SISTERS Liz and Katy Wood still can't understand how they escaped unhurt from the tsunami which hit their beachside hotel in Sri Lanka.

The pair, whose parents Peter and Joy live in Nackington Road, Canterbury, clung to each other crying as the third wave pounded their holiday paradise.

"We thought we were going to die," said Liz. "We were trapped by the water and said our goodbyes to each other."

Miraculously Liz, 31, and Katy, 27, survived the onslaught of the wave, whose height reached level with their third floor hotel room.

"The wave subsided and the hotel started shaking because the first floor had gone in the impact of the first wave," said Katy. "We didn't know if there would be another one and didn't know what to do.

"We decided that we ought to get out of the hotel because of the subsidence and waded through waist high water and sewage to the main road where we waited.

"There were reports of more waves coming so we jumped into a mechanised rickshaw and grabbed two other women and went up into the hills to a temple.

"We stayed with the monks and they gave us tea until our hotel manager arrived and told us everyone was being evacuated to Colombo."

Liz and Katy were able to return to their hotel room 10 hours later to pick up their tickets, passports and some clothes, before being taken to a conference centre in Colombo to await a flight home.

"There were thousands of people there but we were very well looked after and had water and food," said Liz. "The hotel staff turned up and cooked us dinner."

After waiting unsuccessfully for a flight home the pair were taken to a nearby hotel for the night. "It was right by the sea, the last place we wanted to be," Liz said. "We took turns staying awake all night and just sat there watching the ocean. We were in constant fear of another wave."

Liz and Katy got onto a flight and arrived home in Canterbury on Tuesday night. For their parents it had been the most awful wait.

Their mother Joy said: "The girls rang after the first wave hit the hotel and said they were okay. But we saw on the news that the area had been hit by a second and third wave which were even bigger than the first.

"We didn't know if they had survived those and we couldn't get through to them nor they to us. It was awful that Sunday, just waiting and not knowing if they had survived."

Katy and Liz left England on December 21 for their holiday in Beruwala and were due to return on January 1.

On the morning the tsunami struck they were still in bed. "We heard screaming outside the hotel and I got up and pulled back the curtains," said Katy. "I saw this wave coming in.

"We raced down the stairs and it didn't really seem that serious. In fact, it was quite exciting. Then the second wave hit us and it was bigger. We were told to go up to our rooms."

Their room had an ocean view. Liz said: "I am a science teacher and last year I taught my pupils about tsunamis. When I saw that third wave coming I knew what it was and my concern changed to fear."

The wave was higher than the palm trees outside their hotel and as high as their room. They ran downstairs again and became trapped, convinced at that point that they were going to die.

"The water was moving so quickly," said Katy. "I wanted someone to take charge and tell us what to do but no one could because everyone was panicking. I think we made the right decision to get out of the hotel and go up to the temple. We were very lucky to escape alive and with no injuries."

Holiday-makers in their hotel were killed and swept away and 57 tourists in the hotel next door were killed.

Liz and Katy were educated at Canterbury's Simon Langton School and are both teachers, Liz in London and Katy in Folkestone.

Liz is getting used to being around danger. She was teaching at the UN school in New York on September 11, 2001, not far from the twin towers, when they were destroyed and the day after she left Iceland in October after a holiday a volcano erupted.