brev från kompis på koh lanta
(Läst 2 723 gånger.)Du måste vara inloggad för att skicka mail!
Fick det här brevet från en kompis på koh lanta
------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there,
This is the first opportunity I've had to get any sort of message out of here. As you may know, there was a huge earthquake located in Sumatra that triggered Tsunami's throughout this region. Koh Lanta and the Andaman Sea side of Thailand has been hit hard. All of the resorts on the beach were torn up by the waves, Phi Phi was devastated, same with Phuket. Official reports are that hundreds are dead here in Thailand, but many are still missing. Around the region the toll is in the thousands. I am OK, as is In. The bungalow is also fine, as it is about 500 meters from the beach. The dive shop and boat are in good shape.
It's a disaster area here right now. Most things are closed. People are madly trying to contact home, and leave the island. We are still trying to take stock of things right now, no idea yet how bad the damage is, if everyone we know is ok or not, and what this means for the rest of the season here. Everyone was up in the mountains yesterday until nighttime waiting to get information on whether the island would be hit again, there was talk that even bigger waves would hit, and of course lots of rumors and misinformation.
I was diving on Phi Phi island when everything started. I had just gotten in the water with two 12-13 year old boys and their father. I realized the current was moving in the wrong direction which was strange. I told the boat captain I would dive in the opposite direction, and we began the dive. The current started picking up immediately. Before I knew it I was moving faster through the water than I ever have. Up ahead I saw the current was so strong it was tearing everything lose from the wall we were diving along. I grabbed one of the boys, and the father took the other. There was no way to avoid going into the cloud ahead. Then we were thrown up within a couple of meters of the surface. Then we were taking straight down. I was swimming up as hard as a could and inflating my jacket, but we still went down, the ears were killing. My computer was going crazy (I looked at the profile after, it's wild), It took us up and down 2 or 3 times. I was most scared about having the kids with me, but we held on the them, did a stop, and came up. The current had surged us forward, and then back in the opposite direction, so we came up to the surface in almost the same spot.
The boat was OK, we had everyone on the boat except for one group. The water was unbelievable. It looked like a flood. Water was flooding out of the island between the cliffs. People were trapped in Maya Bay, the waves were too big for boats to go into the bay. There were overturned long tail boats. The way the water was swelling and surging around the island, I thought the last group had been swept away. There was an anxious 45 minutes as we searched for them. Incredibly, they were not in the worst of the current the way we were, and were able to finish the dive. It was a relief to see them come up.
After that things calmed down quite a bit. We didn't know at that time what was going on and how widespread it was. We couldn't get any information on the marine radio. Because we knew so little, we were actually thinking about another dive. I asked the captain to radio the other dive boats to find out what they were planning to do. I checked the current in a protected spot, other companies were starting dives. We had no idea what had really happened. I wouldn't start the dive until we got some information, but the phone network was busy. Then we started getting reports over the radio about people lost, deco cases, missing people, but that was 1-2 hours later, and we still didn't know the scope of what had happened, and how it had effected the whole region. Other dive companies started heading back and I decided to do the same. All the boats were hanging out in the middle of the harbour, because they couldn't go in. We still didn't know how hard Phi Phi had been hit.
When we got back to Koh Lanta we finally saw what had happened. All the resorts on the beach were smashed up. There was a sail boat overturned, long tails floating around upside down. Everything was deserted. We had to avoid all the debris in the water with the boat. In was at the resort on the beach when it came in and had to run with everyone else to get away from it. They say it sucked the water down 5-10 meters, then waves started coming in. The biggest about 3 meters. The say Phi Phi was hit with 10 meters.
We raced back to the harbour as we heard for the first time by phone that more waves would be coming. The captain took the boat up into the klongs to keep it safe. The town was mostly deserted, and debris was all over the road. When I got back we went and hung out in a restaurant in the mountains. Now people are trying to get organized, get news, and clean things up.
I'll let you know more in a little while. Hope everyone is well there.
Merry Xmas and New Year,
Mike
Visa alla svar
 brev från kompis på koh lanta
|
Fredrik Gustafsson | 2004-12-27 08:41 |
  Sv: brev från kompis på koh lanta | Bert Ytterhag | 2004-12-27 09:47 |
| Sv: Sv: brev från kompis på koh lanta | Magnus Gustafsson | 2004-12-27 11:51 |
| Sv: brev från kompis på koh lanta | Olle Borg | 2004-12-27 10:25 |
| Sv: Sv: brev från kompis på koh lanta | Fredrik Gustafsson | 2004-12-27 10:35 |
«TILLBAKA
Svara på detta inlägg
Vi ber dig följa de riktlinjer som beskrivs under Netiquette. Rubrik:
Svar:
