Among those welcomed back was Farnborough’s MP Gerald Howarth’s daughter Emily, 28, and new husband James Cartlidge, 30. The couple had been on their honeymoon when the tsunami struck Sri Lanka.

Mr Cartlidge said: “We were having breakfast next to the river alongside our hotel when people started saying come and have a look at this.

“It looked as though the river had just burst its banks but then we looked out to sea and where there was usually a beach, there was sea.

“We realised it was coming towards us and we all started to go to the reception area which was higher up.

“Even then we thought it was something to do with the poya, the full moon, and assumed it was just a stronger tide. We were talking to the man who looked after the rooms about our plans for the rest of the day when the wave hit. We had a first-floor room but we went to the reception again because it was higher and safer.

“Then another wave came and hit with tremendous force. The lower floor was washed out. Everyone had gathered in the reception area and another wave, which was even stronger, came and we all ran up another floor.”

Mr Cartlidge said the hotel garden was replaced by turbulent, frothing, black water. Hotels with weaker structures were swept away.

When it subsided, people learned about the earthquake after calls to their mobile phones from people at home. Mr Cartlidge was able to contact his family to say they were safe.

Mr Cartlidge said: “The staff at our hotel were amazing. They carried on working and making sure we were all right, making lunch and dinner — even a full English breakfast the next day. And all these people would have had family they were concerned about.

“We have spoken to others who said they owed their lives to their travel guides. A couple of girls said their guide drove through the sea to safety, took them to his home and gave up his bed for them.”

Margaret Hancock of The Oaks, Yateley, faced an anxious wait before hearing her daughter, Louise, and husband, Dan Thompson, on honeymoon in the Maldives, were safe. The island of Kuredu escaped the worst of the tsunami, but it took Mrs Hancock all of Boxing Day to get in contact with Louise who was completely unaware of the scale of damage elsewhere.

Mrs Hancock said: “We first heard about it at 7am and we had an e-mail from the hotel in the evening, and then finally we talked to her at about 9pm.

“It was horrible. She had no idea of the devastation and had been out sunbathing. The island they were on was the furthest north of the tourist islands. She said they’d been warned not to go in the sea, and that the water came up high, but she just thought that is what happened as she’s never been before.

“They are coming home tonight (Wednesday) and I think they’ll realise what has happened when they speak to people who have been in other places.

“Louise was quite devastated when we told her about the agony we had been going through.”

Michael Ellis, his wife and three daughters of White Lane in Ash Green, were on holiday in Thailand when a 30ft-high tidal wave travelling at more than 500mph crashed on to the beach.

Mr Ellis, 49, and two of his daughters Carmen, 23, and Rosie, 19, were being treated at Patong Hospital in Phuket.

A neighbour said: “We haven’t heard from them since they left but we know from various reports that some of them are alive. It’s just awful what’s happened out there.”

Mr Howarth said his daughter and son-in-law were coming to terms with how lucky they were. He added: “If anybody has got a problem or experience which they want to inform me about I hope they will not hesitate to do so.

“I think this is the time for a really generous response from the major economies of the world to what is an international disaster of really quite epic proportions.

“A lot of people go on holiday in those parts of the world and their economy, which is wholly reliant on those people, has been wiped out.”

Prayers have been said and fundraising started for those affected.

Luthful Karim, chief trustee of the MA Al Kharafi Centre in Camberley, said: “We have already offered prayers for the victims and we are offering continuous prayers five times daily.

It’s a calamity that’s beyond comprehension.”

Mr Karim wants to organise a fundraising effort with all donations sent to an international aid organisation. He is waiting for permission from Camberley’s Main Square for the collection to go ahead.

Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Surrey Heath Michael Gove said: “I think the scale of this tragedy is so huge that it really does hold our attention and imagination.”