IamA 16 year old Tsunami Survivor AMA!

was the dog ok?

Yeah the dog survived, managed to find a piece of rope to use for a leash, it was a bit shaken up, I guess it knew what happened.

The dog understands the concept of plate tectonics and tidal forces?

Yeah of course...

awesome. I am very glad you and your family survived too, and I apologize for jumping first to ask about the dog...I just always worry about the poor animals when natural disasters strike.

Hey, the first thing I did was call for the dog, didn't even help my family, the dog was on my mind, I'd hate to see it die.

Do u get wet dreams? runs and hides

Hehehe you cheeky shit!

If I may ask, how exactly did you survive? The part you said drags on and on. Who was the first to help?

Surviving was tough, so we were on the boat and jumped off and got down the dock a bit probably 50/200m of it. We climbed on to a slightly raised flower bed and held on to your standard light post. So 4 people and a dog around a lamp post.

Once the waved subsided and it went back to a general normality, we ran up to a nearby hill where locals were sitting, who thought we'd died. Once the all clear was made, we trekked to the end of the bay where the boat had been slammed in to a football pitch, picked up again and dropped back in the water by the wave.

The boat was destroyed, but we managed to pull it off with our dinghy and tow it back to the dock just floating with the pumps constantly pushing water out.

During the wave and after was all adrenaline, I re-call not hearing anything during the wave, not seeing anything or feeling anything. I honestly couldn't feel my wet clothes.

Red-Cross was first to help, providing food and water for sufferers, the USCG took about 2-3 days before arriving to offer security and searches for bodies.

So after you held on to the light post what exactly happened when the wave hit? Did it submerge the light post you were holding? Or did you just hold on to the light post and wait for the wave to go past you?

The whole light post was submerged, we were all underwater. As I said in another comment the wave must of been 8-10 meters high, easily.

and did you keep holding on to the post and wait for the wave to pass, or did you let go and surface?

Let go and surface? Are you nuts, I would of been in the middle of the pacific ocean in minutes. Freaking held on for dear life until it subsided.

How long were you under water for

Roughly 15-45 seconds, difficult to judge.

Jesus, after ten seconds underwater, didn't you wonder if the wave wasn't going to pass?

I was more worried if I was going to survive to be fair.

[deleted]

I knew that it was unpredictable, that's about it. It was just instinct to find something, grab it and hold on for your life.I was actually the one who told the others to hold on to the pole.

You do realize you missed out on what would have been the best selfie of all time don't you?

I wish I got that selfie, it'd be internet famous!

Someone with better drawing or PhotoShop skills than I should do an artist's rendition of that.

If I find a photo capable of being photoshopped to hold that, I'll do and post it with my horrible skills of photoshop.

what were the words you uttered when you saw the giant wave? did you curse ('oh, shit!')? did you pray ('help me Jesus!')? did you call your mom?

The only words I said during the wave was "The dog is slipping!" "Ahh my thongs are gone" and "Oh shit".

Everything moved real quick and it was probably about 6 hours later I contacted my mum via Skype who was back here in Australia. Adrenaline pushed me through, and things moved so quick I'd never be able to recall exactly what happened.

Thongs = Flip Flops for those wondering why a 12yr old boy's women's underwear went floating away.

Thank god you wrote that, I forgot everyone on the internet isn't always from Australia.

I know this sounds silly...But was the dog okay??

Edit: Nevermind. I looked below. lawl.

Ahaha everyone loves the dog. I wish I could find a photo of it, it was a black Spoodle, was so adorable.

Did your body/head feel crushed from the pressure? Were you at the bottom of the wave? Was there any bacon around?

We were just about to cook bacon for breakfast :(

I didn't feel anything after the wave, literally. I couldn't feel the wet clothes on, I didn't feel the rocks on my feet without shoes on. I was a bit dazed after, but a couple seconds passed and I was in a mode of survival.

I'd say we were about 1-2 meters from the bottom of the wave, so fairly far down as it came over us.

[deleted]

The wave was massive, from the ground of the dock it was towering over the light post. The light post was probably 6 meters tall itself (About 20 feet).

So if it was towering that I'd say the wave was about 8-10 meters at it's highest (33 Feet).

As for the curl, I wouldn't say there was one. It was more of a solid mass of water moving. Basically picture a brick wall that's about 10-15 meters deep moving towards you, that's how it was.

