When 18-year-old Shonti Breisch and her 16-year-old brother, Jai, headed to Thailand last December for a family vacation, they were looking forward to a peaceful time in paradise1. They never imagined that deadly waves would hit—and take the life of their 15-year-old sister, Kali. Here, in their own words, the families describe their tragedy2.
“I was swept away．．．”
Jai Breisch:
Me, my dad, Stu, my stepmom, Sally, and my sisters, Shonti and Kali, were in Thailand for a vacation. We were staying at a Beach Resort. It was beautiful. My family did a lot of diving3； I played guitar and wrote songs.
On December 26, my dad, Sally and Shonti went diving. My younger sister, Kali, and I stayed behind. I was asleep when Kali started crying, “Jai, Jai! Wake up!” I got up and looked out the window. The water had risen about 10 feet, and it looked like our house was floating. Then I saw this huge wave—it looked about two stories high. I told Kali, “Hurry, we've got to get out of here.”
I ran for the door, and as I opened it all this water crashed4 in. It was unbelievably frightening. All of a sudden, I was under the water, spinning5 like I was in a washing machine. I was completely terrified, just getting swept away with all the debris6: chairs, glass, refrigerators, you name it.7
Finally, I managed to come up above the water, but didn't see Kali. I honestly wasn't worried about her then because I was just focused on trying to stay alive. I tried to grab onto something to stop me from getting swept farther by the water, but I couldn't. I got carried more than a mile inland. I'd try to stand up and I'd get tossed8 back under the water. I kept telling myself, “You're not going to give up.”
Finally, the water got shallow. I grabbed onto a big log and floated with it, and then I was able to walk. By this time, I was in a lot of pain. I'd only been wearing boxer shorts9, so I'd gotten really injured by the debris. I was bleeding10 all over and throwing up saltwater. I had glass and dirt in my mouth. I was in shock.
I was able to get to a road, and a man drove me in his truck to a hospital, where I got surgery11 for a injured knee that had gotten infected12.
I called the U.S. embassy13 to see if they knew what had happened to my family, but they didn't. I lay in the hospital thinking my whole family was dead. It was the worst time of my life.
“It seemed like a bad dream．．．”
Shonti Breisch:
My dad, Sally and I left our resort that morning and traveled an hour and a half out to sea in a dive boat. The water was strange. The currents were crazy. You'd swim as fast as you could, but you weren't moving. There weren't any fish to be seen.
After a while, we got back into the boat and they took us to a ship to have lunch. While we ate, we heard this big crash. We looked toward the shore and saw these huge sprays14 hitting the beach. But things calmed down, and since we didn't feel anything other than wild waves in the dive boat, we didn't think anything was wrong.
At about 2 P.M., we headed back and started to notice chairs, mattresses15 and trees floating by. As we got closer in, we saw bodies. We pulled some into the boat; they were dead.
When we got to shore, we realized the dive shop wasn't on the beach anymore. It was gone. In fact, everything that had been along the beach was flattened16. Of course, we were about to find out that a tsunami17 had hit.
Strangely, I wasn't worrying about Jai and Kali. Somehow I'd convinced myself that the resort where we were staying didn't get hit. Eventually, we went to a dive shop that was posting a list of survivors. There was no sign of Jai or Kali on the list. Then we found out Jai was at a hospital. It was good news, because we knew if he'd made it to the hospital he'd probably be OK. But we still had to find Kali! So Sally went to be with Jai, and my dad and I went out looking for Kali.
We headed to where our resort had been. It was like walking through the hell. The only thing left of our house was the floor. We didn't see anyone alive. We were looking for Kali's body. (We'd found her clothes in a pile of rubble18.) So we went to the morgues19. Eventually, Sally joined my dad and me. We saw Kali's picture on the wall where the Thai authorities had listed the confirmed dead. When I saw it, I started shaking. We hugged20 for a while. It was really hard.
We had a memorial for her back in Salt Lake City, and everyone came to show their love for Kali. The best I can hope for is that somehow losing Kali will make me stronger.
Tsunami＇s Quick Facts
★A tsunami is a giant wave or waves caused by an underwater earthquake, landslide21, or volcano.
★The quake22 that caused the tsunami was the world's worst in 40 years.
★The tsunami started in the Indian Ocean and hit 8 countries in Africa and southeast Asia. The waves were 40 feet high in some areas.
★At least 152,000 people were killed by the tsunami. More than 1 million have lost their homes.
1． paradise n． 天堂
2． tragedy n． 悲剧
3． diving n． 潜水
4． crash v． 碰撞
5． spin [spin] v． 旋转
6． debris n． 碎片；残骸
7． you name it． 你能说得上的应有尽有。
8． toss v． 抛，投
9． boxer shorts 男式平腿短裤
10． bleed v． 出血
11． surgery v． 外科手术
12． infect v． 感染
13． embassy n． 大使馆
14． spray [sprei] n． 喷射
15． mattress n． 床垫
16． flatten v． 使变平
17． tsunami n． 海啸
18． rubble n． 碎石
19． morgue n． 太平间
20． hug v． 拥抱
21． landslide n． 山崩
22． quake [kweik] n． 地震