My TSUNAMI prayer
Mum tells for first time how... Her family survived 80ft wave, lashed to tree with beach towels She’s haunted by scream of doomed victim Disaster destroyed her happy marriage
TYING herself to a tree and clinging for dear life to her 18-month-old daughter, Ray Boulton could only watch in horror as an 80ft tidal wave thundered towards them. Minutes earlier she had been on the beach on the idyllic island of Kandooma in the Maldives, laughing as her toddler and two young sons playfully ran up and down a floating pontoon with their father Stephen.
But as they prepared to jump into the water, the sea suddenly started to rise – and soon afterwards the family would be caught up in one of the worst tragedies in modern times: the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004.
Yesterday Mrs Boulton described how, every Boxing Day since that catastrophic event, she says a prayer to remember the victims of the disaster.
On that peaceful morning 12 years ago, there had been little warning of the destruction about to be unleashed by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake under the ocean near the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
In the Maldives, many of the lowlying islands were protected from the full force of the tsunami by outlying coral reefs, but Kandooma was not so fortunate. As the water level rose, Mr Boulton, who had organised the holiday to celebrate his 34th birthday, recognised the onset of a tsunami and ushered his family up the beach.
Pushing them up into an enormous tree, he urged them to climb as high as they could and tie themselves together with beach towels. It saved their lives, as others who sought refuge on the roofs of buildings were swept out to sea by the first of three killer waves.
By the end of the day, 150,000 people across 11 countries would be dead or missing, and millions more homeless, after giant waves – all with the speed of a jet airliner – struck in what is acknowledged to be the most destructive tsunami in history.
Today, the Boultons still have a vivid mental picture of the first giant wave and the emotions of saying their final goodbyes to each other as the mighty wall of water hurtled towards them.
Speaking publicly for the first time about their five-hour ordeal clinging to the tree, Mrs Boulton, 46, of Balfron, Stirlingshire, recalled: ‘It was one of the most frightening sights of my life seeing the first wave coming in and believing we would die.
‘It was a solid wall of water, easily 80ft high. It just came, bringing back with it everything it had sucked out in the first place. We thought, “There’s not a hope in hell’s chance we’re going to survive this”. We held on to our children for dear life.’
As the wave came at them, roaring like a jet engine, Mrs Boulton recalled: ‘It was incredible. All I can liken it to is going down one of these big rapids in a water park. Stephen knew the tree would move with the force of the water and at least give us a chance. He was right. The buildings around us were built on the sand and they were all wiped out.’
Prior to the first tidal wave striking, the ocean receded, exposing the seabed for miles, stranding fish and boats on the sand. The novelty of the sight drew many of those who would die in the stricken countries to the water’s edge or even on to the ocean floor itself, as they admired and photographed the spectacle rather than running for high ground as they should have done.
High up the tree, before the first wave struck, Mrs Boulton, who was holding daughter, Iona, says they tried to keep sons Ashley, 12, and four-yearold Ewan calm by making a game out of their predicament. She said: ‘We didn’t want to alarm them. How do you explain why we’re really up the tree?
‘The water was quite high and we’d had to keep climbing. It had long, heavy vines drooping and the kids had been playing on it the day before. We just said something like, “Dad thinks it would be a good idea if we tied the beach towels to each other”.
‘By now the water was over the roofs of buildings around us and still rising. Then it was like somebody pulling the plug in a bath. The water got sucked away and took everything away with it – boats, jet skis… people.’
She is still haunted by the sight of a
wind surfer struggling to control his board at sea as the levels rose – and the lasting image of a father on the beach below trying to save his three daughters.
SHE said: ‘I’ve no idea what happened to them. The wind surfer disappeared and that dad’s screams will haunt me forever. I just know they didn’t get away in time. If my boys had been in the sea, they’d be gone, too. ‘The water kept going way out and I could see the bare seabed for miles. I must have thought it was over, because I was getting ready to come down out of the tree when Stephen said, “No, Ray, we have to stay here. It’s a tsunami”. I remember looking at him and trying not to get hysterical. There wasn’t much time between thinking “What is going on?” and looking out and thinking “Where’s all the water gone?”, and then came this wall of water.’
After the first wave, the water receded once again, leaving debris in its wake. She said: ‘It came back again another twice but each time it wasn’t as high. It didn’t completely engulf us in the tree the second time – it was chest level. We didn’t speak, we just held on to the kids. Below us in the water were bodies floating like driftwood.
‘The water went away again and I said to Stephen, “Please tell me that’s it”. He said, “No, just stay here a bit to make sure”. But it did come back a third time, a lot lower, and this time it stayed at that level and didn’t go back out again.
‘Stephen got down first out of the tree and told us to stay. He is 6ft tall and it was waist-high on him. When he returned, he was carrying Ewan’s toy monkey. He’d found it floating in the water. It was all we had left. Our hut was gone, along with our belongings.’ When they finally did come down from the tree, she recalls having to hold Iona high as she forced herself to walk through the sewagestrewn flood water around her, pushing bodies out of the way. She said: ‘In my head, I had to mentally see them as driftwood logs. I had her in my arms and just pushed the bodies out of the way with my legs. I couldn’t have coped otherwise. It was horrific.’ Rescued by the coastguard service along with a group of other survivors, the family were taken by boat to a neighbouring island an hour away. There, tourists untouched by the tsunami looked askance at the new arrivals coming off the vessel, one even asking Mrs Boulton if they had been in a boating accident. She said: ‘I thought, “How do you not know what’s just happened?”.’
The following day, with no passports, no money and no clothes, the family were evacuated along with dozens of others to the airport. Mrs Boulton said: ‘We were in our bare feet. I was wearing my swimsuit and sarong. But the relief when I sat down in the plane was immense.
‘Hours into the flight, I turned to the woman next to me and said, “I can’t actually believe I’m sitting here with my family. I can’t believe the amount of death and devastation I’ve seen in a matter of 48 hours”.’
Wiping tears from her eyes, Mrs Boulton added: ‘She agreed with me, pointing to her two daughters who were safe, but she told me, “My husband’s in the hold”. It took me a few seconds to realise what she meant, and I just thought, “My God!”.’
Sadly, a short while after returning to Scotland, Mr Boulton, a heating engineer, suffered a mental health breakdown and later moved away to work on a research project in Antarctica for two years. The couple divorced, unable to come to terms with the trauma of what they had witnessed in the tsunami.
Last night, Mrs Boulton said: ‘To this day, I still don’t know how we survived that day but it’s all down to Stephen. The tsunami, however, broke us as a couple, as a family.’
But she added: ‘This Boxing Day, like every other since, I’ll take time out to say a little prayer and remember those who died.
‘I pray for the wind surfer and the three kids on the beach and their dad because I don’t know whether they were ever discovered. I hope they’re at peace.
‘But more than that I thank God that someone was looking after us that day.’