down and fell asleep and stayed that way until the next morning. The rest of us attempted some sleep but it was difficult for many reasons.

The next morning the kind Sri Lankans produced food, as they had the previous night. We sat around and waited. Laura (our warrior) went down to see what was happening at the Rock House and added our name to the list of foreigners that was there. A man came up to look at my legs and told us to go down to the Rock House as I needed medical help for my legs. We walked down in a daze, lack of sleep and shock. When we got there we felt quite alien as though everyone else knew each other and we were outsiders. We found some chairs to sit on and just waited. Someone brought us some tea and we saw Asoka and his family. It was good to know that everyone from the Strand was safe.

A Dutch lady was crying as was her husband and it soon became obvious why, they had lost their 16 month old child. Taken by the rising waters. A Sri Lankan family also mourned the loss of a child. It became very difficult sitting their and watching, unable to get up and do anything, not sure of what was happening. We watched as this young family discussed burying their child at Unawatuna, then picked a site and then they were told that the baby was to be buried in a mass grave. It was too distressing and the emotions of the day before came to the surface. As well people were going off to assist with the burial of the many dead. There were lots of people walking around with clothes tied around their faces to block the smell. Mark hadn't admitted how injured he was but I now knew he must have been bad as he continued to sit their with me. (Later we were to find he had a fractured head of fibula, very painful but not necessarily requiring immobilisation. He had suspected this but didn't tell me.)

The word then spread that a helicoptor was coming to take away the injured. The doctor went around and told those of us who would be going. They were told by ? that 4 people would be taken. I was number 5 on the list and would go if they didn't accept the Dutch man and his dead baby. I didn't want to go, Mark and I began to discuss how we would meet up again. We decided to use a friend in Australia as a central contact. I didn't know where we were going. Everyone began to rush, someone grabbed me. I had a thong on one foot and a sandal on the other. Sian the doctor was under one arm and then another man I hadn't seen before took hold of my other arm. I started blabbing on about how our family didn't even know we were alive. We had contacted many of them on Christmas day to say how great a time we were having. I think this man that appeared by my side was an angel. He pulled out his mobile telephone and asked me what number I wanted! Within seconds I was speaking to a friend in Sydney. I knew she would be able to contact my family, most of whom were holidaying in Kenya and difficult to contact. I felt relieved to know that soon my family would know we were alive.

As we neared the helicopter we past the mass grave site. Someone was saying prayers. I was being pushed along, someone was saying "no more" and yet I was grabbed by an officer who pushed me into the helicoptor and onto a box at the doorway. My right leg wouldn't bend so it stuck out the helicopter. I wondered how they would shut the door and then realised that there was not door. Someone sat next to me and I was jammed in. As the helicoptor took off the noise was loud and I was terrified. I was thinking how I had survived a tsunami and was going to fall out of a helicopter. I tried to calm myself down thinking of all the times I had seen this in the movies and no one fell out then. Luckily I was on the land side and missed seeing all the devastation, but what I did see was bad enough.

When the helicopter landed we were greeted by hundreds of people trying to see us. We moved into an ambulance which then sped off. Unfortunately some of the injured had broken ribs and found the trip painful. We yelled for them to slow down, but they didn't. It was hot in the ambulance so I opened a window and as the ambulance pulled into the hospital people tried to open the window more and see who was inside. Their were people everywhere trying to see who was inside. Lots of noise and the smell!!! I was in shock and in a daze I moved past all the dead bodies lying on the ground. The elderly and small children. I worried for the Dutch man and his small child, wondering where they would put him if they couldn't find places for their own dead. I couldn't understand why the bodies weren't covered and why there were so many people looking at them. My worst memory is of a very small child stacked onto other bodies with flies crawling in his eyes. It was only later that I realised that the people weren't being goulish but that the dead needed to be identified and family needed to find their dead. I only wish it could have been more gentle for all concerned.

Inside the group of us filed past more dead in the corridors, the smell was toxic. At a desk sat a Docter who tried to triage the group. I moved away not wanting to be there and wishing I had never left Mark and the kids. I still couldn't believe this was happening. I was finally asked over to the table where I told them my injuries, soon after I was placed on a trolley and taken to a bed with an American girl who was distressed about what was going to happen. The two of us sat on the bed waiting, she made me promise not to leave her. She told me her story and the possible internal injury that she had. Another trolley came for me and I had to get on and so leave my new friend. I was taken up to the theatres. It was air conditioned, therefore cool and I could no longer smell the dead. Lying on my trolley outside a theatre I watched as one after the other was lifted onto the bed and operated on . No change of linen and no change of clothes by the doctor. They talked on their mobile phones between cases and as an Anglo doctor walked past I asked if it was clean, to which he replied "as clean as it can be". I saw the pile of soiled sterile wraps and realised that they had run out. My body was filthy, especially my feet. I wondered if they would clean me while I was knocked out. I found myself being lifted onto the table. Once again I was asked when I was last ate, the doctor explained I couldn't be given an anaesthetic but they would give me something. My next thought was I could hear this screaming and it was like I was having an amazing dream. I was back outside the theatre and my legs were bandaged, my feet were still filthy. A doctor came over and asked how I was, I asked him what was the roaring noise I could hear, and he told me it was me. I had screamed while they debrided my wounds. I also told him I felt like Alice in Wonderland and he explained that it was the medication he had given me. I now know it was a drug known on the street as "special K", a hypnotic that erases your memory of events. I am glad I can't remember the pain of what they did. It took 6 weeks for my legs to eventually heal.

