Family escaped with their lives

From the Gazette & Herald, first published Thursday 30th Dec 2004.

GAZETTE & HERALD: ALL five members of the Delamain family from Goatacre, near Calne, and North Wiltshire District Council leader Ruth Coleman were among those who escaped with their lives in the terrible tsunami that devastated south east Asia.

Julia and Charles Delamain and their children Charlotte, 19, George, 16, and Max, 14, are counting their blessings after they all escaped the tsunami that destroyed the island resort of Koh Pra Thong.

The wooden bungalow where they had been staying was reduced to matchsticks by the wall of water, which destroyed communities all along the west coast.

Mrs Delamain said they owed their lives to the fact that they were moving to a resort on another island and had packed and dressed.

She said that on the previous five days they had all been on the beach from early morning.

Her husband had been to settle their bill at the holiday centre's reception and was walking back along the beach when he spotted the tsunami approaching.

She said: "We were all in the house when he called us and said he could see the huge wave coming and we all ran up to a hill. We managed to make it to high ground with about two minutes to spare."

Mrs Delamain said their younger son, Max, had felt the earthquake at about 8.30am but the family had not realised it could have such devastating consequences.

"Every house on the island was flattened, there was nothing left," she said.

The Delamain family lost virtually all their luggage.

Mrs Delamain said they were evacuated by boat to the mainland and then travelled by bus to a local airport from where they flew to Bangkok.

They arrived back at Heathrow on Tuesday with just the clothes they were wearing and a few items of hand luggage including their passports.

Coun Coleman said she was lucky to be alive after the Indian resort where she was staying was struck by the tsunami on Boxing Day.

Ms Coleman was enjoying a week's holiday in the Kerala region with her partner Michael Taylor.

She said: "The first wave wasn't particularly high, but it was powerful. There was hell of a lot of water ­ it came in, stayed for what seemed like a very long moment then rushed out again."

Luckily, the police were warned that the killer waves were about to hit and the popular surfing beach was cleared with minutes to spare.

Speaking from her home in Christian Malford yesterday, Ms Coleman said: "I had just been wishing my son a happy Christmas over the Internet when I heard the commotion.

"I went down to see what was happening and the beach police were shouting and blowing whistles to get people off the beach.

"People were pushed back on to higher land, and we all watched from a walkway about 20 metres away. The water came right up to us.

"People were in their bathing costumes, they only just got off the beach in time.

"The wave didn't look much different to normal. If I'd have been walking along the beach I wouldn't have known that it was going to be dangerous. Thank goodness they chased everyone off.

"I wasn't really frightened because I didn't realise the scale of what was happening. I was taking photos of the waves coming in.

"They just kept coming and coming. It could have gone so badly wrong, but we were fortunate that the beach police were warned."

The earthquake struck at around lunchtime on the last full day of their holiday.

Ms Coleman said: "I was texting people back home to let them know I was still alive, everyone was very concerned. I also phoned my council deputy Doreen Darby to let her know I was safe."

The day before the tsunami Ms Coleman had enjoyed Christmas Day eating curried fish on the beach.

"It was choc-a-bloc," she said. "We were very, very lucky, that's all I can say.

"Because we were on the south west coast we weren't in the direct line of the waves. About four hours after the first wave there was another one, and another in the night sometime.

"Our hotel was just a few metres from the beach but it was built into the cliffs, so was quite high up. Other hotels were completely covered with water and people couldn't reach them."

The couple returned home as planned on Tuesday.

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