A British woman recounts her “bitter” experience on the 20th anniversary of the Thailand tsunami

Lou Harand (51 years old), a British national, who was spending her honeymoon in Thailand when the tsunami hit in 2004, spoke about what she and her husband, Greg, suffered. In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the disaster, Lu spoke to the art magazine OK about what happened that day.

“After landing in Thailand, we spent our days sunbathing, relaxing and diving, which was a welcome break from wedding planning,” Harand said. “When we woke up the next day, we noticed that our beach house was swaying. Greg even commented on the bathroom door moving,” Harand said. We didn’t think about it. After only an hour, people started running around us, when we were in the hotel reception hall, and when we went out to see what had happened, the water surrounded us, and the panic increased and we started running as well, and screaming rose in the place and we headed to a nearby hotel that could be accessed from the roof, but since there was only one staircase, “There was a huge crowd of people, and suddenly a huge wave came from behind, sweeping me and Greg away immediately.”

She added: “Both of us – Greg and I – are skilled swimmers, but we could not do anything, and I have no idea how long I spent underwater, and I got stuck between two rocks, but fortunately I was able to pass through a gap, and pulled myself to a table that was floating.” Next to me, and to my right, there was a group of men on the roof. They saw me, and I extended my hand to them, and I climbed up and joined them, and we sat on the ground.”

Harand continued: “For fear of another tsunami, I went to the hotel stairs for the second time, and I asked one of the people about Greg, and he started calling his name among the rubble, and indeed he found him, and it seemed strange, and because I thought that Greg would be fine, I greeted him simply with (hello) as if there was nothing wrong with it.” It didn’t happen, and people gave us some information, so we headed to an area to treat our wounds, where we were taken to hospital, and finally felt safer, and the x-rays revealed that I had broken my ribs. And that I needed to stitch my arm, but (adrenaline) meant that I felt pain, and the Thai people were amazing. They lost their homes and families, but they wanted to help.”

She said: “The next day we went to the airport to be allowed to board the flight home. All we had with us was a picture of us in the hospital and a piece of paper with the words “This person is a British citizen” written on it. About “Mirror”