We heard the news over the radio, Pong came to tell us the news and we immediately cancelled the following dives for the day and left the island side for a deeper sea.
We immediately felt quite safe, knowing a wave doesn’t break until it reaches shallower grounds but we felt quite worried about what we would find back on the land.
Our phones didn’t have much connection but just enough to reassure the family members which needed it most.
News were slow to come over the radio, in Thai and then in English. We first heard of the earthquake, followed by a rumor of a 18 meters wave, 30 minutes later we listened in silence the news of the wave reaching Phuket and Koh Lanta and only 20 minutes later were we reassured of minimal damage. We were waiting to see the wave pass us by but to no avail. After two hours of stress, we set the cap to Richelieu Rock and celebrated onboard the good news: No Tsunami, we are the Tsunami survivors!!!
"...A tsunami is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami..." Wikipedia