Transcripts For WCAU Dateline NBC 20150316

The sounds of metal crashing. How could anybody survive Something Like this . I had no way to escape, and i knew i was facing death. This is not how you die, youre going to survive this. I survived. I survived. I survived. I survived the 2004 tsunami in thailand. It has changed my life forever. Reporter it rose from the depths of the sea, that monstrous tsunami that literally tore around the globe erasing cities and swallowing coastlines. Im josh elliott and welcome to this dateline special. The images from that hellish day are seared in our collective memory. The 2004 indian ocean tsunami was one of the worst natural disasters in modern history, killing an estimated 230,000 people in 14 countries. Youre about to hear from those trapped, as that tsunami struck the beaches of thailand. How they survived, its impact and then its aftermath, how they escaped. It was the day after christmas. The day that disaster struck paradise. Back in 2004, married happily with my wife, vivienne and my two children, caitlyn and michaela and we wanted to go away for the holidays. And we said why not spend Christmas Eve and christmas on a Beautiful Island in thailand . I was 10 yearsold, and my sister was 7 yearsold. I was excited to travel, excited to see a part of the world i hadnt really seen before. If you took a picture and you said, this is what tropical paradise looks like, you would take it of ko phi phi island. Its stunning really. The islands kind of hourglass shaped, in a sense. And so all the shops are in the middle and then theres a hill on each end. Caitlyn was ten and she was smart enough to know that we were abandoning our christmas tree. But we assured them that we were bringing our stockings. My mom sort of, like, hid presents for us and would like, when we woke up in the morning, they were like, oh santa did come, he did make it to our, you know, bungalow in thailand. 2004 was the year when my career were was at its peak. It was one year after i was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and everything was booming. Simon, his full name was simon atlee, and he was a fashion photographer. And we connected in a very beautiful way, romantic way. I was really excited of taking simon to thailand and showing him a place which was so close to my heart. When we got to khao lak, we checked in into khao lak orchid beach resort. It was by the seaside, beautiful, a long beach with very few people. And it was exactly what we needed, little heaven. December 2004, life was amazing. I had just signed a deal for to go and play professional golf for three years. I mean had just been married. I feel that amanda found the best in me. She loved to travel, she loved to do spontaneous things. So for our honeymoon, our game plan was get on a plane, land in thailand and well figure out what we do when we get there. No hotel reservations, no nothing for two weeks. So we arrived at koh phi phi. It was just amazing. We were in our second year of Business School at stanford. And planning to go on a study trip over the christmas holiday. To go to singapore and thailand and added another trip at the end of that to enjoy the thai beaches and diving. One of our good friends had been to ko phi phi a number of times and we had a couple of days booked in a bungalow on that beach. So stephan, myself and one other friend stayed in a bungalow on the beach at pp. Charlie and our two other friends stayed across the island at a different hotel. One of the interesting moments that happened on that trip was laura asking questions to our professor, what her chances would be to die in a tsunami. And most of us thought that was a crazy thing to ask. I dont remember when i got this fear of tsunamis. But s definitely from sort of Junior High School on it was always my most common reoccurring nightmare. So when i asked him, what are the chances that i would die in a tsunami . He just looked at me and laughed and said, laura, you have less than 0 chance of dying in a tsunami. My dad only got every other christmas off work, since he was an emergency physician. So every other year, wed go somewhere different. December of 2004, i went to thailand with my brother, who was 16, my sister, who was 15, and my dad and his girlfriend, sally. And i was 18 at the time. Shonti is the oldest, jairam and kali the youngest. Jai on a sunday afternoon, middle of october was a passenger in a rollover accident and they found that he had broken four bones in his neck. And very, very bad fractures. So they had to stabilize the lower part of his spine. And they did that by using titanium plates and cadaver bone and screws. And we chose to continue with our plans to go to thailand. Jai had been having these dreams before we got to thailand. He did not wanna come to thailand at all. One of his dreams was getting stuck on an island. I think one of them was drowning. And when we first got there, he couldnt sleep at all. These dreams kept wakin him up. And he was just terrified. We were in bangkok at this point. He was crying and hyperventilating and, you know, we cant do this. Somethings gonna bads gonna happen, dad. We cant do this. Please let dont take us there, to the beach. Jai was afraid of his dreams because he dreamed his car accident. It was pretty much spot on, exactly what happened. And even though my dad knew that that first dream had come into fruition, he thats kind of a tough call. Do you cancel a vacation just over a dream . So we decided to head south and see how it went. When we would go out to dive, jai would stay at the hotel, watch movies. The water is really incredible there. Its this turquoise blue that you only see in the caribbean. I dived in some of the most beautiful places in the world. And ive never seen anything like this. There were so many fish, you had to almost push them out of the way to swim. I would just twirl around amongst these beautiful fish and around the coral and it was the physical sensation of being in this beauty and being able to just let go and relax. Reporter disaster rose early that morning. Near the indonensian island of sumatra, where a massive earthquake struck deep beneath the ocean floor, magnitude 9. 1, so powerful it actually altered the rotation of the earth. That quake then spawned a series of tsunami waves, and witnesses would see three of those waves strike the coast of thailand. There among the first to sense the danger were the divers a few miles off shore, the breisch family of salt lake city, and california grad student stephan zech. So on the morning of the 26th, i wake up. And and i had timed it just so that, on the last day, if i do two dives, i could i could leave with with a certification. So 8 15, i leave the bungalow. I grab a tshirt and start running along the beach to get to the get to the dive boat, which ended up leaving shortly thereafter. We went to a dive site called bida nak, which is a very nice coral site thats about six miles south of south of ko phi phi, probably took us took us an hour and a half, maybe two hours to get there. We ended up getting into the water probably around 10 15. I saw the fish moving in awkward directions. They didnt seem to be swimming naturally and there was a lot of just dust kicked up in this current. And in my amateur mind, i thought thats the current on the other side of the island. I didnt really realize that something was off until i saw the dive instructor and and i could tell, by the look on his face, that hes just not hes not seen that before. And he collected us and we slowly ascended to get back up to the surface. Just nobody could explain it. This day, we were going to dive the north end of the similan islands. My sister decided that she didnt want to dive with us that day. She was gonna hang out with my brother. The currents were just absolutely crazy. The water was full of bubbles. And there was no fish. And we were against this rock cliff island. They just kept pushing you into the rocks. And my dad and sally got swept away, i think, a mile or more away from us. I was actually in a vortex, and i went down about s 45, 50 feet, and it was just stronger and stronger. It was like just being gripped by a fist. I got caught by this rip current. And and then i surfaced again. And i saw these big waves, you know, seven to ten foot waves. And whats generating a wave in deep water . I figured it was a very good possibility that i wasnt gonna make it out of this alive. Reporter coming up water was breaking the windows, filling to the bungalow. Reporter a tsunami roars ashore. It was like a bomb went off. Oh, my god, its a tsunami, were about to be submerged. I looked at my dad and i said take your kids and run. Te. And a free month of service after completing two months on select plans. That way you can turn your tax refund into a mefund and treat yourself to something nice like every flavor. And every topping. [ man ] i remember when i wouldnt give a little cut a second thought. When i didnt worry about the hepatitis c in my blood. When i didnt think twice about where i left my razor. [ male announcer ] hep c is a serious disease. Take action now. Go to hepc. Com or call 1844444hepc to find out how you and your doctor can take the next step towards a cure. Because