Warwickshire tourist evacuated in Thailand

Britons holidaying in south east Asia were told today to follow local advice after a tsunami watch was issued for countries across the Indian Ocean. 


The warning, which has now been lifted, affected thousands of UK travellers enjoying Easter breaks abroad, and came after an 8.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the western coast of Northern Sumatra in Indonesia.

It was an earthquake off Sumatra that led to the devastating Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 which claimed 230,000 lives.


Today's tsunami watch took in a huge area including South Africa and Australia as well as Thailand, the Maldives, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Burma.

 

Heart's been speaking to tourist Maggie Wooley from Henley in Arden in Warwickshire who says she was among thousands evacuated to higher ground in Phuket in Thailand earlier. 

 

She says shops were shut and the roads were gridlocked but they were given updates from the Thai Government every fifteen minutes so she knew when it was okay to go back to the hotel.