‘My brother was swept away by tsunami 20 years ago’

Luke said the chilling realisation that a tsunami had struck the island was “abrupt and instant”, like someone had switched the TV channel “from a horror film to National Geographic”.

“At that point it changed. We could see what was coming towards us, a boiling mass of water,” he said.

“It had already destroyed so many things by the time it got to us it was like a moving landfill, two metres deep and flowing very fast.

“The last thing I remember saying is we needed to be higher, to get off the ground.”

The surging water began rising around them, carrying splintered palm trees, telephone poles, concrete blocks, cars, fridges, debris and sewage.