the answers you need may be closer than they appear. Why do i cook . Because i make the best chicken noodle soup. Because i make the best chicken noodle soup. Because i make the best chicken noodle soup. For every way you make chicken noodle soup, make it delicious with swanson®. How do crest 3d White Whitestrips compare to a whitening toothpaste . Lets see. The paste didnt seem to do much for me. The whitestrips made a huge difference. Thats not fair crest whitestrips work below the enamel surface to whiten 25 times better than the leading whitening toothpaste. Crest whitestrips. The way to whiten quiet mom has a headache had a headache but now, i. Dont. Excedrin® is fast. In fact for some, relief starts in just 15 minutes. Excedrin®. Wow, that was fast. At kelloggs, we believe breakfast helps fuel a childs potential. Yet 1 in 5 kids go without it. Thats why for years, weve provided millions of breakfasts to those who may need it. And now, when you buy a specially marked box of kelloggs cereals, youre helping give a breakfast to a child. Because a bowlful of potential is one of the things they need to help reach theirs. Kelloggs. See you at breakfast. Im yelling for sally and im on the surface. And i didnt hear her, but that boat apparently saw her, and they hand signaled to me where she was. Trying to get back onto this boat with all of these big waves that were coming through, this choppy water that wed never seen before. And i think the weirdest part is thats the kind of water you see when theres, like, a storm coming, but it was sunny and clear, blue sky and no clouds anywhere. Everybody came up and was on the boat and talking about what was goin you know, what is going on . Reporter its sunday morning. And that massive surge that had swept past divers and fishermen off the coast of thailand was now roaring towards shore. And making it all worse the tsunami would take most along the coast completely by surprise, for there was no official Warning System in place. The waves were coming and time had run out. We woke up on 26th of december about 7 30 a. M. We got dressed. We took a stroll on the beach. We were supposed to leave two hours later to another part of thailand, so once we got to the bungalow we started to pack. The plan was to spend the last day there, just to hang out hang out by the beach. And we sat down on a little bench in the lobby and we just started to talk about, look, we can go to the pool right here which is amazing. You know, we can rent a speed boat and go and spend the day having someone drive us from island to island and go and check out the places we havent seen yet. Stefan left to go do his dive, and my friend came over. And he was gonna help me finish packing and then we were gonna go to the beach for a couple of hours before we checked out. We sort of set out for the day, just to hang out on the beach. It was supposed to be high tide. But it was what appeared to be low tide. And all of the boats were all stuck in the sand. We wanted to find a hair braider somewhere on the beach, just to hang out for a couple hours to pass the time before we left. We went to the ladies to get the girls hair braided. They were speaking to themselves very sort of animatedly. And vivian and i couldnt get their attention. I remember michaela walking down about ten feet in front of us and sit down and start writing in her journal. And we turn to talk to the lady about getting their hair braided. And within that quick amount of time, we look and the waters gone outta the bay completely. We were looking at coral or rocks that we had never seen before. On the horizon, there seemed to be sort of a white line. And at that point things happened really quickly. This woman looked at my dad, and pointed at my little sister michaela, and said, take your kids and run. And from that point on, we knew that this was no longer, you know, an average day. I just remember hearing people screaming. And it sounded like they were running towards us. And i i initially thought, oh, wow, these people are really happy, cause thats where the boats were landing. But within three seconds i knew it wasnt that, you know, cause you could hear the screams. It was completely different from joy. I instantly clicked into sort of a survival mode. 9 11 was fresh in our minds. And im thinking terrorism. So my mindset was, you know, k hide. And i grabbed amanda and we threw her over the counter, ran into an office, the wall was right here against us and mandy was looking right into my eyes. I started very quickly running back towards the buildings. And back to more, like, inland. I remember turning and running and noticing other foreigners walking towards the beach taking pictures. I noticed that caitlyn was running really fast. Jamies holding michaelas hand and she has these little highheeled little flipflops on that shes running in. And then michaela dropped her journal. And when i turned around to pick it up thats when i saw a wall of muddy, brown, white water. Its was at least two stories high. Ive grown up, you know, being in the ocean, next to the ocean. You know, ive seen thousands of waves, but id never seen water behave like this. I thought, thats it. Were not gonna make it. As i was packing i looked up. And thats when i saw people frantically running around the pool. The next second, water was crashing into the the windows and breaking the windows, filling the bungalow, and it was so fast. And i was screaming to simon, whats happening . Everything happened in split of seconds. And then the current took myself and simon out of the bungalow. I already have cuts around my body. Then a debris of wood and metal and trees and glass started to press on my pelvis. And i had no way to escape. I felt i will die. And i saw water just exploding through the bungalow ahead of us. I sort of said, oh my god, its a tsunami. And i jumped up on the bed and and grabbed my friends hand and pulled him up as well just thinking if we were a little bit higher, that would that would be better. I knew we were about to be submerged. I just didnt know how deep it was going to be or how bad it was going to be or how long it was gonna last. So right before it hit, i took a deep breath. So we got down on our hands and knees and there we were with our hands together and we were about to pray and then we just never had time to because at that moment, right then and there, it was like a bomb went off. Just the loudest noise you could imagine. And it just kept on getting louder and louder and louder to the point where amanda and i were two inches away from each others faces, shouting that we love each other, i love you, i love you. And by that time the room was now shaking violently up and down, up and down, up and down. And amanda looked at me and said, this is it, isnt it . And i looked back and for some reason i said no. And the second i said that, i looked to my right and the wall just went straight through us. Reporter coming up submerged. I really didnt know which way was up, which way was down. Reporter trapped. My legs were clearly pinned. Reporter defiant. At that exact second my response was, no, im going to die fighting. And you can use up to 4x less. Are you good to go hun . Cleaner than ever. Rotorooter approved. Charmin is clogfree or its free. Life lessons with ziploc. Tomorrows science project requires 150 cats eye marbles. If this bag breaks emmas chance of impressing the teacher could slip away. Life needs ziploc. Sc johnson. [epic music] introducing aleve pm. The pm pain reliever. That dares to work all the way until. [birds chirping] the am. New aleve pm. Its the first to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. For pain relief that can last all the way until morning. New aleve pm, for a better am. Thank you, cable for the slower internet upload speeds. For making me wait longer to share my photo albums. Thank you cable, because if we never had you we wouldnt know the incredible difference verizon fios makes. In Customer Satisfaction studies, fios is rated 1 in Internet Speed and reliability 8 years running. Plus, fios has the fastest wifi available from any provider. Period. See the difference for yourself. Get a fios triple play online at an amazing price, guaranteed for two full years plus, get a 300 bonus with a twoyear agreement. