The tidal waves from the massive undersea earthquake smashed many tourist heavens in the Southeast Asian nations. A British tourist at White Sand Beach resort in India died from a heart attack, possibly after seeing the huge wave heading toward him. To those who luckily survived from the tsunami, it is still a nightmare.

High waves inundated the Maldives, forcing the island's only international airport to close on Sunday. However, some tourists were checking-in for a flight at the airport when the flooding began. One woman, waiting at the hospital with her husband, described the chaotic scene inside the airport terminal.

A victim said: "We didn't realize. We just saw a water plane coming up and towards the building and people outside screaming and then we saw the water come in the building very fast, the water came up to that high, maybe, (gestures to her waist) and we couldn't get out of there. Fortunately, we were together, my husband and me, and then the strength of the water crashed the window to the backside of the (airport) terminal and we got out that way."

The same disaster happened in Thailand as well.

Stefan Amling, German tourist leaving Phuket, Thailand, said: "Streets are broken, the shops and the beaches, everything is destroyed. We were in Kata Noi, here in Phuket, and it's terrible."

Tourists hunkered down in shelters overnight, their hotels and suitcases left behind as they fled for higher ground.

It was too early to estimate the economic impact on these Southeast Asian nations, but the destruction was definitely to devastate the tourist trade.