Boxing Day tsunami: 20 years on from one of the worst natural disasters in history that claimed 230,000 lives

It was a natural disaster of epic proportions. A magnitude 9.1 earthquake that triggered a series of towering waves that would eventually claim about 230,000 lives from 14 different countries. Within the first 15 minutes of the Boxing Day tsunami, those walls of water, some as high as a 10-storey building, began striking the northern coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Aceh bore the brunt of the tsunami’s destructive force flattening everything in its path then roughly two hours later those same waves that caused so much widespread devastation struck Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. An hour after that, they reached the Maldives, and, more than seven hours later waves were recorded in Mauritius and along the east coast of Africa. The Boxing Day tsunami is one of the most destructive natural disasters in recorded history. Of the staggering number of people killed, more than 170,000 were from Aceh. And 26 were from Australia including two West Aussies. Kardinya woman, Catherina Van Duren, 81, died from a suspected heart attack when the giant waves swamped her hotel on the popular Patong Beach in Thailand. Six-month-old Melina Heppell died after she was ripped from her father Peter’s arms as he tried to outrun the waves at Patong Beach. After the tragedy, Mr Heppell opened a bar in Krabi, east of Phuket, naming it Milena’s Monkey House and Whale Bar in honour of his lost daughter. But tragedy struck again for the family last year when Mr Heppell was stabbed to death by the husband of an ex-employee he had accused of stealing from him. Besides the tragic loss of life there were also miraculous stories of survival. One of the most inspiring stories to emerge was that of little Lachie Searle. At just five years old, and unable to swim, the youngster managed to cling to a hotel door for two hours after his mother Jillian made the agonising decision to let him go or risk drowning along with her then 20-month-old son Blake whom she was holding. The trio were sitting by the pool at their hotel in Phuket when the tsunami struck. As the water surged, Ms Searle desperately clung to her boys but she couldn’t maintain her grip on both of them and screamed for a young girl to grab Lachie as she held on to Blake. However, the force of the water was too much, and the teenage girl couldn’t hold on. Lachie was swept away. As the water subsided, Ms Searle’s then husband Brad rushed to their aid but then a second wave hit. The family were forced to take refuge on play equipment and had to wait until it was safe to search for Lachie. They told The West Australian just days after the terrifying ordeal that they frantically searched for their boy, wading through the water and wreckage and had almost given up hope when they found him wandering around with a security guard. Lachie, they said, had been clinging alone to a door in the lobby for nearly two hours with his head just above water, waiting for it to subside. His mother said at the time she could not believe it was him and was unable to let go of Lachie for hours after the catastrophe. “I was just so frantic for hours and the relief was just so strong,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it and I still can’t believe he’s here.”