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v oh my god, look at the waves coming. Clear out people ahh clear out it really hit with a lot of force. And it was very dark because it had picked up all this debris and sand. So all of a sudden it was just being hit with this dark wall of water and thrown around. As soon as the water hit, i lost contact with with my friend. For a few minutes i just tumbled in the water. I really didnt know which way was up, which way was down. Is this my dream . Because i have the tsunami dream a lot, but in this dream im never actually in the tsunami. So this cant be the dream. I came to rest under what i assume was the bungalow, was rebar and wood and the bureau and the furniture and all of this was piled on top of me and then a lotta water. I tried to move, and my legs were clearly pinned. I thought that my chest was pinned because my chest hurt so much. But i dont think that there was necessarily much on my chest so much as running out of oxygen was incredibly painful and my lungs started to hurt. I was under for about three minutes i couldnt hold my breath anymore. At first, i was very scared. But i really didnt want to die in a state of panic. And so i really did try to relax and i remember feeling incredibly sad for my parents and how they would feel. There definitely was a moment when i thought, the fact that im gonna be the one to die in this tsunami when ive been saying this for years and years, like, this is just its ridiculously ironic. And i remember a little boy crying looking at me as im running past him. And im thinking, i cant save him. I cant do anything about this. And i remember with my relief a father coming by, scooping him up and running into a house we start to serpentine a little bit through the village. And then i hear water hitting cement. I remember turning around and seeing water hit the building and then water coming out everywhere. We kept running. Now i feel like the ocean is some huge monster and its coming for us. And i just think, im gonna have to grab onto michaela and vivian, hold my breath, try and let my body go limp. And when the water stops moving then well go to the surface. Somehow we run to this hill. Caitlyns right there and she looks at me and like this. And i scream at her, up, she reached a set of stairs that went up a hillside into some bungalows. We got to the stairs just in time cause then the water did hit right as we hit the stairs, and the water started to rise. People running next to jamie or right behind him, were hit by the water. When the wall hit us and we you know, went i went through the next wall, we were instantly engulfed and we were under water. And so now were just tumbling in pitch black, inside a hotel thats now in an ocean. I remember feeling amandas hands slip out of my hand and realizing this was it, you know. And i just clearly remember saying to myself, this isnt the end of my life. Specifically saying this is not how will robins dies. This is not how i die. I started to realize i dont have any oxygen left. And so it went from this isnt the end of my life, to this is how i die. And so realizing that i had lost my wife, realizing its time to come to terms with this. And so i said to myself, you know, just inhale the water and say its over. And for some reason at that exact second my response was, no, im gonna die fighting. And bang, i popped up and i was in the middle of the ocean, on that very last word. And i turned to my right and my wife was there about 2 1 2 feet away from me. She was screaming, im broken. Im broken. Im broken. And i popped up and looked at the island and there was no island left. And it wasnt so much joy that we were alive, it was more of what happened and whats about to happen now. Reporter coming up another one. Reporter killer wave number two. Screaming for help. Very, very frantic. That metal and the wood crushing you, like a trash compactor, youre clearly dying. Oing to survive another harsh winter or stay dry from torrential rain showers, or savor the last warm rays of sun. Step inside the jeep grand cherokee. And wonder no more. This is the jeep® grand cherokee. The most awarded suv ever. Wellqualified lessees can lease the 2015 grand Cherokee Laredo for 349 a month. They say after seeing a magician make his assistant disappear mr. Clean came up with a product that makes dirt virtually disappear. He called it the magic eraser. It cleans like magic. Even baked on dirt disappears right before your eyes. Mr. Cleans magic eraser. Claritind presents two allergy sufferers. One had allergies with nasal congestion so he tried the newest allergy spray, which could take several days to feel the full effect of relief. The other went straight to the pharmacy counter for the fast, powerful relief of claritind. Its tough on allergies with nasal congestion and starts to work in just 30 minutes. The moral . Nothing works faster than claritind. Find it at the pharmacy counter. And live claritin clear. Each year 17 billion toilet paper tubes are used. Enough to fill the empire state building. Twice. Toss the tube for good. With scott naturals® tubefree. Pretty much a whole town flattened. There are buildings that are missing. There are people hanging from a giant water tower. And now were taking stock, caitlyn is freaked out. Mckayla is kind of stunned but was not upset. Casey and i were like holy [ bleep ] whats going on. Trying to make sense of it. Reporter the colossal waves have truck with unimaginable force. Everywhere there was unimaginable debris and death, yet countless are still alive and trapped, yet there was a second wave heading towards them. With we heard the rumble of another wave come coming. And we heard people scream, another one, another one. I just kicked back into caitlyn ran by the back of this bungalow and ranned. I said to jamey, im going to the take off at caitlyn, catch up with us. We started the get dragged back on the island, and you could feel the metal just crushing you, just like youre a trash compactor. The wooden boats were just being splintered to pieces up against the dock. I mean they were hitting the dock and just splintering up in the air and it was like, this is it. You know, there no way out of this one because i i mean i couldnt swim. I couldnt feel my left arm and i knew my wife was possibly paralyzed, the way she was screaming. I just said i said, god, you need to help me out. I was under the black water for for long time. And i tried to fight to try to catch air. I dont know how i was able to arise over the debris. But there i was, seeing blue sky. The current was going back into the ocean and i knew if i go into the ocean its going to be very hard to come back and its very going to be very hard to survive. And there was a palm tree, first palm tree i saw. And i tried to catch the leaves and i couldnt. And as im doing this, there are many other people doing the same thing, trying to hold onto something, screaming for help. Adults, children, frightened. Everybody was very, very frantic. After i had been underwater for really as long as i i could a second wave hit. And when it hit, it sort of shuffled things again. And i felt things on top of me loosen. And then i was able to to push and fight a little bit and get up to the surface. Its not about swimming. Its about trying not to get knocked by all of the stuff in the water. I got to a structure that was still standing. And there was a thai man who who was able to reach down from the second or third story and and grab my my arm. I thought, great, okay. Im im saved. Hell drag me out. And i so i was trying to get another hand up and get a hold of anything to try to help him. But he let go, then it was just right back to survival mode. And then there was one guy just standing in a boat, a little wooden boat, and he was just standing there. And i just shouted out to him. I said, you got to save us. Were going to die. And he he just said, i cant help you. You know, ive lost. Hed lost his whole family. I shouted back at him. And it was the it was a shout of of death. It was a shout of, im going to die. You know . And ah, well. And i shouted at him, and i just said, you cant help them now. Were going to die. You can save us. And it was a miracle that he decided that that was the best thing he could do was at that time. Give up on the people that who he loved and go and help two complete strangers. Marcus mellburg yeah. He was working on the dive boats. Hes from sweden. And he was out there with his family. They had come out to visit him for christmas. He was in the middle of the island with us, i mean right where we were, just somewhere in the island, and didnt get a scratch. Ended up in a little wooden boat, wasnt standing in a boat to start with, hed lost his mum and his dad. Hed lost his sister and his brotherinlaw. And so he threw a rope to us. I tied it around my arm and he literally physically dragged us across metal and wood and debris above the water and pulled us onto a boat. Well when i look behind me, i just see a nice blue ocean for miles and miles and miles and im in the middle of nowhere. And when i look the other way, i see an island thats no longer. And you start to think, you know, whats whats whats going to happen now. Then i see the wave, you know, the next wave comes. 