Speaking with FMT Lifestyle, Priscilla recalled seeing odd signs the night before. “When I was in the shower, centipedes came out of a hole in the ground,” said the voice actress and owner of Cosmic Campers, a campsite in Terengganu.
Later, she saw a pack of dogs howling at the sea. The next day, a crow perched on the balcony of the chalet she was staying in and started cawing, something her mother always described as a bad omen.
Then, Priscilla heard people screaming and saw that the ocean had retreated to the horizon. “About 1km away, I saw chalets crumbling as waves washed over them.”
Sensing imminent danger, Priscilla and her friend grabbed the bag containing their passports. Outside, it had turned dark as the waves, now brown, stood tall.
As their chalet crumbled, Priscilla said she felt like she was “inside a washing machine”. She remembered holding her breath and wondering if she would die. She eventually lost consciousness but woke up when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“When I opened my eyes, my chin was above the water and there was a tree stump in front of me,” she said, adding that she didn’t see anyone around. Her mother later said that the tap was that of Priscilla’s guardian angel.
When another wave crashed on her, she tried holding on to the tree stump but was swept away. Thankfully, she spotted two ropes and grabbed onto one of them.
More waves followed. “I could not hold my breath anymore because I had swallowed and inhaled so much water. After the third wave, I said to God: ‘I cannot do this again. I’m letting go of the rope.’ When I let go, the waves stopped.”
The water eventually subsided and she was later reunited with her friend. A man who found the bag with their passports, returned it to them.
She was delighted to bump into the same man the following year, when she returned to Sri Lanka with the funds she had raised for tsunami victims.
Since surviving the ordeal, Priscilla embraces life fully and has travelled the world. On the 20th anniversary of the tsunami yesterday, she returned to the beach in Sri Lanka where the waves crashed down on her.
“Until today, I live like it is my last day. Every day when I wake up, I’m like ‘Yay, I made it to another day!’”
Saved by a mother’s instinct
Nur Amira Noordin was in her hometown of Kampung Bagan Jermal, Penang when the tsunami hit. Her father was a fisherman, and their house was located by the ocean. She had just turned seven on Dec 17.
That day, she was planning to play by the beach with her five-year-old sister, Nur Amilia. But their mother felt uneasy.
“She instinctively felt that we shouldn’t be on the beach. Looking back, it was lucky that she didn’t allow us to play, or we wouldn’t have survived,” said the 27-year-old wedding planner and makeup artist.
Later, they noticed a peculiar sight: the sea had retreated, and fishes were lying on the shore. “Then, we saw a wave from afar. We initially thought it was beautiful because we had never seen a wave like that.”
When it got closer, they sensed something was amiss. Their neighbours were screaming. Nur Amira’s aunt quickly grabbed her while her mother carried her sister, and they ran for their lives.
She recalled seeing the waters, brown and muddy, gush under their house, built on stilts. As the waves covered the roads, she fell into a deep drain, injuring herself.
Nur Amira recalled her intense fear as the waters kept gushing. She had swallowed a fair bit of it. Thankfully, a neighbour came to their rescue, and they were shuttled to a safe place.
Today, Nur Amira is thankful that her family survived the ordeal. And the damage to their house wasn’t extensive. Although her grandmother suffered a minor heart attack during the tsunami, she recovered.
Her father was spared that day as he wasn’t out at sea fishing but attending to odd jobs outside the village.
Still, she shared that it took her a while to get over the harrowing experience. “After surviving the incident, I’ve learnt to be very, very grateful,” she concluded.