Well that's one point of view Rainboe. However, I think most people wanted to get back to their jobs (if they still had them), and getting out of Thailand by any other means wasn't easy. Paradise it may be when everything's running OK, but like all such places, the system breaks down completely when things go wrong.
Whilst I would agree that many Brits just sat there and waited for something to happen, many did try to get out, by simply couldn't because all the 'relief' flights were full of the nationals who had been rescued.
Take a bus in Thailand? Are you serious? They can't operate aircraft safely, let alone a bus fleet!