3 f2 luego vi la otra olgz. Reporter could it be . A third tsunami wave . It was like it just was rising and rose up. And could it be more deadly than the last . I had no strength left. It would be one of my last chances to survive. R roar] were taking worn out batteries. And making them into something strong. New energizer ecoadvanced. Worlds first long lasting battery made with 4 recycled batteries. Lilly. She pretty much lives in her favorite princess dress. But once a week i let her play sheriff so i can wash it. I use tide to get out those week old stains and downy to get it fresh and soft. You are free to go. Tide and downy together. Did you make Kraft Mac Cheese for the kids . Yup. Did you cook some protein to go with it . It has 9 grams per serving. Did you have to use every pot in the house . I didnt use the double broiler. Kraft macaroni cheese you know you love it. Introducing new flonase allergy relief nasal spray, now available over the counter in full prescription strength. When we breathe in allergens our bodies react by overproducing six key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms. The leading allergy pill only controls one, flonase controls six. And six is greater than one. Flonase the 24 hour relief that outperforms the 1 allergy pill. So go ahead , inhale life. New flonase. Six is greater than one. This changes everything. I knew there would be a moment i would have to grab on to something, and that would be my own chance to survive. Im able to grab a hold of a palm tree. I have cuts everywhere. And at that moment, what was hurting me was my pelvis. I was in pain. I realized that i couldnt really stand up. I looked down. And i saw that a big portion of my leg had been is sort of ripped off and was hanging off of my leg. Luckily i was absolutely in shock at that point and i didnt feel any pain from it. And amazingly, my bikini sandand sarong were still on. So i knew i had to tie off my leg. I heard the voices of people screaming out. Screaming, you know, peoples names. And there was a huge barge. We thought, look, its fine. You know, there are people standing on it. Its right by shore so its gone through everything and its okay. We need to get off of this little wooden boat and get somewhere safer. So at this time ive got onto the barge. Marcus is on the barge. Nobody else is left in the little wooden boat except amanda. But the wooden boat is right up against the barge and she was screaming. She was in absolute pain. Reporter two tsunami waves had struck, and retreated. And in their wake, those survivors who could began to stagger toward safety, struggling to find help. Then, on the horizon, there it was a third and final wave was coming. It was like the horizon just rose up, but it wasnt. It was the it was the ocean rising up for the next wave. Amanda didnt move. And she just lay there crying. And you obviously can see whats gonna happen. Its gonna crush her and she just cant stand up. And were just yelling. Everybody on the boat, in every language you can imagine, just screaming at her, stand up. You know, stand up, and she just couldnt. And i looked her in the eyes and i said, sweetie, just stand up, and somehow she just was able to force herself up. And she didnt jump, she just fell and marcus lent over and grabbed her and just pulled her on board. She was there right at the time that the wave came and crashed into the wooden boat and went right up over us. When i was laying there, all of a sudden i heard a woman from up on top of a building call out like, hold on, theres another wave coming. So i sort of scrambled up and held onto the to the palm tree again. The water didnt go over my head, but it did push a lot of debris against me. And i wound up getting lots of cuts on my back. I remember after that wave subsided, lying back down and thinking, if another wave comes, like, i cant get up. Like, i had no strength left at that point. I didnt know what had happened to any of any of my friends. I was the most hopeful about stephan because i thought that, you know, being out diving and being in the water mightve mightve been safest. And then i was obviously incredibly worried about about the friend who had been with me in the bungalow. And as the water was decreasing, there was no more water and only a debris covered with mud was there. I have to be very cautious of every possible sound because one sound could mean another wave was coming, because we didnt know what was happening. But the worst sounds were screams of children calling for their loved ones. Calling for help. And i was so close. But i couldnt do anything. We came to a little bit of a clearing pretty high up on the top of the hill. And so we just got up there and you saw little areas of people. So we found a little flat area and we sat down. I think that was the first maybe ten minutes or so after wed got there was the first time i sort of was able to relax, you know. It sort of really hit me then what had just happened. There were screams of people that were injured. There were people panicking and crying. There were people sitting in silence. I was worried about my dad and my sister. I couldnt help but think theres a million Different Reasons why they could not be okay. Reporter coming up divers return to shore, but what was left . It just looked like a bomb had gone off. No buildings left, no hotels. We saw jaes black jeans and carlys bathing suit top and that was all that was left of that bungalow. U know what the greatest show of all time would be . Found; its just one episode. This trailer looks great. Thats like the bluest blue ive ever seen. How much more black could this be . And the answer is. None. Plane lands. And then another plane comes over and says there they are. Somebody in his life gets kidnapped and once again he will not have it. He just like shoves her in front of that train. What . What . What . What, what . What aint no country i everheard of. Do they speak english in what . So good. What . Say what again look at the color. Right. Night club court. Everybodys guilty. Thats good. Of having fun. Whatt . we gotta watch one more. The best tv deserves the best tv. Introducing samsung suhd tv. With more color than ever before. Milk has 8 grams of highquality protein. Which could be the difference between just living life. And milking it. Start every day with the power of protein and milk life. Theres only two of us. How much dirt can we manufacture . Very little. More than you think. doorbell whats that . Whats this . Swiffer sweeper. I came in under the assumption that it was clean. Ive been living in a fools paradise why are all these people so asleep yet im so awake . Did you know your brain has two systems . One helps keep you awake the other helps you sleep. Science suggests when you have insomnia, the wake system in your brain may be too strong and your neurotransmitters remain too active as you try to sleep, which could be leading to your insomnia. Ohh. Maybe thats whats preventing me from getting the sleep i need talk to your doctor about ways to manage your insomnia. [ male announcer ] you wouldnt ignore signs of damage in your home. Are you sure youre not ignoring them in your body . Even if youre treating your Crohns Disease or Ulcerative Colitis an occasional flare may be a sign of damaging inflammation. And if you ignore the signs, the more debilitating your symptoms could become. Learn more about the role damaging inflammation may be playing in your symptoms with the expert advice tool at crohnsandcolitis. Com. And then speak with your gastroenterologist. The day after christmas 2004, these monstrous waves have devastated the coast of thailand. The two grad students and emergency room doctor and his family had been miles away from shore. And when they made their way back to land they began to realize the enormity of all that had happened. And the realization that all they had left behind is gone. A man boarded our larger boat and we saw a man and his hand was bleeding. He said i got washed over the town and over rooftops. There was a massive wave and hundreds must be dead. The scariest part of his story was that we knew what he was describing was exactly where we knew our friends had been or were supposed to be that morning. Not knowing what had happened to them was gutwrenching. It was very clear to us that we needed to go and help. We were about two miles from shore. I thought at first that an ocean liner had blown up, because there was so much stuff in the water. There were mattresses and cabinets and refrigerators that would have belonged in a home. And we start realizing that theres so many bodies. Everywhere you look, theres bodies. And we cant pick up all these bodies. And so we start looking for people who are still alive that we can pull out of the water. Something had torn their clothes off. And they had cuts all over their bodies, like little razor cuts to their faces and their chests and their you know, everywhere. And we pulled in as many people as we could and then the captain said, we just cant bring anymore because the boat wont hold anymore. The debris field was unbelievable. It was obvious at that point, to me anyhow, that this this was a tsunami. I just started thinking about theres no way that my brother and sister would be alive. The captain wasnt willing to go back on shore. And this seemed to have been true for most boats. There must have been 50 or 70 boats just in the bay, but not willing to get anywhere near the shoreline, just worried that theres another wave coming. Two of the instructors put fins on and jumped in and said, well swim and get a boat and whoever is willing to go back can go back. I dont think ive ever felt as helpless as i did on that boat that day. You are a mile from hundreds or thousands of injured men, women, and children. Youre in a position to potentially help them and and a you cant you cant get there. I panicked because i had binoculars. I used my binoculars to look at the beach. There was no buildings left, no hotels. There was a part of me that that really didnt have any question that jai and kali had to be dead. I started to cry. And then i went back to being a