Picture this. You're standing on the beach when you notice something strange. The horizon doesn't look

right. At first, all you can see is a thin white line stretching as far as your eyes can see. Then,

the line starts to rise. But it's not the horizon at all. It's a wave, a 30-foot wall of water,

and it's racing straight toward you. What would you do? On the day after

Christmas in 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Indonesia, triggering a

devastating tsunami. It struck Thailand without warning. No alarms, no cell phone alerts, no

evacuation. In this season of Against the Odds, experience one of the deadliest natural disasters in history

through the perspectives of those who did everything they could to survive.

Follow Against the Odds on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

34-year-old Wachari Tongte sits on the front steps of her home in the village of Namkem Thailand.

She sticks a knife into a watermelon and cuts off two slices.

Her daughters, 8-year-old Rati Khan and 3-year-old Soudarot, eagerly hold out their hands.

Watchery smiles at them as she hands on the fruit.

It's late morning on December 26, 2004, and already a bright, warm day.

Watchery loves where she lives, just a few feet from the beach. From her porch, she can see the white sand glittering from between the stands of palm trees. She goes back to slicing the

watermelon, but then a commotion distracts her. It sounds like people are arguing on the beach.

She tilts her head, but she's too far away to make out what they're saying, and she can't see who it is.

She shrugs.

It's probably a squabble among fishermen.

Still, she wonders if it might concern her husband, Wee Mon.

He's a fisherman himself, and he left early this morning with his brother to fish

from their boat a few miles out to sea. As the commotion continues, watchery decides she should

...