Tsunami - 3. Tsu Chapter 3

Shortly after noon, I stepped out of my final meeting in Penang, I noticed many staff gathered around a television, watching a live news broadcast, as I joined the gathering, I started to get a horrible feeling in my stomach, on hearing the words “Kuala Kedah, Tsunami and destroyed in the one sentence. I collapsed as I was in full panic mode, landing down hard on the ground. When one of the men – Kim, who I had been meeting with earlier, crouched down and saw me shaking in shock, with tears down my face, he just remembered me telling him earlier in the day that my wife and sons were spending the day at Kuala Kedah.

This according to the just announced news report was one of the names of small towns on the coast that had been wiped out by a giant Tsunami, just before 9am this morning, with Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka and Thailand affected in Asia, and Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa and Tanzania, affected in Africa. I was assisted into an office that has a large lounge, and I was encouraged to lie down and rest,

Kim dashed to the phone on the desk and made several phone calls, soon there was a doctor and a nurse in the office asking me some questions, loosening my tie and top shirt button, taking my temperature, pulse and blood pressure. After Kim got off the phone, he came up to me to say; “Mr Ashburton, the Australian Embassy in Singapore is dealing with all enquiries regarding Australian Citizens in Malaysia, who are being affected by the Tsunami disaster. I notified them that your family was expected to be at the beach at Kuala Kedah this morning, and there was no way of contacting them.”

Kim gave me a hand-held phone and the phone number for the embassy, and I called them back, as I had no idea what I should do. I informed the embassy that my name was Lukin Ashburton, and I was away from the family for the day, to conclude business in Penang, leaving the family back at the hotel in Alor Setar, & because the family had a great time on the beach on Christmas day, they were planning to do the same today. The embassy informed me that I was to remain in contact, in case any news arrives for him, and suggested maybe returning to Alor Setar, and waiting there for some news, but not to go anywhere near the coast.

After finishing the phone call, I ensured Kim that I would be ok, and that I wanted to drive back to Alor Setar, to be closer to where my family is, and I jumped into the hire car and made the long trip back up the coast, and it seemed like forever to get there. As I stepped into the hotel reception area, I was met by the Hotel Manager; who I had met just once since our arrival before Christmas, the manager said that he was sorry to hear that my family was in the area at the time of the tsunami. He said he would assist as much as possible and he was offering me my hotel suite for an unlimited time at a 50% reduced rate, I thanked the manager for his kindness and assistance, as I started to make my way towards the elevators, the manager stopped me to continue with more information or news.

He informed me that my wife had only taken the two older boys, and the twins were placed in the Hotel Day Care Centre, until she or I collected them. Once again I collapsed to the floor, both in shock and relief knowing that two members of his family were safe and well, as I was guided to a lounge chair in the lobby, I started to cry thinking of my lovely wife, who was caught in the tsunami wave and perished or is lost somewhere, along with my two oldest sons, aged 5 and 3 years old.

As I recovered from my emotional collapse, I was shown to the hotel day care centre, where the twins were happily playing, totally unaware what was happening in the outside world. Once back in the hotel suite, I put the boys to bed for a nap, and I tried to settle my nerves, by sitting on the lounge and trying to relax, I avoided turning the television on as I didn’t want to be reminded of the horror that I and my family were currently caught in, and I eventually fell asleep due to the exhaustion of the long drive and having to deal with everything that was happening.