Stories of Survival

In Phillip's search for his wife, he stumbled upon Emma, dazed but very much alive. They waded through heavy currents of water to reach their hotel. Amazingly, they discovered Laura and Will, but there was little time for celebration. They were back at the hotel just minutes before the second wave hit. As they searched for safety, Phillip tried to prepare his children for the horrifying possibility that their mother might be dead.

"You sort of thought of all the small things that a mother does for her children," Phillip says. "Things that a father could never get close to achieving. These thoughts went through my mind, thinking what a poor substitute I could be for my wife."

But Phillip was about to have "the most amazing moment that I think I ever experienced in my life." When they reached higher ground, they came across Nate Berkus, who said that he thought he knew Louise's location.

Now reunited with her family, Louise told the harrowing tale of how she managed to survive the wave. She climbed a tree where she was bitten by a snake, lay across an ant nest and was swarmed.