Wow. That is something. Thanks for the reply!

Anytime, I guess it's something not a lot of people can tell, so people should be aware of the severity and what happens. I wanted to help get it out there.

So you were underwater for a period? How long?

Tough to say, I'd say 15 seconds, but it happened so quick that it was impossible to judge.

[deleted]

Just the once.

I'm not saying I don't believe you, I just find it pretty amazing that all 4 of you were able to maintain your hold on the light post with a 33 foot high wall of water smacking you.

I don't blame you if you don't believe, I don't myself either, that shit was insane.

You were hit with that wave when you were holding on to the lamp post? How did you survive that? Were you under water?

Yeah unfortunately it happened. I would not be able to explain how I survived but I did. I was submerged for anywhere between 15-60 seconds I wouldn't exactly know it happened all so quick,

you were submerged by the water? WOuldnt the force of the wave been too strong to keep hold?

That's what I thought... But yeah it happened.

Who were the other 3 people in your group?

My dad, step-mum and a friend of ours we met on our trip, he was only there because we needed people to help with night shifts.

Did one of them die?

None of them died. A friend of ours a few boats down the dock was swept off the deck and passed away.

Did u see any like whales and sharks like on the beach the next day? Like just lying there?

Sharks, eels and yellow fin tuna were of an abundance, EVERYWHERE!

So how do you rate the cruise?

7/10

Was the first or second wave bigger?

The second. They bay is shaped like a dead-end on a road so it came in as a slow swell then built up as it hit the back and went back out.

How do you all managed to get help after the incident?

Well, the Red-Cross came the next day, supplied us 3 meals a day and bought cartons of water, milk, juice etc. That was our main supply of food.

The elders on the island slept out on the dock to ensure that looters wouldn't come, along with the USCG patrolling the area, helping out helped.

We had a few links and a couple emails got sent managed to get me sent home, and for the others they got looked after well by the Australian embassy and a wealthy couple we knew somehow let us be looked after them.

As for therapy, we were booked in to have therapy sessions with Centerlink which was really not all that great, personally it basically didn't affect me because I was 13 and had no idea the severity of what happened, like I saw everything, but I didn't have the knowledge to know every single affect it had, even now it doesn't click what's happened.

What ever happened to the neighbor who threw you the dog? Did he survive?

He survived. He managed to untie his boat from the dock and motor around in the bay until the water calmed, he eventually became a temporary house for while we moved the boat off the rocks.

No question but I'm glad you survived.

Thanks. So am I actually! Anyone would be, actually surprised I'm out alive.

Youre a bad ass. Do you even cry?

What's crying?

What was it like surviving a 16 year old Tsunami? How is it different from 1-2 year old Tsunamis?

It's generally about 8 times older, so the wave is much more mature and knows the tricks of the trade.

Do you see the Tsunami coming from a distance?

Only as far as the bay was, so about a quarter mile away we saw.

I've been in a tsunami too. Proof:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/2004-tsunami.jpg

I'm the second guy in the pink t-shirt. I can help field any questions that Numnum4eva doesn't have time to answer!

Thanks, considering I was going to bed soon, it'd always be a good thing to get 2 opinions on a topic.

Are you still afraid of going sailing?

Nope, I arrived home in October, in December of the same year, I went on a cruise ship and again the next. I have occasionally gone out on friends boats, both sail boats and motor boats.

It's not something that bothers me, I guess I'm a little more alert, I know what to look for now but, the chances are slim of it happening in Australia due to our positioning on the tectonic plate.

Did you get any scrapes or any scars from the accident? Something that didn't fade away? If so, post a pic :D

Amazing I walked away with no physical harm, nothing hit me during the wave, nothing. I'm surprised myself. It's almost a miracle I guess.

Did you go around after the wave hit, and see all the carnage of the place around you? Or did you just stick to one zone and wait it out

We had to walk probably 2-3 kilometers to find our boat on the rocks, so we saw a lot of things. Cars in second story roofs, boats in the middle of the road, 6 meter high rubble with suspected kids underneath, it was very frightening that it only took a minute or 2

Did you celebrate surviving in any way?

Only the first anniversary, after that it's just been another day for me

where abouts in australia are you living now? I used to live up in north QLD, been caught in some of the worst cyclones

Always have lived in Perth, just outside of Fremantle, the worst weather here is a hail storm, pre boring around here.

