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MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend January 4, 2005 Krista and David Schreiber survived the tsunami on an island near Phuket. David recounts their experience in an e-mail to Krista�s mother, Alyce Kunze of Medford. Former Medford woman cheats death in tsunami By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune Alyce Kunze is a little reluctant to call her coming trip to Thailand a vacation. "I feel kind of guilty going for a holiday when so many thousands of people died," said the 62-year-old Medford resident, who’d been planning the trip for months. "But likewise we need to see our son and daughter and they need to see us." Kunze’s daughter, 36-year-old Krista Schreiber, narrowly escaped death when the Dec. 26 tsunami that devastated Thailand and other Asian countries slammed her up against a rock wall while she was vacationing on an island in the Andaman Sea near Phuket. "She grabbed a tree and hung on," said Kunze. "She sat on the island for six hours in shock." Krista, a 1988 graduate of North Medford High School, and her husband, 40-year-old David Schreiber, have lived in Thailand for a year and a half. Krista, who has had to have reconstructive surgery on her face after her ordeal, works for Nike and her husband runs a toy development company. They could not be reached by phone Monday. Advertisement But David sent his mother-in-law an e-mail describing the harrowing events after the couple had gone ashore on Poda Island while their boat waited in a little bay. As soon as the water started receding suddenly, the pilot called everyone back into the boat. David waited for his wife, but when he saw the giant wave coming at them, he decided the only way to make it was to jump out and race to shore. When the wave hit seconds later, David was pushed into a giant bush on a cliff about 15 feet above the beach. "Krista had already made it down on the ground and was thrown against the rock wall, along with the Dutch woman who ended up right next to her," he wrote. "As I got my bearings, I realized that Krista was on the ground in front of a tree and the Dutch woman was in front of a second tree. As the water receded, I could see the second wave coming from my vantage point. I yelled for them to hold on and held my breath as I watched the woman I love with all my heart hang on with everything she had. "As the second wave receded and a third wave was close behind, once again I yelled and watched them both take on an unimaginable force of water." After getting to higher ground, David said the two women appeared to go in and out of shock, and he decided to go to the capsized boat now resting on the beach to rescue supplies. He found two beach mats, an extra T-shirt and a small bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label whiskey. The couple were finally rescued about six hours later by another boat and given food and drink. David wrote, "I was sitting next to a Thai couple holding their deceased baby in their arms." When they got back to the mainland they were rushed to a hospital, where they saw children wrapped in blankets and blood everywhere. "My wife had her lip stitched up to her nose and all I could do was hold her hand as I could see the pain in her eyes," David wrote. In the town of Krabi, David said the local people offered them blankets, clothing and food. A local hotel offered to let them stay the night for free. He wrote, "In the morning local people who you know have very little came by with bags of fruit, clothes and water. They had nothing but they were willing to give what they had." The couple decided to spend the night at the hospital, camping out on the floor next to a man from Israel who lost his wife, a woman from Argentina who lost her husband and baby, and a couple from Sweden who lost their father. On their way to the airport to return to Bangkok, the couple learned that the body of the pilot of their boat had been recovered. Kunze said she and her husband, Walter, can hardly imagine the ordeal their daughter and son-in-law went through. "We think it’s phenomenal that they made it through it," she said. "It’s been an emotional week." Kunze said she and her husband will accompany the couple next week to visit the Thai people who helped them, including the family of the pilot who perished. "They are going back to Phuket to thank these people," she said. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Couple saw disaster from high ground Sue and Jim Misner were having breakfast overlooking a beach in Thailand when they grew alarmed at the quickly receding tide. "Everybody thought it was a real low tide," she remembered. "Some people were even running out toward the sea." Then the two former Rogue River teachers who live in Bangkok realized the gravity of the situation. "We’re Discovery Channel fans and we knew it was a tsunami," she said. Too far away to warn the people on the beach, the Misners, who work at the Ruamrudee International School, decided to go to a parking lot higher up on the cliff for safety. "At about the time we heard this roar, an unnatural sound," she said. "We could see this big line of wave coming in, then the people started running back to shore." As the first wave of the tsunami hit the shore at around 10:30 a.m. at Khao Lak on the Andaman Sea, they saw people disappearing into the water while others tried to outrun the advancing sea. "It took several hours for the sea to settle down," said Misner. "It was about 2 p.m. when it seemed like it was over." The locals whisked them away to a school building. "It was a first-grade classroom," she said. "We spent the night on the floor." They were taken back to their hotel the next morning to get their belongings, and witnessed the devastation. "Along the beach, the carnage was so obvious," she said. "People were wandering around dazed, looking for friends or relatives they had lost. There was total devastation. We looked where there was an entire hotel with 20 or 30 bungalows and there was nothing there." The Misners, who have lived overseas since 1989, had hoped to get a bungalow on the beach for their vacation, but because they booked late, they ended up staying on a hotel on the cliff. Like other tourists, the Misners remembered how helpful the Thai people were in their time of crisis. "Time and time again people said they don’t understand how they can be so caring about us when they face such devastation for themselves," she said. When they took the one-hour flight back to Bangkok, they found life there fairly normal, although the injured were transported to the hospitals there. "A lot of people lost everything," she said. "They had no papers, and no money." Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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