Dear all,
 
I don’t know where to start. How do you begin to describe the events of the last day and a half? We are all alive, intact, with nearly all our belongings, so someone upstairs was most certainly looking after us but there are so many that did not have our good fortune and tonight, while I am so relieved to have my children safe, I am so sad for all the people we saw.
 
We had just gone into breakfast, and I was sitting at our table, with a little wall separating me from the beach while the others were getting their food. I noticed a “swell” rather than a wave which came right up to the wall and I just thought we were having a particularly high tide and it must be something to do with the full moon. Then I noticed people running and furniture floating about and I called Rosie to come and look, and then all of a sudden it happened.
 
There was this distant roar and the waiters were shouting at everyone to run for the nearest staircase. I was pushing the girls in front of me and remember getting hit in the back of the legs very hard by a floating chest of drawers. It wasn’t until we were on a balcony on the top floor that I realized I had actually cut the bottom of my foot wide open so someone took me into a room and was dressing that so I didn’t see much but you could hear the madness outside. I don’t know what was worse – the roar of the water or all the screaming. I remember feeling really sorry for the hotel staff as they had gone to such trouble to decorate the restaurant and surrounding area for Christmas. How stupid that seems now. The noise was incredible.

And then the wave had gone. And so had everything in its path. There was not so much in the way of debris – it was just nothing. All the little shacks and beach motels just simply weren’t there anymore. Cars upside down in trees, lorries way out on the seabed. The whole village was just ... not there.

We slowly started to come downstairs and headed towards the second floor balcony by our apartment at the back of the resort furthest from the beach. Johnny went to have a look around and came back to say that there was no water. The sea just wasn't there. You could see far out and there was exposed coral reef and just land. (We found out that the wave was bouncing back off India and the first wave came 5 miles inland where we were).  He said that there were ravines up to 6 ft deep where the water was rushing back out to sea. Johnny was videoing the water coming back in and you can see how quickly the whole seabed refills. It was at this point that I started to get really scared. If the water had gone that far out, one could assume it would return with a vengeance and I felt completely helpless. I just kept looking at the girls and thinking what I could do to get them as far away as possible. That is the most awful feeling. I would have sold my soul to get the kids airlifted out. I was just totally helpless. People on the ground floor were drowned in their rooms and some of the people on the balcony were crying as they had lost family members. There was one couple who had carried their toddlers over their heads and climbed the stairs. It was all totally mad.
 
People all around us were injured and crying as so many people were missing. The villagers were running up and down the road screaming and looking for family. It was the most desperate thing I have ever known. A group of about 12 of us were discussing the options. The hotel was solid and we were high up. However I just kept thinking to myself that the hotel had already been flooded badly – would it survive another bashing and also, if the next wave was bigger, we were totally at its mercy. I really wanted to get to the hills. We went to our room and threw things into bags. We put passports and money into one bag and everything else just got chucked in however. I grabbed some sheets to wrap us in incase we were on the hill for a long time and the mozzys got bad and took bottles of water and peanuts that were in our room. We were still keen to go but I was also very scared to leave. We started to head toward the stairs but then the next wave started to come in.

"I will remember the sound forever. I just kept looking at my children and I didn’t know what to do. I had brought them here and I couldn’t protect them from this and that was the worst feeling."

We couldn’t see much from where we were but we could see villagers on a mound near us and they were screaming and running uphill. I went to the front of the balcony and watched the wave come in. I will remember the sound forever. I just kept looking at my children and I didn’t know what to do. I had brought them here and I couldn’t protect them from this and that was the worst feeling. That I didn’t know how to protect them. I was shouting at Rosie to stay with Johnny no matter what, as he was stronger to hold her, and was telling Heidi how to lock her arms around me and not let go. Heidi looked at me and asked me if we were going to die. I told her that we wouldn’t but I truly thought we were. I was praying and holding the girls tight. We saw people who had set off for the hills get picked up in the water and get carried away and they were screaming and shouting and all we could do was watch. They were literally carried under our balconies in the water.
 
The wave was smaller and it didn’t reach our level. We watched it race past us below our balcony. But by now I just wanted to get us higher and onto land. Others advised that we stayed put but I couldn’t rest. We had no idea what else may happen. Common sense suggested that the waves could not return with the same force but I was going through the pros and cons and I wanted to take every precaution I could to get my children as far away and as high as I could. The fact that others didn’t agree naturally worried the girls. But another couple that we completed our journey with also chose to go. Rosie was incredibly strong and calm and got bottles of water and the sheets. Heidi looked at me, having seen the other people swept away and practically begged me not to go. I reasoned that the tide was now in so it wouldn’t return with a rush and that I felt it was best to go. So with that, my little girl picked up her bag, absolutely white in the face and she set off and she strode up that street, not looking left or right and she kept going right to the hill. I have been quite overwhelmed with the girls’ bravery throughout. (Many months later, when we were in Australia, we were listening to Bambi on a tape and when the mother deer told Bambi to keep running, Heidi started sobbing. She remembered that I had said that no matter what, she was not to turn round but to keep moving forward towards the hills, even if she couldnt hear me. I don't remember saying that but it must have been terrifying for her).
 