doctor. You put your stethescope on and you go on. The dive instructors are probably gone for about two hours. And so, we couldnt wait for those guys to get back. And when they did, six or seven of us jumped into that boat and got onto shores as quickly as we as we could. And as we pulled up, i remember maybe 12 feet away from us was a body that must have been floating for quite a while that ended up getting washed on to the beach. And i remember taking the other firsttime diver and just kind of shielded her and and ran the other way, assuming that maybe we wont see another one. But, of course, we saw many more than that. Its probably about 1 30 or 2 00 in the afternoon when we got to the got to the beach. Greta, the dive master, had said, when you hit the shore, run as fast as you can, as far as you can, as high you can. There were dead bodies everywhere and arms and legs and severed it was it was like it was a killing field. And my dad hands me the bag of our belongings and our passports and such and tells me to run. And i start running. It just looked like a bomb had gone off. There was just foundations left and holes blown through the walls of the ones that were still standing. I turned around at one point and tried to look for sally, and she wasnt behind me. And i was not about to stop. And so i just kept going still. And i got up to the main road in town. And there was the thai man that was pointing up another street that went up into the mountains, and i was just following this dirt road up into the trees, into the jungle. We headed straight to the hotel to look for for jai and kali. And it was devastated. The one where our kids was, was was just a flat concrete pad, basically. When we stood on the on the concrete slab, one of the things that we saw was jais black jeans hanging from a piece of rebar and kalis bathing suit top hanging from another piece of rebar. And that was all there was that was left of that bungalow. And that was just terrifying. Reporter coming up caitlyn and jae are gone. Reporter a family is separated and an agonizing search begins. You just pull the cloth off of the face and look at the face, and if its not your daughter or son, you move to the next one and then to the next one. So when my husband started Getting Better dental checkups than me i decided to go pro. With crest prohealth advanced. My mouth is getting healthier. My teeth are getting stronger. This crest toothpaste is superior in five areas. Great checkup. Cortana, when my wife calls remind me to tell her happy anniversary. Next time you talk to caroline, ill remind you. Oh, and remind me to get roses when im near any store. Sure thing. Remind you when you get to store. Cortana, its gonna be a great night. Oh, wow thanks for the traffic alert. I better get going. Youre making me look good. Thanks, cortana. You bet. Great nocontract lumia devices as low as 49. 88 at walmart. Thank you, cable for the slower internet upload speeds. For making me wait longer to share my photo albums. Thank you cable, because if we never had you we wouldnt know the incredible difference verizon fios makes. In Customer Satisfaction studies, fios is rated 1 in Internet Speed and reliability 8 years running. Plus, fios has the fastest wifi available from any provider. Period. See the difference for yourself. Get a fios triple play online at an amazing price, guaranteed for two full years plus, get a 300 bonus with a twoyear agreement. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v reporter it was the very peak of thailands holiday season. But death hung in the air like a shroud, thick and unimaginable. The deafening roar of those tsunami waves had gone but in its place now were cries for help as the sense of danger remained. Caitlin and and vivian are gone. I have no idea where they went. And at that point my forearms and my legs from my knees down go numb, completely numb. And i remember michaela asking me, dad, lets lets go find mommy and caitlin. And i said, you know, honey, theyre fine. We just need to rest here for just a little bit. And i didnt want to scare her. So i think after about maybe an hour and a half the feeling started to come back. And so we started making our way up the hill. My mom heard him first. But it was my dad screaming, vivian, vivian, and we ran over. And you know it was sort of probably the greatest sense of relief. We needed, started to start thinking about provisions. Water, shelter. That was roughly three to four hours after the first wave. And i remember walking down and seeing, like a trail of blood, or somebody had been dragged. I knew then that this was a huge tragedy. I had no strength left at that point. So then it was just a waiting game of how can i get help because my contacts had been washed away. I couldnt see very well. Every few minutes i would kind of call out for help and call for a doctor. I probably lay there for about an hour or so, until a couple of people came down from from the hills and they found, like, a sail from a sailboat that had ripped apart. And they put me in that. And they sort of dragged me up the hill to where there was a hotel i was lying on the hotel bed and there were people helping. I could hear them having arguments amongst each other of how to help. And a lot of that was based on what they had seen on tv like in episodes of e. R. Of, you know, do you make tourniquets or do you not make tourniquets . Like, no, remember that episode someone made a tourniquet and then they had to amputate. And, do you give people food who are in shock . No, you cant give them food. And lying there listening to them try to figure out how how to to help was in some ways incredibly funny, in some ways incredibly scary. The rest of that that first day was spent looking. Following the debris trail, you know, if if our stuff from the bungalow went here, you know, im certain a body would have been carried right there, too. Finally, we end up at the road, and the high water mark, and hadnt found the kids, just all this stuff and then we went to the buddhist temple. All the temples are morgues at this point. And the monks were praying and chanting. And burning incense for the dead. So, there were probably 25 or 30 bodies that first night. And you would go through, and youd just pull the cloth off of the face and look at the face. And then if its not your daughter or or son, youd move to the next one, and then to the next one, and then to the next one. It could have been 15 minutes. It could have been an hour and a half. But a scuba diving boat came in. And thats where we sort of got our first, you know, sips of water and at least was able to lay amanda down. The biggest fear that i had was that amanda was going to be paralyzed. I mean the amount of pain she was in, the amount of screaming, it it was just you knew it wasnt good. Maybe around about 4 00 or 5 00 in the afternoon a huge fishing vessel came in and they decided that it was going to be the makeshift hospital. There was a medical student and he was the first person that said, will, mandy can move her toes. She is not paralyzed. And that was like okay. So, were not out of it but, you know, were going to be better than we maybe thought we were going to be. The people helping us figured out that there was an evacuation zone. The medics were trying to to figure out ways to categorize people. And so, i was categorized as sort of leg injury. And you know, you stack that against someone with head trauma or, you know, a spinal injury, and and and a leg injury really isnt that serious. Laura, i had heard, was at the evacuation zone. And so i knew exactly where to go to make sure i can check in on her. When i saw laura for the first time she said, i broke my leg. It was this huge wave of relief, both to know that he was safe, that he was uninjured, and that now i had somebody to be with me during that time. I see probably 80 to 100 injured men, women, children that were on any anything that couldve been turned into a stretcher. The doctors walk around, prioritizing them to put them in the right order to get on the helicopter. At one point in the night, we said, that bed sheet, or whatever was wrapped around your leg, has been on there for quite some time. And i looked at it. Realized what she was describing was not what her leg looked like. It mustve been about 3 4 of her muscle on her lower part of her leg ripped off of her bone you could see the bones and the muscles and the tendons. There were four men were looking down and just looked at each other and said, oh, boy. Reporter coming up the race to safe them all. Laura we need to get her off of here. Reporter amanda. They had in medication, they couldnt get her out of there. I didnt know if i would ever see him again. Reporter could that stranger be her savior. Due to menopause and moderatetosevere painful intercourse caused by these changes. Dont use it if youve had unusual bleeding breast or uterine cancer blood clots, liver problems, stroke or heart attack, are allergic to any of its ingredients or think youre pregnant. Side effects may include headache pelvic pain, breast pain vaginal bleeding and vaginitis. Estrogens may increase your chances of getting cancer of the uterus, strokes, blood clots or dementia so use it for the