Hong Kong holidaymakers told of scenes of devastation when they returned home yesterday from areas affected by the tsunami.
Ranjan Marwah, chairman of finance group Capital Access, who has lived in Hong Kong for 35 years, had been in Sri Lanka with his wife and children.
'I didn't see the waves but I saw the waters flooding the streets. When I went back to the hotel at Trincomalee beach where I stayed three days ago, it no longer existed and the beach was gone,' he said.
'It was pretty scary, like watching a horror film. I have a daughter who didn't go with us. I tried so hard to call her through the mobile, but the network was so jammed that it took me many goes.'
Democratic Party chairman Lee Wing-tat, who was on holiday in Phuket, said the experience was so traumatic that it would stay in his memory for some time.
'I won't be going back to Phuket soon - at least until the memory of this disaster fades away a bit. Life is so unpredictable, within a minute someone you see or you know is gone,' he said. 'I saw a young Thai girl die on the beach, her husband cuddling her. It was so sad.'
Three consulate officials had searched for Mr Lee who stayed overnight at a rescue centre on Boxing Day.