GEORGE TOWN: 18 years to the day, Malaysia was hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which claimed the lives of 67 people and left some 300 injured.
Yet, for many people who were directly or indirectly affected, the killer 'Boxing Day Tsunami' felt like it was only yesterday.
One such person is Ng In Heang, 51, who is attached to the Civil Defence Force (APM) Penang and based in the northeast district here.
Ng said on the day the tragedy struck, he was on morning duty. He said he felt rumblings and tremors around 9am but thought little of it.
Ng was unaware that it was caused by a 9.3-magnitude earthquake off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia, which was about to have a significant impact on Penang.
He said a little after noon, they received a call to attend to an accident in Teluk Bahang. Four of them, including the ambulance driver, rushed to the scene. At that time, he was a sergeant attached with the rescue team.
En route to Teluk Bahang, they saw two white lines or streams of bubbles approaching the famed Batu Ferringhi beach. The phenomenon triggered a discussion among the group but they soon forgot about it to focus on the accident.
The team, after clearing the accident scene and sending the victim to the Penang Hospital, were returning to base when they were stopped by several motorcyclists at Jalan Teluk Bahang.
"They told us there were many injured people along the main road and that they had been hit by rocks when several rounds of giant waves came crashing in.
"We immediately rushed there. True enough, we saw many people injured and bloodied. We tended to them, gave them first aid and sent them to the hospital," he said.
As it turned out, Ng's team was the first emergency services crew at the scene.
When they reached the site of the current Batu Ferringhi police station along Jalan Batu Ferringhi, a woman stopped and begged them to take her to the hospital.
"She was cradling her son, aged between five and six, who was not breathing. I immediately administered CPR on the child and within minutes he responded and came back to life.
"By then, the ambulance was very packed and there was only standing room for everyone. I told the ambulance driver to press ahead to the hospital.
"It broke my heart to see so many injured people along the way, yet we were unable to help," he recalled.
However, he said they had to stop in Tanjung Tokong when a woman, holding a little girl no more than three, flagged down the ambulance.
"We picked them up. I administered CPR on the girl but there was no response. I never knew if she survived as she was handed over to the hospital staff once we arrived," he said.
Ng said he and his crew made about three round trips, ferrying victims to the hospital. He said it was akin to a war zone with injured people everywhere, some crying while others scrambling for help.
"On the second trip, the police as well as the Fire and Rescue Department had already arrived.
"The thing is, we didn't even know it was a tsunami. We only knew of it later that night when it was reported on the news," he said.
Ng said each Christmas, he would be reminded of the incident.
"The scenes of that day are seared into my mind and will always stay with me," he said.
On Dec 26, 2004, a little after 1pm, the first series of waves of a tsunami swept into Malaysian waters through the northern entrance of the Straits of Malacca, some three hours after a massive undersea earthquake struck off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia.
Although tremors from Indonesian earthquakes were nothing new, it was the first time that Malaysia was hit by a tsunami.
Eyewitnesses had reported that at least three waves hit Penang, with the second and third waves being much stronger and heavily laden with mud.
The worst-hit areas were fishing villages in the coastal areas of Balik Pulau and Batu Ferringhi.
The tsunami, one of the deadliest natural disasters to strike the region, claimed more than 200,000 lives in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka.
Many of those killed were tourists enjoying their Christmas holiday in hot spots like Phuket, Thailand. Indonesia was the hardest hit, with more than 130,000 people dead.
Sixty-seven people died nationwide due to the natural disaster — 52 in Penang, Kedah (12), Perak (two) and Selangor (one) — while some 300 people were injured. At least six people were unaccounted for.