shortest time based on goals and risks. Estrogen should not be used to prevent Heart Disease heart attack, stroke or dementia. Ask your doctor about premarin vaginal cream. You are loved in so many ways thats why youre wrapped in the blanketlike softness and protection of pampers swaddlers so all you feel is love. Pampers i want more you more me i want more yes more please i want more fun more style i want more love more smiles i want more. Jello yeah were on vacation next month, my family churns through all sorts of data. Well, now we have mobile share value plans with rollover data so the data you dont use this month rolls over to the next. Sounds great. But whats your angle . I dont think i have any angles. Hardball, huh . Look, if you want me in on this, i want a piece of the action. Oh well you get the rollover data automatically so youre already in on the action. Deal. You should negotiate more stuff. Youre pretty good at it. Introducing at t rollover data. The data you dont use this month rolls over to the next month. Badabababa in the beginning, the water was 30 feet high. And towards the end, it started to decrease. So i went from being vertical to being horizontal, now lying down on the nut. We were in thailand. Its very, very hot. And the sun is burning into my skin, my cuts. At that Point Holding onto palm tree for eight hours. I didnt even think somebody will be able to find me because i it was such an isolation. And i am in lots of pain and i saw a thai man walking towards me, i was in shock and happy surprise seeing him. And it got really funny because as im butt naked, he had swim swim swimming suit and he had shorts on him. So he took the shorts to be able to cover me and keep me decent. And i was like, this is really the last thing im thinking about right now, but but thank you. He tried to communicate with me to that hes gonna give me piggy back. And i just told him, its okay. If you can bring more help. But you cannot give me piggy back because its just unbearable pain. But i didnt know if i will see him again. I didnt know if hes gonna come back with help. I had very strong hope that simon will be found because he was stronger. He was great swimmer. I didnt even think that there was a chance that he wont make it. Little later i see the thai man returning with six i think six other men. They were able to lift me, which was really painful. So i was screaming a lot. I remember looking into the ocean and the sunset was this big, red, bloody sunset. And i was very grateful as i am going into hospital and not be there during the night, because that would be a lot a lot worse. Around about 8 00 that night i remember them saying, you know, were gonna head back to shore. Its about a two hour journey back to the to the main island. And amanda and i were the first people to get taken off. And i remember getting to the hospital and there was just photographers everywhere. You know, like, with the famous people in hollywood. You know, flash, flash, flash. And i just remember grabbing mandys hand. They picked her up on on the same p you know, piece of wood and then they just took her into the into the hospital. There was a german doctor who said to me, oh, whats your name . I said, its will. And, okay, lets take a look at you. I knew that my ear was had been lacerated seriously cause i was bleeding so much outta my you know, from my ear, down my face. And he just said, im gonna sew your ear back on now. And so he sewed that back on, put a bandaid on it. Thats when i realized id broken my clavicle. And so they sort of bandaged me back and put a sling around me. And thats when i started to look at my body and started to see that i was just covered in holes, where all the metal and the wood had just kinda stuck into us. And thats when i couldnt find amanda. You know, im rushin around the hospital, wheres my wife . Wheres my wife . And shed ended up in the pediatrics ward. And so i went up there and there were these wooden tables. And she was there, lying on it, just whimpering. And i found out that they had no medication. And there was no morphine. It was all gone, you know . There were thousands of people in this hospital, overwhelmed. You know, and the nurses were doing an amazing job to try and look after people. But they couldnt help her. And i just thought, okay, well, you know, how are we gonna get outta this . I literally didnt think i was as hurt as i was. And other patients were being prioritized. Because we, frankly, misclassified the injuries that laura had suffered. In addition to the leg being in a horrible condition, her breathing had been very light and very raspy. And there was a lotta coughing. And we knew we were running out of out of helicopter spots. Showed them the leg and and pointed out the breathing. And they registered that. And but they had s 50 other patients or 30, maybe, left. I was afraid she would die if she didnt get out of there, into a hospital. I followed up. And i said, we need to get her out of here. Its almost midnight. And id finally convinced them. I was in the evacuation zone waiting for about nine hours before i was flown off. War movies is probably the only thing i could compare it to, when the when the soldiers make it outta the warzone is what it what it felt like. And and there was a naive belief that she was now fine, not fully, i dont think, understanding the battle that was ahead of her. Reporter coming up a mother to the rescue. She barged into is icu. Nothing stops my mom. Reporter and an answer at last. He meant oh, my god, oh, my god and leave all the legwork to us. Switch your prescriptions to walgreens where you could save even more on Medicare Part d with copays as low as zero dollars. At the corner of happy and healthy. Ufferers. One tried the newest allergy spray which could take several days to feel the full effect of relief. The other took claritind which starts to work on allergies with nasal congestion in 30 minutes. The moral . Nothing works faster than claritind. Zuqpc when the darkness came, it was scariest. We attempted to sleep. There were a lot of little animals or Little Critters that we couldnt see but we could hare. People were afraid of snakes. So every time there would be a rustling, people would scream and start standinging up. We were among the few children there and this one thai woman kept coming over to me and my sister with a plate of fried rice. Please, please take a bite. Like, her entire life had been taken away in a matter of minutes. And she was still trying to feed me and my sister. It was a long, long night. And the girls started crying. I just remember thinking, we cant go through another night like this. When the sun started to rise, we realized we wanted to try to get the girls off the island. We could hear what we thought were helicopters. At that point, we decided, okay, well, theres no m i i think its safe to go down. Everyone was just making their way to the ferry. And it was very quiet and somber and just almost like this march to the to the pier. And i noticed on one side of the dock was the ferry where people were were going to the mainland and back and on the other side there was a boat with only black body bags on it. And you looked at that and you realized that there was the same amount of people on the ferry as in the body bags. How is it that we managed to survive . At first, i started patting myself on the back and said, well, you recognized the situation. And you saw the signs, and you started running when you could have. But thats a lie. That that it was plain dumb luck. This is the 27th now. Were right back into it again, because were not giving up until we find for sure that theyre dead or hurt somewhere, we just expanded our search grid. We found shantis cl bag of clothes. And again, more and more of jai and kalis stuff. It was all over the place. They wheeled me right into to the hospital. And i could see that there was somebody next to me who had a terrible shoulder wound. And i could see exposed bone. And and they were putting antiseptic right on it without medicating him at all. And he was screaming. The next thing i remember, i woke up in the hospital fully bandaged in a hospital bed. I was lucky that i got a bed, because there were people lying on the floor. And i can remember seeing, like, cats running by. And i mean, it was not it wasnt set up for for this at all. There was this wonderful frenchwoman, claire, she was sort of keeping tabs on me. And she had a cell phone. And asked me if i wanted to call anybody. And so i called my parents, who were obviously frantically worried and had no idea, you know, if i was okay. And you know, they said, where are you . Should we come . Whats happening . I said, no dont come. Its fine. Ill im sure ill be home soon. And claire said, okay, im just gonna talk to your parents for a minute. And she took the phone away from from me and and walked away. And i found out later she told my parents, you need to come, you need to come now and she needs to get out of this hospital. She is in a lotta danger. You need to get her out. You know, its your wife is lying there, most likely with internal bleeding, in a hospital with no medication and no way of helping you. Finally, i think about two two and a half