Hong Kong-based former Gurkha regiment member Al Howard, 34, is taking part in a 5,000km charity rowing race across the Atlantic Ocean in November. He describes how surviving the December 26 tsunami put the dangers of his forthcoming expedition into perspective
The experience of the tsunami taught me two things in relation to my rowing expedition: First, it taught me how small and insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things and, second, it taught me the importance of helping people less fortunate than yourself.
I had gone with my girlfriend to see a great friend of mine who is another ex-Gurkha and who used to work in Aceh. We spent Christmas on a diving holiday on a little island off the Aceh coast called Pulua Weh.
We were very lucky to be honest. The island is very mountainous, so the wave could not get further inland than the end of the beach where the land rises sharply. Only 12 people were killed on the island, which, given what happened to the rest of Aceh, was a relatively small number.
We were close to the epicentre of the earthquake, so we were woken up before the tsunami, even though we'd had a Christmas meal on the beach the night before. My girlfriend was looking out from the hut where we were staying and shouted to me as the waves struck.
I came through and saw water coming through the reception building three metres below us. We were 18 metres above sea level which gives you an idea of how high the tide had risen. We didn't know at that stage that anyone anywhere else had been affected.