Back to a new ward I was placed on a bed with a filthy sheet and no pillow. I slept on and off. When I woke I was very thirsty but I had no water. I asked a nurse for a drink and she went and got her own water bottle for me to drink out of. Luckily for me there was an English women also in hospital. Her husband came to my rescue and got me some water. Soon after this another angel appeared. His name was Eric, an expat from Zimbabwe. Not wanted in his own country, he and his wife Gerry had come to live in Galle. They decided to help all the tourists in the hospital and made it their business to seek us out and help where needed. Eric provided me with fruit, more water and a tooth brush. My English friend had found a clean sit on toilet in a newly built area. It was a bit of a walk but worth the effort. The toilet facilities of the ward were primitive, their was only one tap working and no cleaning seemed to happen except for sweeping. The back area contained the only garbage bin which overflowed with soiled dressings and the remains of food. Cats were everywhere in the garbage. We even had a kitten walking in the ward getting stood on from time to time. On my first night there was a dog fight in the ward. I could only compare this to the hospital I worked at. The nurses seemed never to sleep, one told me that she had an 8 month baby at home, that when she finished her 16 hour shift at the hospital she went home to feed her baby through the night and didn't get much sleep. The medical care I received was very good. I had been operated on by the top orthopaedic surgeon and I was given appropriate antibiotics and pain killers.

My angels Eric and Gerry invited me to their house on the second day. I still not had heard from Mark or the Australian embassy. Eric was trying to get onto them but was having difficulty. I was upset not knowing where they were and when would they find me. The doctors were not happy about me going out of the hospital, however I promised I would be back in time for my next antibiotic at 8pm. When we got to their house it was if normalcy was returning. I needed to bath and change clothes. I had been given a dress and some long pants soon after arriving at the temple. I still had my swimming briefs on that I had worn when the tsunami hit. Gerry washed my hair first. The water ran black, so she washed it again. Then she poured a tub of warm water which I sat in. The water was instantly dirty, so she poured me another. I sat and soaped myself up, Gerry washed what she could of my feet. After dressing in clean clothes donated by Gerry, I felt a new woman.

I then sat up to a plate of bacon and eggs. Food has never tasted better. Gerry and Eric tried to cheer me up, however it had the opposite effect and I longed for my family. I was unable to dial international on their phone so Gerry called a local hotel to find out how we could make a long distance call. To help me out the hotel said they would call Australia and get them to call Gerry's house. I got on the phone to give them my name and the number to call. When I said my name the woman said " Amanda Beaven, I have Laura Beaven standing next to me, would you like to talk to her", I couldn't believe it. They were all well and safely in a hotel in Galle. I felt OK now.

Back at the hospital. I had my cannula reinserted and antibiotics given. I now had a new bed and care of Gerry I had sheets to go on it and a pillow. I also had a brush and some soap. Soon after arriving at the hospital I had a visit from a TV reporter in Australia. I didn't want to be filmed but was talked into giving an interview. After they left, Laura arrived. I was bit concerned that Mark wasn't with her and thought it funny that he was sleeping. Laura said that he hadn't been well and his leg was sore. My daughter was protecting him and looking after us all. When they left I couldn't settle and soon the really bad smells began wafting up. I learned the next day that they moved a lot of bodies that night to burial areas.

The next morning Mark and a man from the Australian consulate arrived. I was over joyed to see Mark. It was decided to move me to Columbo to have my legs looked at.. I was nil by mouth as they wanted to change my dressings and not having any sterile dressings were unable to do it on the ward. Mark was unhappy about me having an anaesthetic and encouraged the consulate man to move me if he could. Soon after, another helicopter ride was arranged. I told them I would only fly in one if it had doors. The consulate man returned to the hotel to organise the children. I was not letting Mark out of my sight, I didn't want to be left alone again.

Our journey to the airport was full of sadness. We drove though unbelievable destruction, people trying to find the dead and to clean up the mess. The road was narrow and full of debris. We drove past Unawatuna, unrecognisable from a few days ago.

We flew to Columbo on an Indian Airforce helicopter. On board was a lot of journalists, all eager to know our story. I went straight to the hospital, much more like I was used to, seen to and had dressings changed. I did not have to stay in hospital and so went to the consulate. Mark stayed on to have his leg x-rayed, now he told me of his thoughts and discomfort.

Jack had recovered well. He thoroughly enjoyed the helicopter trip and had been fed pizza at the consulate. We had to do all the form filling for new passports and a wonderful telephone call to my sister in law, Julie. That evening we journeyed around Columbo looking for medications and bandages that we needed. Unfortunately much of Columbo was doing the same thing. We also had to find a place to have our photo taken.

The Australian Embassy had arranged for an Australian woman and her partner to billet us in there home. Nikki worked for CARE international and had a very beautiful home. She also had a young couple staying from Melbourne. It was great to have a base and we were all together. We spent the next day shopping for clothes. Mark and I limped around but we needed to get some clothes. Our few days in Columbo passed in a blur. We decided not to fly home immediately on the arranged Qantas flight as we needed a few days family time to debrief the events and have a bit of ‘fun’. We chose to go to Bangkok for a few days. It was what we had originally planned. Instead of 6 days we had 3 days and we weren’t quite as fit as would have been.

We arrived home to be met by Mark’s sister and my brother. A very low key welcome. Most of all there was no press or anyone who knew what had happened. We spent much of the week we got home sleeping, talking to friends and relishing the fact that we survived. It was an eye opener on our return to see the trail of devastation wrought by the tsunami. I went to web sites trying to understand just what happened. I needed to understand.

What was the most amazing thing was to realise just how loved you are. People that we had not seen or heard of in a long time came out of the woodwork to let us know that they cared about us.

The tsunami only lasted a very short while but the damage done will take years to repair.