days it took before we were medically evacuated, up to bangkok. The first thing they did was give mandy morphine. And, you know, it was two and a half days later. She was now finally out of pain. One of the most beautiful things is that we ended up finding out from marcus that he had found all of his family alive, all in different hospitals. So it was jus an absolute miracle. When i am in the hospital in khao lak, i didnt know that at that very time my friends and family looking for me. And sent actually a helicopter to get from khao lak to a hospital in hat yai where they had better facilities and they confirmed that my pelvis was broken in four places. They confirmed internal bleeding. My stomach, it was full of things which they are not supposed to be in the stomach. It was a combination of mud, debris, chemicals and many, many things. It was so swollen. So unbearable that even the morphine didnt work after a while. After three weeks being in hat yai hospital, i get organized with transportation to Czech Republic to another hospital where i could be closer to my parents. On wednesday, december 29th, i was medevaced to an International Hospital in bangkok and the doctors assessed me and diagnosed me with septicemia, which is a very fastacting blood poisoning, and pneumonia in addition to the leg wounds that i had. My mom came. And i remember she arrived in the middle of the night. Visiting hours were over, but nothing stops my mom. She barged into into icu at around 2 00 a. M. And it was so good to see her. And it doesnt matter how old you are. When youre in pain, like, theres Nothing Better than having your mom there. Stephan and a lot of others put in a lot of time trying to find the friend who had been with me in the bungalow in the hopes that he had survived but unfortunately he didnt make it. And theres just no way to understand why some people made it and some people didnt. We got a ride into khao lak and we went to the dive shop, and they had started putting up lists of survivors and lists of people who were being looked for. And we were searching the list for kali and jai. I was standing on the missing side of the board, looking at that list. And, you know, just name after name, after name, after name. And you think, its not gonna be there. And at the very bottom right hand corner of that list was jais name. And i found it. He went, oh my god, oh my god oh my god, hes alive, hes alive, hes alive. Reporter coming up alive, but where . They tried to stop me. And nobodys going to stop me from looking for my children. Reporter could they finding jai . Could they finding kali . Ica are taking advantage of sprints cut your bill in half event. Whats that in your hand . Um. My at t bill. My verizon bill. Whats the monthly rate . 85 about 160 what if sprint could cut your rate plan in half . I. Would love to cut that in half. And give you unlimited talk and text in the u. S. And match your data. Thats incredible. Bring in your verizon or at t bill, turn in your old phone and well cut your rate plan in half. Switch now and well pay whatever it costs for you to come to sprint. No other scents feel like glade. Uplift your attitude with our clean linen fragrance. Feel fresh and new. Feel glade. Whats in my snuggle scent boosters . Lavender joy a long lasting scent each pac is a big boost of freshness. Little pac, big snifference snuggle scent boosters right after we found his name on the list, we immediately started to to go start searching for him. We went into the hospital. And we just had to walk down through the hallways trying to find him. Theres no system of intakes as far as a hospital would typically tell you which room which patient is in. The next hospital was the hospital in phuket. Stu went up to the desk and asked for the information. And they looked, and they couldnt find any records. And and he said, well, im gonna look through the hospital for him. They tried to stop me. And nobodys gonna stop me for looking for my children. You its not happening. And suddenly it struck me, you know, im an er doc. You know, and every all these people that got hurt were hurt with blunt trauma. Every one of them got xrays, im sure. So i went to the Xray Department and asked the radiology tech if he had any xray films on jai breisch. And then he comes out with this folder from the bangkok phuket hospital. And i pulled out the ch the chest xray and looked at it. And lo and behold, there is the hardware in his neck from his surgery from the car accident. And this was really the first time that i had certainty that my son was not only alive, but probably gonna be okay. We went to the embassy, they said they had found my brother. He had been medevaced to bangkok. My dad decided that it would be worthwhile to send sally up there, so that somebodys with my brother, but that my dad and i should keep looking for my sister. My dad and i headed back up to khao lak. We started following finding things our belongings, swimsuits, bras, jeans, shorts and then kinda follow that path and you could smell where there was that rotting body has a distinct smell. We were sitting on, like, the rubble of the what was left of the bungalow that my brother and my sister and i were staying in. And he just sat there and just fell apart. And he said, i you know, jais never gonna forgive me. I shoulda just listened to jai. We shouldve gone. The next morning, we got up and started the process of going from the resort and walking through that during the daytime, when we could see. And then when it got too dark, then we would move to the three temples, where they were using it as makeshift morgues. You could try and look for something that was some sort of resembling thing that would make you think that that body could be your relative, your loved one. When were dealing with things that are so uncomprehendable, we almost remember them as a dream, something thats not real. I dont think that it wouldve been physically possible to look at all those bodies and all those pictures without being able to separate it and say instead of thinking, sorry. It was an awful task. And i wanted to see jai. And shonti wanted to see jai. We got to jays room ab right before midnight on new years eve. And then jai got a hug and woke up. And ugh, what a relief. Theres just theres no words for it. You know . I was so sure he was gone. I remember jais eyes welling up with tears and just them spilling down his face, and him just saying, i just thought you were all dead. I just thought you were all dead. I thought that my life with them was over, no more memories, no more help. On the morning of december 26th, i remember waking up to my younger sister screaming at me. Jai. Jai. Youve gotta come see this. Youve gotta come see this. It was actually a 40 foot tsunami wave coming right for us. I just screamed, weve gotta get get the hell out of here. And we looked at each other. And i just ran for the door behind me. And that was the last time i saw her, because i was just underwater instantly. I was being tossed around like a rag doll. I was just terrified about my neck. It woulda been so easy reinjure it and become paralyzed like that if i had been hit the wrong way. And i just had to go with the flow until the water just sort of went and settled out into tiny puddles. I got up and i sorta scanned everything around me. And i didnt see kali anywhere. And i was thinking, my family was scuba diving, obviously. And theres no way they would survive if they were on a boat. And thats when it sunk in that, oh, my god. Im 16 with a broken neck, eight eightinch gash in my knee, i have no passport, no money, and im an orphan. I sorta just realized that those dreams i had, that thing i was really worried about happening, that i had freaked out and told my dad, we cannot go on this trip. That the dreams were actually about this event. They were warnings. After i reunited with the rest of my family, they went back to the beach where we were staying to look for kali, hoping to find her alive. I dont think we would be able to leave thailand without knowing if she was dead or alive. They had brought in the freezing containers so they could stop the decomposition on the bodies. They just had a big, long boards of of pictures. Boards with pictures on them. If you could find them in a picture then they could pull out the body with the same number. Sally took one end, my dad took the other and i happened to be in the middle. And we all started looking for her. I just happened to find her. She she pulls a photograph off of the board. This is kali it was definitely her. She was wearing a shirt that she had bought in town on the 25th of december. I felt incredibly sad and because now its really true, and any fantasy that i had that that maybe wed find her or she, you know, shed show up or sumthin. Those were gone. And i really seriously wanted to have something good to remember this trip about, not just loss and death. I felt so bonded with sal after an experience like that, that we shared. And i couldnt imagine ever wanting to be with anyone else. So we began talking about getting married. And i thought about it for about three seconds, and then i said, yes, i accept your proposal. It was a buddhist ceremony and it matched the culture that