Ahh I live in perth too and I think we are the same age, small world. Have you adjusted to life back here fine? Any recurring nightmares or psychological issues?

I never have the nightmares or psychological issues everyone would think you had. I always thought back on it, and had images flash in my head, but that was only when I was thinking about it.

16 and South of the River, small world.

Do you regularly recount this story in bars in order to get laid? Does it work?

Being 16, I still can't attend a bar by myself... But I have told the story numerous times and well, it does make people feel for you and you get a lot of good things from it that you could at my age.

Probably though, in the future, it'll be my story, the story that on numerous times gets me laid.

Imagine the tsunami of women that will follow.

Well, someone is rather punny isn't he.

I'm genuinely curious actually. Is what I did actually a pun, or just a play on words? :/

Same thing really isn't it?

So you are 16 now? This happened when you were 12? Pretty amazing you made it. How bad was the water? Was it hard to get your bearings? What do you think is the most important factor that resulted in your survival?

Yeah I'm 16 now, I was 12/13 almost. The water was horrible, it was a very un-clean place. The water had everything you could imagine in it, the seabed was soot and mud because of it being a volcanic island.

After the way, everything had changed, land marks you used before were gone. The shop we always went to, gone. You had to sort of re-create the image in your head of what is was before to know where you were going.

I think the most important factor was the sheer will power to live. If we didn't have adrenaline, no way I at the the age of 13 would of had the strength to hold on to the post.

if you had to make a guesstimate, about how long to you think you held on to the post?

Probably about a minute before we got hit by the wave, then we probably were under water for a good 30 seconds and after we hung on for a tad just to confirm it'd left. I'd say we were there for 3 minutes at least possibly more, you'd never be able to tell.

Do you think there's a chance you have ptsd? Obviously I'm not asking you to describe the parts you find traumatic because that would be cruel, but the sense of disbelief and numbness isn't unusual with ptsd and this sounds pretty terrifying.

Possibly, I may have PTSD. I rarely communicate with others about it, this probably the first mention of it since last year I guess.

It hasn't affected me though, I've moved on with life I guess, I got a job, bought the things I want, I'm always happy, have a girlfriend and am exceeding my expectations at school. It's tough to tell, I may have it.

What was the most terrifying point of your ordeal?

Knowing you could of died. Nothing happened that terrified me until afterwards when you realise what you've just gone through and what could of happened.

What went through your mind as the wave hit?

Very hard to remember, everything happened so quick that I was probably just blank the whole time, with no thoughts.

If it's okay to ask, have you seen the film 'The Impossible' at all? If you have, what did you think of it/how accurate would you consider it to be to the relevant parts of your experience?

I haven't seen it, some people have asked to relate to it, so I'm downloading it now.

Did the crest of the wave go over your head or under? We're you under water at any point while on the pole?

Well over the top of our heads, by several meters. Tough to say how long for, it felt like forever but, it happened so quick.

How many people died in the tsunami?

I'm not sure, I think it was in the couple hundreds.

did you see someone die?

I saw the body on the beach, never actually saw them die though.

Were you prepared for it? Did you and your family ever come up with a plan or was it all done by ear at that point?

No one was prepared, it was 15 minutes between earthquake and tsunami. No one thought a tsunami would happen because the locals always said they've never had one.

Once it started everything became a decision that was made then and there, no time to plan.

what did the wave look like?

Millions and millions of little balls with the words H2O written on them.

In serious, a 10 meter deep, 10 meter high brick wall coming towards you just a murky brown from the soot below.

Hey I'm glad you're okay! What was your thoughts on after it happened?

I basically thought of what the worse could of been and whether it'd actually happened. Very very unclear thoughts at the time.

What was running through your head at the scariest moment? Thanks for the AMA!

My thoughts were messed, never thought straight. I guess the standard things, Am I alive? What happened? etc.

Relevant.

That is so good!

Your proof is a little less of a "little bit" now.

So what, a photo of my step sister and I roughly 6-8 years ago now?

Whats the age of consent in your tribe? Has your flowers been picked?

16 in Australia, and by my flowers being picked I'm going to assume sexual intercourse.

No, not yet, one day.

[deleted]

Poor title on my behalf, what I meant to say was I'm now 16, I've survived a tsunami.