Rachel Hearson says she shouldn't be alive. She was just one of thousands caught up in the deadly tsunami that struck on December 26, 2004. That massive wall of water swept through Thailand and other countries killing 230,000 people.
Hearson was pulled underneath the water and almost drowned, saying it was a miracle she found a pocket of air.
"It had all happened so quickly," Hearson told PEOPLE. "I'd never heard of a tsunami in my life." The force fo the tsunami ended up carrying her into open water. She was "spat out to sea." That's when a small boat of unaware fishermen ended up pulling her on board.
They carried her out to a larger tourist boat. People didn't understand what had happened to the woman. They didn't know a tsunami had just hit.
"I was cut and bruised and my clothing was hanging off me," she said. "I heard people say, 'What's the matter with her? What's happened to her?' Because they had no idea because they didn't experience the wave out at sea. And then people's phones started pinging."
Tsunami Survivor Recounts Horror
The tsunami survivor sat there for the next three hours with a towel wrapped around her. Eventually, the captain agreed to let her go look for her partner, Cici Romain. She said, "I had no idea whether he was alive or dead."
It was a slow venture back to what remained of the hotel.
"I had no shoes," said Hearson. "I picked my way across all the debris towards the hotel. Where we'd been staying because I thought — that's the only place I know that potentially, possibly, I'm going to find Cici. I don't know how long it took me to get back to the hotel. I just know that I was trying to avert my gaze from bodies."
Eventually, she found her partner helping other people. She also joined in. Hearson ended up giving tsunami survivors water and trying to make them feel safe.
"I'll always remember the sound of that first helicopter coming in because it was that feeling — oh my God, somebody's coming," she said. "Somebody's actually coming to rescue people."
