`Unbelievable Destruction'
Domstein brothers escape tsunami's wrath.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
W
hen brothers Randy and David Domstein
set out to scuba dive on Dec. 26 some 50
nautical miles off Phuket, Thailand, they
could never have imagined that when they returned to
land it would be the site of the tsunami devastation
televised around the world.
"If we had remained on the shore — or even in the
place our boat had first been anchored 1,500 feet out
— there is no question in my mind that we would
have met certain death," said David, 35, an attorney
from Waterford. "The boat would definitely have
been flung like a rag doll into the storefronts on the
),
shore.
The tsunami hit in the Indian Ocean at the start of
a three-day diving trip planned by David and Randy,
37, who has been living in Bangkok for the last three
years and working in banking and finance.
"We were diving on Phuket and I was really glad to
be on the island," said David who had been to
Thailand three times previously and to Phuket once
before. "It was 85 degrees, the water was calm. It was
a perfect day. We immediately headed out on the 60-
foot, 10-cabin boat, which took us about 50 nautical
miles into the ocean.
"I didn't feel anything at all, not even a wave,"
Brothers Ra y
and David
Domstrin on a
David said. "But then we were told a tsunami passed
through at 500 kilometers an hour under us and hit
the beach at Phuket."
At the time, the now infamous word "tsunami" did-
n't mean much to him. "It was terrible to hear about
it, but we thought it was a little wave 50 miles away,
so we just waited, hoping to be able to dive again
soon," David said.
But they didn't dive again at all. "First our late
morning dive was canceled and then our 4:30 after-
noon dive," David said. "By the next morning, when
we woke up we were told 300 people were dead in
Phuket, and we were going straight back to shore."
1/13
2005
10
When they
arrived, it had been
22 hours since the
tsunami hit.
"We saw boats
thrown on the shore
and the big, wooden
pier — which was in
a sheltered area —
was 95 percent
destroyed," David
said.
Once on the
beach, David said,
"We saw cars stacked
on top of each other,
trucks and a boat in
hotel lobbies and the
places where we had
shopped were gone.
We were flabbergast-
ed at the unbeliev-
able amount of
destruction."
As inconceivable as
was the damage,
there were sites much
more unimaginable. "There were an awful lot of
injured people on the shore," David said. "And there
were bodies being dug out of the wreckage. And just
one day before, we were sitting in the sun on that
same beach."
Back Home
While Randy and David surveyed the devastation,
their family and friends in Michigan waited for word
on their safety.
"Within minutes after the tsunami hit, our phone
started ringing," said Dr. Charles Domstein of West
Bloomfield, Randy and David's father. "We were in
Arizona, where it was only 7:15 in the morning, and
we hadn't yet heard what had happened."
The entire day family and friends continued to call,
but not Randy and David.
"It was pretty heart-wrenching," Dr. Domstein said.
"We knew where they were, and we kept watching
what was going on there on the news. It was a very
difficult 48 hours until we got a call from them. It was
a pretty awful time until I heard their voices."
The men were unharmed but were, at first, unable
to get to an undamaged area.
"We couldn't get off the island," David said. "There
were no flights, and there were no hotel rooms, so we
went back onto the boat to sleep."
They also took time to walk the beach. "We saw
how unbelievably great the Thai government handled
things," David said. "The whole town was in chaos,
but they were there with an immediate response. They
gave out bottled water and offered free international
c
0
phone calls to those who wanted to wait in line." .
With the beach area largely filled with tourists, there
were many willing to wait in order to be able to con-
tact loved ones.
"The next day, we got up at 7 a.m. and went to the
airport where we heard the Royal Thai government
was giving free flights off the island," David said.
"There were hundreds of people waiting in a big,
open room for military planes. While we were there,
we saw dozens and dozens and dozens of ambulances
arrive with those who were injured."
Finally, the two joined 200 others on a Royal Thai
Air Force military plane, used for paratroopers. "We
just climbed into the back and sat on orange fishnet
seats and flew to Bangkok," David said. "When we
landed, 50 reporters came running onto the tarmac to
talk to us. The police were holding them back. The
Red Cross was there, too. We were given food and
Water."
More Travels
Because the two had been aboard the boat and away
from the damage, their luggage and passports were
intact, allowing them to continue their travels. After a
few days spent at Randy's home in Bangkok, they
were on a plane to Singapore and then to Indonesia
for New Year's Eve.
"In the last couple of years, we've been to places like
Sri Lanka, the Maldives Islands, Australia, New
Zealand, Cambodia, Laos and Bali together," David
said.