'Surviving the Boxing Day tsunami changed my life'

Michelle Mills-Porter will have just one Christmas decoration this year, as a sign of respect and to mark 20 years since she survived the worst natural disaster of the century.

She was on a diving holiday with her partner in the Sri Lankan coastal town of Hikkaduwa on Boxing Day 2004 when the country was devastated by a huge tsunami.

Ms Mills-Porter, from Cofton Hackett, Worcestershire, described there being "nothing but water to be seen everywhere."

"I didn't know whether this was a local phenomenon," she said, "or whether an atomic bomb had gone off."

"We just had no idea."

More than 225,000 people died in 14 countries - including 35,000 in Sri Lanka.

"The whole world had turned upside-down," said Ms Mills-Porter.

"Boats were crashing into the hotel, the water was taking the buildings down as if they were made of sand.

"The water was 30ft high, taking the roof of the dive centre off with it, and there was nothing but water to be seen everywhere."

Then a marketing executive, the entire course of Ms Mills-Porter's life was changed by the experience.

"I no longer had any love for that at all," she explained.

She now works as a behaviour expert.

"It was the most horrifying time of my life, but it was the most enlightening as well. Because what you learn about humanity in adversity is incredible," she said.

"When you see somebody… reach out and grab a child that is being swept away, and hand that child back to its mother, it's just incredible."

The year after the tsunami, Ms Mills-Porter and her partner, Stuart, returned to Hikkaduwa and married on the beach.

The couple, along with other members of their diving club in Bromsgrove, also raised £100,000 in aid for the village.

Two decades later, she said she still had mixed feelings about the anniversary.

"There were thousands of people in the village of Hikkaduwa that lost their lives.

"And every year you feel that you need to be respectful and grateful for making it through.

"We have one solitary Christmas decoration this year – one star in my front bedroom, and that's it.

"It's a mark of respect and remembrance."

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