Ten seconds of terror, the death of a brother... and the birth of a remarkably successful aid operation

By [ganderson]

WHEN Luke Simon woke up on the morning of December 26 2004, he had no idea his life was to change forever.

The plan was to catch a ferry from the island paradise of Ko Phi Phi to Krabi with friends Sophie Smith, Ben Seyfried, Nick Thorne and brother Piers. The four had travelled to Thailand to meet Luke, who was teaching at an international college in the northern province Chiang Mai.

But as the group finished breakfast in a beach-side cafe, they realised something was very wrong.

"It was very surreal," recalled Luke, now aged 35. "We had just paid and were about to grab our bags, when we noticed some people running and screaming. At first I thought it was kids having a water fight, then a rabid dog.

"Some people suddenly ran into the cafe, running through the tables and chairs, knocking people over. I then thought it was a terrorist bomb, and we rushed to get out but outside there were people running in every direction. Then we heard someone say 'water coming, water coming'."

What Luke could not have known at that point was that Thailand was about to be hit by a terrible tsunami, triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean.

Waves, some as high as 30 feet, were also battering the coast of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India.

In Ko Phi Phi, however, the first sign of the oncoming disaster was a gentle rise in sea level, gradually building momentum, until water was rushing through streets and into homes.

Luke said: "We ran though a corridor of shops and houses and the last thing I shouted was 'everyone try to get high'. There was a lean-to shed and I put my feet on top of some drums to get on the roof. Ben tried to do the same but his feet slipped and he got hit by some of the water.

"Sophie can remember Piers trying to push her up and on to the roof, while I was on top trying to pull her up. The problem was she was pinned in. The water went up over her head and then sucked her down and kind of spat her back out. I found her clinging on to a sheet of tarpaulin. It all happened within ten seconds."

Hundreds were killed on the island, while the survivors were faced with total devastation. Buildings were flattened, and those who had got caught up in the water had lost their clothes and suffered horrific lacerations.

For the first few minutes after the disaster, however, there was an eerie silence. Then, after tracking down Nick and Ben, panic set in as it became apparent 35-year-old Piers was missing.

"We all went up on to a nearby hill. For six hours I was going up and down looking for Piers. And I started doing first-aid on people. We were using bed-sheets and a lot of people had water which we used to clean out the wounds," said Luke. After a fraught night camped out with 300 people on the hill, the first rescue boats arrived in the morning. The friends decided to carry on their search in Phuket. On the way there Luke broke the news of Piers' disappearance to his parents, Celia, 62, and Henry, 63.

He said: "I managed to get a signal on my phone and sent a text to dad: 'Four of us ok. We are missing P.' Dad called back and I had a conversation with him. I said we all got on roofs. Piers was swept away, and there is a chance that he did not make it. He could be alive, but he also might not be."

In Phuket, the group was given food, shelter and mobile phones. While Sophie and Nick flew back home to their families, Luke and Ben stayed behind.

"Early on I worked out this would end with one of four scenarios: we find him alive and well, we find him and he is badly injured, we find him and he is dead, or we never find him," said Luke. "There was a list saying some survivors had gone to Krabi. I started making phone calls. Two or three times, someone handed me a phone saying your brother is on the end of the line. But it was never him."

Then a man called Piuz Simmows was recorded checking out of a hospital in Krabi. In the hope, it was a Thai corruption of his brother's name, Luke made an urgent appeal on ITN and Sky News for information.

As more time elapsed and still nothing was heard, the search focused on the growing number of dead bodies lining morgues. On New Year's Eve, five days after the tsunami, a body matching Piers' description and carrying his passport was found. Using dental records, it was confirmed as Piers.

At the memorial service to his brother in Forde Abbey, near Chard, Luke paid tribute to the Thai people who had helped in his search and made a pledge to return to the country with relief funds. The Piers Simon Appeal was born.

Within four days £10,000 had been raised. The money was divided between charity Help International Phi Phi, which undertook the cleaning up of the island, and the Tsunami Dive Camp, who set about removing debris from the sea floor and cleaning up the beach in Ko Phi Phi. Funds were also sent to re-building projects in Krabi, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Luke returned to Thailand to carry on his teaching job after his brother's death, but after two years he moved back to the family home in Chilthorne Domer.

He has continued to run the Piers Simon Appeal from an office in his parents' farm-house, most recently setting up the School in a Bag initiative in conjunction with Shelterbox.

The project saw 32,000 school bags sent out in May to orphaned children in Swaziland, many of whom had lost their parents to Aids.

To mark the fifth anniversary of the tsunami on Boxing Day, the Simons family will be hosting a commemorative walk.

For Luke, it will be a chance to look back on the past five years and reflect on the life his brother could not share.

He said: "Piers was one of hundreds and thousands who died. We lost one. We were lucky. We have not lost our home and we still have money to feed ourselves. There are people who lost all their family and their homes.

"Piers and I lived in each other's pockets. We spent more time together than some brothers who die at 80 do. Because of the circumstances in which Piers died, we have no-one to blame, and these sort of things help. My only regret is that he will miss out. Life was taken away from him, but no-one was to blame for that."