When we got to a little clearing up a hill, with around 40 others, Rosie went round offering to help injured people with our first aid kit and Heidi and I just climbed a little bit higher than anyone else and just had a little time. Rosie was only 11 but she was comforting people and using our first aid kit to help. 

Unfortunately it was also a makeshift morgue which was pretty grim. An Italian man who lived in the village came over and told me I had to get moving and get out as soon as I could as within 24 hours we would be in crisis due to disease with all the many bodies, the overwhelming heat, no facilities or food. I did not want to move but he really got quite firm with me and told me we would die of disease if we didnt go.
 
We ended up being up there for many hours. Johnny was an absolute trouper. By now I was pretty much in pieces and he was practical. He returned to the hotel twice to gather our things together. There was no way I could have gone back there. But then if I had been left to it, we would still be sitting on that hill, as I did not want to leave. But we were ushered up the road around 6pm to move inland a little to a temple, as there was constant talk of another wave. The monks there helped to make us comfortable and cooked up rice and we settled down for the night. I was still very afraid and every sound was like an approaching wave. Most of us just sat up talking. There was no way I could go inside and certainly not sleep. Johnny and Heidi went inside and slept but Rosie and I sat outside chatting to people.
 
When the wave had first approached the restaurant, I saw a little jack Russel running frantically up and down the wall trying to escape. I was really upset for him and very nearly reached over the wall to try and grab him but he was too far out and thank goodness I didn’t. I kept thinking about that little dog. He had been around the hotel a lot. While I was sitting down at the temple in the dark, 4m in from the resort, this little dog appeared and climbed onto my lap and went straight to sleep. I could not beleive it was him but someone said he had fallen in line behind all the tourists walking from the resort and followed along with us all the way to the temple. I hope the monks look after him now but he is clearly resourceful.
 
There were many Government officials back and forth and helicopters and a sense of nobody knowing what to do. At about 3am a coach arrived to take some Dutch tourists back to Colombo. They kindly offered to take others and as we were the only family with children, they prioritised us.
 
I don’t think I breathed for the 4 hour journey. We had heard of buses being swept away and drowning the passengers and I was just about out of my mind by now, while still smiling at the children and telling them that we were safe. 

We crawled at a snail's pace alongside the flooded train that was derailed - the one that has featured over and over on the news. There were so many bodies floating inside and I had to just keep telling the girls to look at me and not out of the window. The reasonably short journey took absolutely hours as the roads were flooded or blocked. 

We arrived in Colombo and went to the British Embassy. The embassy official, Jay offered us flights. I had a chat with the girls but they said they wanted to stay so instead he got us a driver and the use of his house. We were taken to a tourist company who were so very helpful. They advised that we should get way up country to bypass the bedlam in the Kandy area where everyone will be heading. They booked us into a hotel and we were then taken to Jay's house to freshen up. He actually joined us shortly afterwards, as there was another tidal wave warning and his offices were closed. He went into town with Johnny to get Macdonalds for everyone. (He has two sons who are at school somewhere in Portsmouth and they were with him for the holidays.) It was very emotional as he was telling me that his wife was killed in a tragic accident last boxing day and the whole family had assembled yesterday to have a dinner and remember her. So to then get the news that he did was very distressing. (The Portsmouth connection was such a coincidence and he and I have stayed friends to this day.)
 
He and his family made us so welcome and have given us an open invitation to return and stay for as long as we want which is so kind.
 
We were driven 6 hours to the hotel where we are now. It is very comfortable and quiet (and high and nowhere near the sea) so we will have a couple of days around the pool and stay quiet before deciding on our next move. By chance the manager of this hotel is actively involved in aid work of many sorts so the staff were already preparing emergency food and clothing boxes. I asked if we could help and we were pleased to be able to actually do something constructive and have been packing boxes this evening. The staff had had a whip round and had raised 44000 rs between them, which is a fortune on their wages. Rosie has not stopped and while Heidi rested, she and I have been loading lorries. It feels good to be doing something.
 
I said I hoped to do some aid work while we were away. I hadn’t anticipated it would be in the first fortnight and to aid the very place we were staying in. Rosie has been an absolute star and immediately got into the line to help bag things up. It has been good to try and do some help albeit not much.
 
I have been overwhelmed with the help and kindness we have been given. What is so sad is the “them and us” feeling. We were leaving the devastation and being taken to safety but leaving these poor desperate people and I feel so very sad for that. 

On Christmas Eve, we met the loveliest little family - a beautiful Sri Lankan girl with her tiny children who sat so quietly at her feet while she worked on her sewing machine. She had a Singer machine and told me of her immense pride at having taken out a bank loan to buy it. We ordered some dresses for the girls, to collect on Boxing Day. That little family were in a tiny shack beachside. They wouldn't have stood a chance. 

Sri Lanka is so family orientated - what hit me is that there would not be a single Sri Lankan who was not bereaved.
 
My mobile had lost its charge during the morning and anyway the phone lines were jammed. When I got to the hotel and put the phone on charge, the messages were coming through like crazy and it was lovely to hear from so many friends. So I will sign off now. Thank you for your messages and kind words. We are all safe and well and comfortable and I am just counting my many blessings. Again.
 

Juliet x