Vacation turns catastrophic

Jeff Benson

Costa Mesa resident Steve Abrams was hoping to live it up at one of

Thailand’s finest beachfront resorts, the Thara Patong Resort and

Spa.

His agenda included nothing more stressful than jet skiing

excursions and day trips to neighboring islands.

But his vacation ended the same day it started, Dec. 26, when he

found himself dodging debris floating toward him, fighting waterborne

disease and yanking more than a dozen people from chilly floodwaters.

He didn’t even get a day to enjoy himself before the first of

three tsunami waves hit the shores of Phuket, Thailand.

Abrams, who was stranded for nearly a week after surviving the

tsunami destruction, returned to Costa Mesa last Thursday, following

stopovers in Bangkok, Tokyo and San Jose. He traveled with some

friends, but he returned by himself. All of his friends survived, he

said.

The tsunami, which killed almost 160,000 people in Sri Lanka,

Indonesia and India, as well as Thailand, was caused by a

9.0-magnitude earthquake.

“The water’s really blue, and the hotel was really nice,” the

37-year-old Abrams said. “It was a nice resort. But it wasn’t much of

a vacation, in all honesty. It went from paradise to disaster. That’s

about the best way I can sum it up.”

He witnessed the battles at the airports as families waited in

eight-hour lines to find flights. Abrams arrived five hours early at

a Thai airport and still ended up on a flight to Tokyo that took off

two hours after his scheduled departure.

“It was complete chaos,” he said. “In the airport, on the way out,

all people cared about was getting out.”

He nabbed an American Airlines flight Jan. 6 from Tokyo to San

Jose.

Storms back home

After surviving one of the worst natural disasters in recent

times, Abrams got off the plane to experience the worst weather this

region has seen in years.

To make matters worse, Abrams was concerned upon his arrival that

he may have contracted an illness from the filthy water as it pooled

up in Phuket.

But he’d wisely doubled up on numerous medications for hepatitis,

malaria and other maladies even before his planned vacation.

In Phuket and surrounding areas, Abrams was calmed somewhat as he

witnessed the American Red Cross and international groups aiding the

ill and injured.

After receiving the all-clear from his own doctor earlier this

week, Abrams returned to his job Tuesday morning to find a stack of

paperwork awaiting his return.

His boss at Cingular/AT&T; Wireless in Cerritos, district sales

manager Dan Oriza, said his employee kept him notified about

everything he witnessed in Thailand through calls and e-mailed

photos. Abrams, a corporate account manager, communicated with Oriza

using a Blackberry personal data assistant.

Abrams wasn’t scheduled to return to work until this week anyway,

because he’d requested time off for his vacation, and the two went

out to lunch to talk about his experiences.

“He decided he wanted to get involved as quick as possible,

because it was so traumatic,” Oriza said. “You could see in his eyes

and his speech that it was a life-altering event. He’s still dazed,

but you could tell he wants to get back into the business.”

Visions of ruin

won’t go away

Abrams is still shaken somewhat, but he said he’s finding it hard

to look away when he sees the destruction on the news. He can’t stop

looking through a bevy of photos he took two weeks ago, either.

He said he managed to salvage the disc containing his photos, but

the water from the tsunami damaged his digital camera beyond repair.

He grimaced as he looked at photos he took of the devastation.

Piggy-backed cars came to rest vertically against a light pole.

Rescue workers waded waist-deep in water as they searched for signs

of life.

Even his view of the 7-Eleven across the street -- one he’d walked

to a short time before the first wave hit -- was muddled with mud and

disheveled vehicles.

Abrams said he and his friends originally planned to go jet skiing

at 8:30 a.m. but slept in. On the day of the tsunami, he went

downstairs at 9 a.m., got breakfast and returned to his room in time

for the first wave, which hit around 9:30 a.m.

He had been getting dressed, about to go downstairs and walk to

the ocean a block away.

The ocean got tired of waiting.

After the bigger, second wave hit 45 minutes later, he ventured

outside, placing people on top of cars whenever he could while he was

battered by debris.

“I just felt fortunate to be alive and to have survived one of the

greatest natural disasters in recent history,” he said. “I have never

seen such devastation, decay and loss of human life. I tried to help

wherever I could, but it put me at more risk every time.”

Before the third wave hit, Abrams and his friends managed to make

their way up the street to a hotel atop a hill. The third wave hit a

half-hour later.

Aftermath reflections

Abrams didn’t know the extent of the damage until hours later,

when Thai officials’ megaphones signaled that the threat of more

waves had passed.

Hundreds of children were left orphaned. Families had lost

everything. Hospitals were overflowing with patients demanding

emergency medical attention. Bodies washed ashore.

“I will say that thank God I didn’t go jet skiing,” he said.

* JEFF BENSON covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at jeff.benson@latimes.com.