AN Alton family are counting their blessings this week following a holiday in Thailand which could have cost them their lives. Julie and Roy Rattley were on the balcony of their hotel in Karon Bay, on the south west tip of Phuket, when the Boxing Day tsunami roared in from the sea, flattening everything in its path. The couple believe they were saved by the restaurants which lined the roadside separating their hotel from the beach - the tiny buildings took the full force of the 30- foot wave, crumpling under its impact and protecting the Anderman Seaview hotel behind which remained standing but basement-deep in water. It was a "surreal" experience for the Rattleys who, with daughter Claire, 29, and son-in-law Stephen Bond, 28, had flown out on December 22 for a warm, sun-filled Christmas and new year. The holiday was to provide an opportunity for the men to play golf while the women sunned themselves on the beach, and for Claire in particular to continue her recovery from a two-year illness brought on by a virus, picked up in the Maldives. Despite having chosen to go to Phuket rather than South Africa theirs, they believe, was an escape based on circumstance. They had originally chosen to stay at the Ptang Seaview - a sister hotel just a few miles down the coast which was flattened by the tidal wave, with hundreds of lives lost. They had also planned, on Boxing Day, to visit the tiny neighbouring island of Phi Phi which, like other small islands in the Indian Ocean, was wiped out by the sea. Fortunately, Julie was developing a cold and so it was decided to leave the trip for another day. Instead, on Christmas evening they had decided to get up and take an early swim, but that plan also evaporated when they overslept. According to Julie they had only just surfaced when the full force of the earthquake hit Phuket. Stephen was out on the balcony of the couple's adjoining room when he shouted at the others to take a look. What they saw was a wall of water sweeping in from the sea, picking up cars, trucks, and houses as it went. "People were screaming as they were carried along in the torrent - it was terrifying," said Julie," and it was all so quick." According to Roy, they were hit by three waves which tore through the streets and filled the basement of their hotel but, because the force of the water had been dissipated, the building remained standing. Having spoken to a woman who was lying on the beach at the time, she said the sea seemed to drain away from the coast before the first 30-foot wall of water came roaring in. "She just got up and ran," said Julie. Afraid that another wave would follow, the Rattley's found themselves evacuated for several hours to a hill behind the Karon Bay settlement where they stayed until given the all clear. Later, when the water had receded, leaving behind a silent, sand-muffled world of debris and devastation, the family ventured out to see if they could help. "People were just walking around in stunned silence - there was just too much devastation to take in," said Roy. The following day, however, the Thai army arrived on the scene and began organising local working parties. Unlike less fortunate places like Sri Lanka, because the land rises in the centre of the island and the eastern coast is protected by the mainland, much of the island had been untouched and a lot of the infrastructure was still intact, so assistance came swiftly. Also, according to the Rattleys, while a large number of the Anderman Seaview staff had been released to try and recover flattened homes and to find their families, a small team of 20 did all they could to serve the hotel customers. They know that several of the guests were missing, presumed dead in the storm, among them a German honeymoon couple, and the hotel was fast filling up with survivors from the Ptang Seaview. The Rattleys spoke of a young woman whose back was a mass of raw, open wounds and a Belgian woman left with nothing but the clothes she stood up in. While they seriously considered coming home they decided that to do so would be to cause too many unnecessary problems for those trying to organise flights for others who needed to leave straightaway. Roy believes that for economic reasons alone it was the right decision to stay. "People should keep going out there, they shouldn't stop, otherwise those people will end up with severe problems, they won't have any revenue," he said. In the end the Rattleys had a good holiday, although the memories will be etched on their minds for ever. Even in grief, they were amazed by the fortitude and caring attitude of the Thai people, who tried to carry on as if a tsunami was an every day occurrence. The family accepted the restrictions imposed by loss of power, torn up roads and pavements, and shortage of food, and adapted their programme accordingly. They saw areas of Phuket which had been completely destroyed by the storm, settlements like the tiny fishing village of Camala where the only structure left standing was "Fantasy World" - a Disney-like emporium where they watched elephants perform on stage and were welcomed by the proprietors for taking the trouble to support them in their determination to "get on with life". "It was as if they were determined that despite what life had thrown at them the show must go on," said Julie, who added that, "when we said happy new year to each other this year we really meant it." While in Phuket they had not realised the true extent of the disaster. They were, however, disappointed when posters from other European governments began to appear on notice boards in the hotel, offering advice to holidaymakers caught up in what is being referred to as the biggest natural disaster experienced within the living memory of most people. "Other governments were offering advice on how to go about finding missing persons and how to get people home. Quantas Airlines, for example, was offering free flights for anyone wanting to fly to Australia, but there was absolutely nothing from the British government," said Julie. The true magnitude of their experience really hit home, however, when they arrived at Phuket airport on Saturday morning to fly home and were confronted by huge boards full of pictures showing the faces of people who were missing. "There were over 2,000 people dead or missing along the west coast of Phuket alone; that's when we realised how lucky we had been."