we had just been so deeply ingrained in through this tragedy. Reporter coming up she waited for days. Maybe he was a memory. Reporter for weeks. Maybe he just doesnt remember his name. Reporter and months. I had this very strong hope that simon would be found. Reporter lost, would he ever whats going on . Toasters broken. Which means no eggo waffles. Whats that sound . Did you leave your hairdryer running . No. Something smells delicious. How could something smell delicious when the toasters broken . I smell sausage, egg, cheese and. Eggo . Leggo my eggo breakfast sandwich. The eggo breakfast sandwich. But the toasters broken. Its sweet, its savory, its in your microwave. Leggo my eggo breakfast sandwich. Quiet mom has a headache had a headache but now, i. Dont. Excedrin® is fast. In fact for some, relief starts in just 15 minutes. Excedrin®. Wow, that was fast. Why do i cook . Because i make the best chicken noodle soup. Because i make the best chicken noodle soup. Because i make the best chicken noodle soup. For every way you make chicken noodle soup, make it delicious with swanson®. [ male announcer ] you wouldnt ignore signs of damage in your home. Are you sure youre not ignoring them in your body . Even if youre treating your Crohns Disease or Ulcerative Colitis an occasional flare may be a sign of damaging inflammation. And if you ignore the signs, the more debilitating your symptoms could become. Learn more about the role damaging inflammation may be playing in your symptoms with the expert advice tool at crohnsandcolitis. Com. And then speak with your gastroenterologist. Switch to Cricket Wireless this tax season. And get a free 4g lte smartphone after mailin rebate. And a free month of service after completing two months on select plans. That way you can turn your tax refund into a mefund and treat yourself to something nice like every flavor. And every topping. I had very strong hope that simon will be found. I thought maybe he got hit by something and he lost memory. Maybe he is he just doesnt remember his name. Connect the dots. That was what i was thinking. And then the news came. It was i think about three months after when when i got the phone call that simons body was found. And that its gonna be coming to england and we will do a funeral for him. We didnt mourn his life. We celebrated his life. And the beauty is that his family became my family. His best friends became my best friends. And i he passed me incredible gift. My dream changed dramatically after the tsunami. I broke my clavical, i severely damaged my c1 in the back of my neck. It got crammed right into the back of my head. I got severe nerve damage to my right arm. When i was playing and had gone back to trying to play professionally i was in pain every single day every time i hit a golf ball. For me it became fun and more exciting to be out there coaching people than actually trying to shoot a low score and win a tournament. And so, i started to do that, had these amazing results. Every anniversary of the tsunami, i call marcus and we talk. And always just say to him, you know, you saved my life. Thank you. You know . Youre my hero. And hes always, oh, come on, i know, i know. But, you know, hes hes very humble. But truly that day he was our savior, and were just so blessed that he was there to save us and pull us to shore. I dont believe in clairvoyancy, i dont i think it is a crazy coincidence that i was afraid of tsunamis and had tsunami dreams. But the fact that i knew what it was and the fact that i took a deep breath, i do believe that it saved my life. My surgeon told me that i probably wouldnt walk normally again, that my days of high heels were over because i had i had nerve damage in my leg. And you know what . He was wrong because i walk just fine. I wear high heels all the time. And and i you know, i lead a very, very normal life. Im married. I have two small children. My daughters name is catherine claire. A tribute to the claire that helped me in the hospital and i gave my son the middle name of our friend who passed away. The randomness of life somehow put me in a place where i didnt get even injured. And ill never understand why that happened i had nightmares for probably about two years. So i decided two years later to take time off of work and go back go back, partially, to do just some personal processing and and healing and then, i had the real urge to help out to the extent that you can. I found that same dive shop, which had to be rebuilt, but was under the same management, and i said, i was here about two years ago. Id like to finish my certification. And i did that. I just needed that to find some closure. I think every year, on the anniversary, there are very few people who still remember. There are fewer people who understand what it was like. But on the anniversary, we talk about the tsunami. And every year, it gets a little bit easier, it feels. But to us, that day is still as meaningful as it was the day it happened. Now were on San Francisco soil. I remember getting off the plane. I remember seeing vivian, vivians mom there, r and the girls and then vivian sprinting towards her. I think we had what would be called survival guilt. Why were we spared . And more importantly, what are we gonna do about it . That was a really motivating factor for us to go back and sort of repay the kindness that those people showed for me and my sister even when they had lost everything. And we really wanted to help repay that in any way that we could. We did some fundraising at home and then, were able to get money to places that need it there. We bought, like, a washing machine for a mom who had lost her husband and had two children, and this was able to for her to start a business. Vivian, as a dentist, was doing a clinic. And michaela was able to give each child that came into the clinic a beanie baby, which was, i think, her way of helping in a small way. Thailand will always have a special place in our heart. I couldnt be at home, i couldnt be at school. I needed to do something, and felt like i had left the thais with this mess that we were all a part of. And i felt like i needed to go back and help clean up this mess. In may of 2005, i bought a ticket to thailand and went back. I went back to work with our nonprofit, for kali, that was started in my sisters name after she died. We did everything from beach cleanup to rebuilding boats and houses, and helping people get back on their feet with their source of income. And, so, for me, being able to go back there and help with that was imp really important. When we got home, i still had dreams that would come true. But since then, ive just shut that aspect of myself off. I kept writing and writing and and using this trauma of what id been through as inspiration for songs. Some of my greatest songs and lyrical creations have come from that experience and losing my sister. I was able to use this wave that crashed into my life as the wave that drove me forward to accomplish my dreams. And i feel like that is an amazing idea. Today, i am still continue my fashion work as a model working for some amazing brands. My second hat which i wear, and its a new hat since the tsunami, its a hat of being a founder of happy hearts fund. A charity which was born after the tsunami. Its focusing on rebuilding schools, disaster proof schools for children who are impacted by natural disasters. And the first goal was to build one school in thailand. And we did. And then fast forward to today. We have rebuilt 108 schools. Together with you, happy hearts we will be able to build many more safe schools. When we got on the plane to fly home, there was a joy. There was a real joy to be leaving. But at the same time, there was a feeling that you were leaving part of your soul behind. That you kinda felt like maybe you should stay, because so many people did so many people did stay. But there was definitely the feeling, just, you know, im happy to be going home, but, you know, part of me will always be there, and amanda will always be in thailand because of that day. Reporter so much loss that day. And since however slow and painful, so much healing. Meanwhile the response from around the world was unprecedented. 14 billion was raised in record time to help the victims in every country affected by the disaster. And now, more than ten years later, in a nod to such a gruesome chapter of world history, there is a Warning System in place to guard against another tsunami disaster in a region still so fragile. Im josh elliott. Join us for another edition of dateline thursday night at 8 00, 7 00 central. And for all at nbc news, thank you, cable for the slower internet upload speeds. For making me wait longer to share my photo albums. Thank you cable, because if we never had you we wouldnt know the incredible difference verizon fios makes. In Customer Satisfaction studies, fios is rated 1 in Internet Speed and reliability 8 years running. Plus, fios has the fastest wifi available from any provider. Period. See the difference for yourself. Get a fios triple play online at an amazing price, guaranteed for two full years plus, get a 300 bonus with a twoyear agreement. Call the Verizon Center for customers with disabilities at 800. 974. 6006 tty v