I don't want to turn this political but I've just read that President Bush has said that the $35 million is only the beginning, yet even that amount seems very small to me. I think we could and should do better. I wish we would spend as much money helping people as we do fighting them.

We were staying on a small island north of Phuket.

When the wave hit we ran to the largest structure on the island, a 2-story cement building. When the water kept rising we broke through the thin cement shingles and took refuge on the roof. We thought we would be okay, but the water kept rising, and the roof came off the building.

We were floating on that roof for about 30-45 seconds, going about 20-30 MPH. It was heading into the trees on the edge of the jungle, and when it crashed into the trees we were thrown into the water. Everyone on the roof went under, and when Nida (g/f) and I came up we were both able to get ahold of a tree. I actually held on to a fishing net that wrapped around one of the trees. During this time I kept thinking "what do I do next to keep alive?" and owe my life to a combination of good luck and quick thinking.

After a few minutes I swam to the tree that Nida was holding on to, then we climbed into the tree and waited there for about 2 hours. We climbed down and gathered with the other survivors at a small water tower that wasn't destroyed. We noticed that two in our group were missing, and I went looking for them.

I found Nida's sister about 800-1000 yards back in the jungle, along with another couple and a baby. They were resort workers who had held on to and saved a foreign baby. They were afraid to walk in the water with the baby, but since they saw I made it in there they followed us out. We waded back though chest-deep water filled with filth and debris. The last 100 yards were really bad, and Nida's sister was in such pain that I wanted to get more hellp to get her out. I ran looking for others in the group to help, but they had left the water tower and the entire side of the island was empty. Later I found out that someone had a cell phone that worked, and they were told another wave could be coming, so they started heading for the other side of the island.

I went back to get Nida's and found that she had made more forward progress with the help of the couple that was with her. It took about 2 hours total to get her out. Later we found out had a fractured rib in addition to other injuries.
When we finally made it out of the jungle, a rescue boat was on shore. What timing!

This was definitely an experience to remember.