Summary:
The tsunami that struck the coast of Southeast Asia in December 2004 resulted in many deaths as well as nightmares for many of the survivors. The following is one's person's account of the tsunami and the loss that it caused to that person.
I woke up in the dread of the night with my body drenched in cold sweat. The nightmare had come back and haunt me again. I was one of the victims of the recent disaster, the tsunami. Though now i'm safely back in Singapore but still cannot imagine the horror that went through the family members when they realised that they had lost their loved ones.I had lost a long-time best friend to the cruel wave too.
Recalling that fateful day,I was at the beach with my best friend, LiLing. We were having a good time until we notice that the surrounding seawater was rising at an astonishing speed. The vast circle of golden sand around the beach was disappearing rapidly. The shore was chaotic. Exclamations of shock were on all sides. We were being swept towards the shore.
Meantime, I was befuddled by two conflicting impressions-the idyllic blue sea and the rapidly rising sea waters. As I pondered over these problems, the water level had risen to approximately 2 metres, but the sea still remained calm with barely a wave in sight. The flimsy houses near the coast were washed by the seawaters. When the water stopped rising soon afterwards, LiLing and I made our way towards the dry areas. What i did not realise was that the flood water would recede as quickly and dramatically as they had risen.
All of a sudden, I felt myself being swept out the sea at a startling speed. LiLing and I were all strong swimmers. Everytime as we tried to swim one metres towards dry land, the sea would "sucked" us back two metres. It was the first time i felt so powerless to prevent myself from being washed away. As we were "pulled back by an unseen hand", we hang on to a palm tree which we past on the way back towards the sea.
We hang on to it for a few minutes until some people had gathered around us and watched us with amusement in their eyes. Upon looking at the way they stifled their laughters, LiLing got down from the tree.
"Look LiLing, what if the wave attacks again? Just don't care about them, just come up!" I urged her.
For the first time she turned her back on me. She said flatly,"No." I was flabbergast.As soon as her words landed, the gigantic wave came splashing towards her like a predator preying fiercely on it's prey.
"Run!!Run!" I shrieked onto of my voice.
LiLing ran fast. In fact she was a fantastic runner. But then...she stumbled and fell...and her helpless body was washed away with the wave. The whole incident was over in a few minutes time.I searched for LiLing everywhere but there wer no sign of her until i reached the beach. There on the beach laid thousands of corpese and i saw LiLing in her stunning pink swimming suit. She laid there motionless and never would wake up again...
It is painful to lose a pet that you loved, so it must be even more painful to lose someone you loved and cherished. I will never forget this incident-26.12.2004, the tsunami.
This is the complete article, containing 528 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
