U students and community members gathered in Kingsbury Hall Tuesday to bid a tearful but joyous farewell to 15-year-old Kali Breisch, a victim of the tsunami that hit Thailand on Dec. 26.
During the memorial service Jai Breisch, Kali's older brother, described how his sister was swept away by the 40-foot, 340-miles-per-hour wave that struck their bungalow at the Emerald Beach Resort in Khao Lak, Thailand.
"We looked out the window at what looked like a hurricane with excitement and terror," he said. "Then we saw the wave."
Jai Breisch said he remembered opening the back door of the bungalow and telling his sister 'we have to get out' before being swept out by the rising tide.
"That was the last time I saw her," he said.
Jai said he was tossed and turned for several minutes before coming to a stop.
"It was like being in a washing machine," he said. "It was an amazing force of nature that I could not fight."
When he reached dry land, Jai Breisch walked up a small path until he saw a group of Thai women who screamed at the sight of his wounds.
"Blood and debris covered my body," he said.
Soon after the women screamed a man rushed Jai Breisch to a care center where he passed 'body after body.'
"I knew my whole family was dead," he said.
What Jai Breisch did not know was that his father, stepmother and sister were not hurt in the tsunami that demolished their beach bungalow.
After spotting Jai Breisch's name on a hospital list of survivors, Kali's father Stuart Breisch said they hoped to find Kali alive as well.
"We had no news of what happened to my little sister," Jai Breisch said.
One afternoon while searching through the debris and corpses left by the tsunami, Kali's older sister found Kali's picture among bodies recovered from the disaster.
Dr. Sally Nelson, who recently married Stuart Breisch, read to those in attendance a creative writing peace Kali wrote just weeks before the tsunami about losing her biological mother to cancer. The piece was titled, "A Tsunami of Tears."
"A tsunami of tears drenched my night gown," Nelson read. "I could taste the salt running down my face."
Despite the general mood of the crowd, Stuart Breisch said that, though it was unexpected, people should not be sad; rather they should look at the natural disaster as a way to help others.
"I am not going to call it a tragedy," he said. "It was an experience that has brought many people together."
Stuart Breisch said the family has set up the For Kali fund to help victims of the tsunami.
"One hundred percent of all donations will go directly to the tsunami relief effort," Reverend George Garff said. "So please be generous."
sliston@chronicle.utah.edu
