Tsunami remembered by survivors and victim's family

This Boxing Day will be quiet for John May as he looks through photographs, remembering his daughter Lisa.

After being a bridesmaid at her sister's wedding in Phi Phi in Thailand on 11 December 2004, the 25-year-old had stayed behind to start a round-the-world tour.

When the Indian Ocean earthquake struck on Boxing Day, Lisa became one of 149 Brits who died in the resulting tsunamis.

On the 20th anniversary of her death, her father John May said: "It seems almost as real today as it was all those years ago."

The former Surrey Heath mayor returned to Thailand to find Lisa's body, eventually repatriating her to the UK.

He said: "It was an overwhelming loss and it's still there.

"Lisa will always be in our hearts and remain forever young."

In 2005, Mr May set up the Lisa May Foundation to help out those affected by the quake and other natural disasters, and from 2009 to support Surrey-based charities.

To mark the 20th anniversary, the Lisa May Foundation is aiming to raise £3,000 for the Home and Life Orphanage in Phang Nga.

Mr May said of his daughter: "She'd be proud of the work we have done."

Ian and Jan Linch, from Frittenden in Kent, spent their life savings rebuilding a destroyed Sri Lankan village after their own lucky escape from the tsunami.

The couple were on holiday with family on Vilamendhoo island in the Maldives, where they noticed the usually still water began lapping.

The couple said around three feet of water slowly approached the island, coming up to approximately one metre before forcefully receding.

Mrs Linch said: "We looked at each other and prepared to say goodbye."

More than 100 people died in the chain of islands, with some atolls completely submerged by the waves.

It wasn't until Mr and Mrs Linch returned to the UK days later that they realised the enormity of the disaster.

The couple learned from Sri Lankan friends the extent of damage in the country, where 31,000 died.

In February 2005, they felt compelled to help the people of a coastal village called Kosgoda, which had been all but destroyed in the disaster.

Mr and Mrs Linch founded Aurora Charity and donors helped fund 40 homes, a Montessori school, four shops and a community centre for 300 people whose lives and homes were torn apart by the tsunami.

The couple now work as dog agility trainers and say they are keen to return to the village.

Richard de Gottal, from Worthing, said surviving the tsunami in Thailand had left him with an inexplicable bond to the country.

"For me, I've always wanted to live there after that happened.

"When I'm there I just feel 'this is my place, this is where I'm supposed to be'," he said.

Mr de Gottal had decided to go to Patong Beach on the west coast of Phuket over Christmas for a solo break.

He had gone to bars on Christmas Day and was due to go scuba diving the following morning.

The amateur DJ said he decided to sleep off a hangover instead, unwittingly missing the first of the two tsunamis which hit the island that morning.

He said: "There was banging on the door and I was like 'oh what's going on' and I just ignored it.

"I tried to get back to sleep and then I just remember this almighty explosion sounding thing, like a bang."

He left his hotel room and peered from the first-floor corridor onto the lobby, where bodies and debris had washed up.

Mr de Gottal said: "I literally thought a bomb had gone off.

"You're not expecting a tsunami, are you?"

But after he returned to the UK, Thailand, where 8,000 lost their lives, was still on his mind.

In 2011, he moved to Phuket to work as a teacher but returned after a decade to look after his elderly mother who has now passed away.

Next year, he plans to emigrate to Phuket for good.

"I'm just trying to do as much as I can now in my life, which means moving back out to Thailand and trying to make the best of my life," he said.

Follow BBC Kent on Facebook on X and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].