The tsunami that devastated coastal areas of India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka almost stole something precious to Virginia Tech student Amit Eklavya: his sister.

A change of plans may have saved her life.

Eklavya's sister, Abarna, a law student in Bangalore, was vacationing in the seaside community of Chennai when it was struck by the tsunami. Chennai is one of the largest cities in southern India on the Bay of Bengal. Abarna was staying with a friend's family.

Eklavya recalled his sister's story this way:

At about 9 a.m. on Dec. 26, Abarna, a friend and her friend's mother drove to the beach. It was Abarna's last day of vacation. The three women looked out over the sandy landscape, where hundreds of children played cricket and soccer on this Sunday morning. The women contemplated relaxing in the peaceful setting. But Abarna's friend's mother suggested sight-seeing first. Everyone agreed that that was a good idea.

The women had parked near the beach, so they headed by car to a historical court building in Chennai and on to a fort. Before entering the fort, they began hearing commotion outside. It sounded from a distance like people rushing around and screaming.

Ten minutes after they entered the structures, they began to hear sirens. The ocean wasn't visible from the fort, but police officers were cordoning off streets leading to the water and telling people to go home. When the women turned on the television, they saw breaking news about a huge earthquake that had struck India and resulted in a giant wave that had swept away about 600 people - 400 of them children - in the area of shoreline where the women had just been. CNN showed footage of the parking lot where they had parked their car, and one car was piled on another. Abarna recognized the vehicles as having been just a few spaces from their car.

"They called my parents straightaway," Eklavya said. "I found out later that evening."

Eklavya's parents live in Ranchi, an inland city on the eastern side of India. They were not affected by the tsunami.

At the time, Eklavya, a graduate student at Tech, was still in Blacksburg, where he stayed over his winter break. He was filled with fear, knowing his sister was in Chennai. The phone rang that night. It was his parents, telling him his sister was OK.

Eklavya spoke to her by phone. She said the emergency response in the metropolitan city of Chennai was quick, and people were quickly rushed to the hospital but that "a sense of grief was around in the air."

"She's just like everyone, they are just happy to just be alive," Eklavya said. "They are just trying to do things" to help those who have suffered a tragedy. "But you can only do so much for people who have lost someone."

Eklavya missed being near his family and India in recent weeks.

"When a tragedy of this magnitude occurs, you want to be close to people," he said. "Obviously, being here, you don't have the resources. ... I wish I could have done more to alleviate the suffering of people who have been affected."

But mainly he feels an overwhelming sense of gratitude: "I'm just happy my sister is alive, my family is safe." "I wish I could have done more to alleviate the suffering of people who have been affected."