Tsunami

On the morning of December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. The resulting tsunami killed an estimated 230,000 people across fourteen countries, from Indonesia to Sri Lanka to Thailand to the Maldives to India and all the way to East Africa. Everyone who was there and survived has a story of where they were when the tsunami hit. But there are too many stories that will never be told. This is one woman's story of her experience of that day and its aftermath.

LeeAnn Pickrell was in Rai Leh, Thailand, just off the beach drinking coffee that morning when the ocean went away. Everyone ran to the top of the beach to see a wall of white approaching the shore, at first slowly and then picking up speed as boats overturned and they realized the wave wasn't going to stop. It's the story of the tsunami in a particular place, of not understanding what was happening, of separation and reunion. It's also a story of coming home, of not being hurt physically but the psychic shifts of such an experience. It's about letting go of old ideas of faith that no longer make sense and opening to the connections we have to each other through the stories we tell.