00:00it is this is our balcony
00:05december 26 2004 edward sue was on a holiday in southern thailand with his
00:11stepfather his mother his then girlfriend emily chai
00:15and his three young sisters they planned to visit
00:19emerald cave a popular destination that features a dark
00:22cave passage leading to a secluded lagoon
00:26and a beautiful beach before the day ended
00:30all their lives had changed forever
00:35tragically they bore witness to the 2004 indian ocean tsunami
00:41and i heard a very loud sound you know i turned around
00:44i saw a wave coming something like that i didn't think much about it
00:47before i even know it suddenly the whole tunnel was flooded i assumed at the time
00:52i held my breath i thought actually initially it was part of the activity
00:57you know maybe you know you go inside then the water
01:00flushes in let it end up then we end up in the in the bleach you know i thought
01:04it was part of the activity so i just hold my breath you know there
01:07was a point in time when i hold my breath and i was in the water
01:10and i realized that something was wrong in my mind
01:13can't be this long i held my breath to the point i can't hold it anymore
01:17as if we're in a washing machine then you realize okay it's not right
01:21something is not right i feel like my body was being
01:24thrown everywhere like especially at the side of the cave
01:28actually it's very rough and then it's like flashback and then it's like is
01:31this really it is this really the end of my life
01:36even before they had left for thailand edward and olivia's mother had felt
01:40uneasy and contemplated canceling the trip
01:46and on the morning of the tsunami
01:50the family had overslept
01:54and were unaware that a major earthquake had taken place
01:58off the coast of sumatra earthquake earthquake earthquake
02:06their uncle in hadi i had tried calling them to cancel the emerald cave trip
02:11but they didn't hear the phone as they were already on the boat
02:17although the sue siblings were lucky to have survived the tsunami
02:20their mother and stepfather weren't as fortunate
02:24olivia recalls the harrowing sight of her mother
02:28in the water she's no longer talking her head was in the water
02:32she's because we're floating right let's check that but her head was in the water
02:35olivia recalls several people helping to pull her out of the water
02:40upon detecting a faint pulse edward performed cpr
02:43on his mother but she eventually stopped breathing
02:48what if i've done something else differently what if i didn't do cpr
02:51would she have woke up by herself you know i always think that did i do
02:55the right thing i was just sitting down and i was just i
02:58was so tired but i think the only thing that kept me going was that thinking that
03:00you know my sister is still around we need to get out of this
03:03you know i need to get my sisters out of this i guess there's nothing that kept
03:06me going i said my mom already passed away
03:10that's it you know i there's nothing much we can do about it
03:12their stepfather's body was later found floating in the water
03:19the siblings emily and the other survivors were eventually rescued
03:24later that day the whole ordeal left a lasting impact on the family
03:29two of the youngest siblings moved to penang to live with their aunt
03:33while edward olivia and their brother who hadn't joined them on the trip
03:37remained in the klang valley over time the family found the strength
03:42to rebuild their lives throughout the 20 years when i look back
03:46you know each of us are married yeah even our youngest
03:48sister also is married we have our kids things may not be ideal
03:52but i would say we have gained back and we have been blessed with so much
03:56compared to where 20 years ago where we lost everything on the spot
03:59through this experience i've learned that we have to be
04:02thankful we have to be very grateful for everything that we have
04:06no matter how small
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