This Christmas marks 20 years since one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in modern history.
The Indian Ocean tsunami which unexpectedly hit Asia on December 26th, 2004, caused devastation across a dozen countries taking the lives of more than 225,000 people.
The 9.1 magnitude earthquake was one of the largest ever recorded, and ripped through an undersea fault in the Indian Ocean, propelling a huge amount of water onto unsuspecting shores.
The ‘pure carnage of rushing water’ crashed through countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka sweeping up houses, trees, cars and everything else in its tracks.
The countries were left totally devastated, and the world mourned.
Louis Mullan, who was 16 at the time, was on a family holiday in Takua Pa, Thailand, with his mum, Catherine Mullan, dad, Leonard Barratt and little brother,Theo, 12, during the Christmas of 2004.
They had enjoyed two weeks in southern Thailand and were planning on heading to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand before Christmas, but ended up staying in Takua Pa because they were ‘having such a nice time.’
On the morning of December 26th, Louis and his brother were getting ready for a snorkelling trip when their dad called them to the beach.
Louis told Metro: ‘Something’s happening in the water, dad said, come and have a look.
‘I remember seeing lots of sand and a bubbling, white line in the sea in the distance, but I had no idea what was coming.
‘Me and Theo went back to our room, and by the time we went back outside everyone was running. A rush of water just kept rising.’
Louis and his brother held hands as they were swept off their feet by the rushing waters.
Louis continued: ‘I remember Theo saying: “What about mum and dad?’”
‘I felt like I had to step up and be the older brother. We didn’t know where our parents were and I had to protect him.
‘Theo and I were holding onto each other with the water rushing around us – but we couldn’t hold on any longer. Once I resurfaced, I couldn’t see Theo anywhere.
‘Someone reached out a hand and pulled me into a building. I remember throwing up when I got in there. I remember the view, the pure carnage of rushing water. The water was everywhere.’
Louis sat in the half-built building for the next hour, wondering where his family were. He remembers crying out for them, ‘it was the only thing I could do,’ he said.
Then, in the distance, Louis saw someone he recognised.
‘I tagged along with a French family from the hotel, we were trying to get on high-ground,’ he said.
‘There was another family walking up the hill and they had a young boy with them- it was Theo.
‘It’s only now, all these years later, that I can talk about it without bursting into tears. It was an overwhelming feeling of relief.
‘I was so glad that he was safe, but still concerned about mum and dad.’
Louis and Theo never saw their parents again.
After being taken back to Cornwall, the brothers were told six weeks later that their mum and dad’s bodies had been found.
Louis said: ‘We knew that it was the reality before we were told, but hearing those words was really difficult.
‘I remember my parents in the way that they brought us up – lots of love, lots of adventure.’
Louis and Theo were adopted by a family in Cornwall after the tragedy, who he says ‘continued the adventure’ that he had with his parents.
The brothers visit a churchyard in Cornwall on Boxing Day, the day before Theo’s birthday, to remember their mum and dad.
Louis’s story is one of many told in a new documentary by National Geographic depicting the harrowing events of the Indonesian tsunami.
The new series, called Tsunami: Race Against Time, will be released later this month.
Daniel Bogado, executive producer and director, hopes that the documentary, which took more than two years to make, will do survivors’ of the disaster justice.
‘What we tried to do is find powerful contributors and tell the story moment by moment – we want to recreate that day.
‘For any survivor of the tsunami to agree to be a part of the documentary, they are effectively agreeing to re-tell the worst day of their lives. It’s a big ask.
‘We want the series to serve as a testament to what happened, and a memorial to the lives that were lost.’
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