Fate interfered with the life of 57-year-old Lisala Polau, a resident of the island of Ata in Tonga, when his brother warned him in the morning of a tsunami that was about to hit the place.
He ran and climbed a tree near the area and got off after a few minutes.
While he believes the danger has passed, the second wave six feet high has arrived - and Paula has been swept away.
"It was dark and we could not see each other. Very quickly I could not hear my niece's cries anymore, but I could hear my son calling to me," recalls Polau, a father of four, in an interview with a local island station as he says he refrained from calling them Back for fear of endangering their lives.
Lizala Polau, Photo: Reuters
"I left everything and tried to run away, but keep in mind that I am disabled. I can not walk properly, both my legs do not work properly and when I can, I believe a baby can walk faster than me," he described his distress.
A police rescue boat passed near Polau while floating on the water, he waved at her but she missed him.
"So I just watched and was struck by the big waves that kept coming," he continued.
"I thought that if I could hold on to a tree or anything else, and something happened and I lost my life, the searchers might find it and my family could see my body."
The instinct for survival and thinking about his family made Paula stay alive and not give up.
So he arrived on Sunday around nine in the evening to Tongatpo Island, Tonga's main island, after dozens of hours of swimming, where he met a man who helped him reconnect with his relatives.
So far three people have died as a result of the disaster which caused extensive environmental damage, the local government confirmed as rescue efforts continue.
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