Californication meets Tranpacificism

Hello all,

We arrived in Phuket last night during a torrental thunderstorm and
made our way to ALex and Sonja’s yacht where we spent the night.
The first day of the new year we spent scouting the Khao Lak area
trying to determine how our relief money could best be distributed
and whether we could be of any use in the relief effort. The scene
had changed little from when I had departed the area a week prior.
Remains of completely destroyed buildings littered the entire area.
The devastation is so large and widespread it seems that the relief
workers barely know where to start. Some heavy machinery has
moved in slowly picking through the rubble searching for bodies
trapped under piles of concrete and other debri. We saw about 20
large tractors, but the area is so large they are barely making a dent
in the wreckage.

Where there used to be hundreds of bungalows, restaurants,
markets, internet cafes, dive shops, massage places, there is now
only complete and total destruction. The original roads through the
area (other than the main road) were wiped out but small tracks
through the rubble have been cleared by tractors. Using my GPS
waypoint to navigate back to where my hotel had been, we made our
way down one of these tracks to the exact spot where my bungalow
had previously stood. I expected that I would at least recognize the
area by the large trees that had once stood there, but it took me
several minutes to realize that I actually was standing in the area
where my bungalow had been. The trees were mostly pushed over by
the massive wave of destruction. All of the bungalows were gone.
The only building that was still standing was a small 2 story cement
building which was adjacent to my bungalow. My bungalow looked
like it had collapsed in on itself. I searched for any recognizable
items that I had stored in the building, but it was impossible to find
anything. The few reminders that these destroyed buildings had
been the homes to hundreds of tourists were only some clothing
strewn about in the branches of the still standing palm trees and
some empty suitcases here and there. Otherwise everwhere else
was just piles and piles of broken cement, pipes, roofing materials,
cracked toilets. I thought I would at least find some hints of what had
previously been on that spot, but in reality it was almost impossible.

The foundation of what had once been a very popular restaurant was
one of the only other visible landmarks. Behind my bungalow were
being built many new cement bungalows. I thought that those might
have survived, but because they faced the sea, they were hit
broadside by the tsunami and completely washed away. A few
hundred feet up from my bungalow there once was a small creek
about 20 feet wide. It is now replaced by a huge bay about a quarter
mile wide. The entire landscaped has been remolded by the wave.
While walking around the bungalows I had previously stayed at, Mai’s
Quiet Zone, we met two men who had just flown in from Sweden to
look for their missing friends. They were attempting to find the
location of where their friends had been staying. The only concrete
reference point available was that i was sure that were we were
standing was formerly Mai’s Quiet Zone. Otherwise there was
absolutely nothing to indicate where any of the other lodges started
and stopped.

…
|Rest of Entry in Extended area.. Hit the link for more..|

I had expected to see some of Mai’s Quiet Zone’s management
looking around, but there was absolutely no one around when we
were there other than the two Swedish men. The search and rescue
people were still a long way away. We did not see any bodies on top
of the rubble, but nothing had been moved or cleared so there
certainly will be more bodies found buried under the rubble on which
we had been walking. I just kept thinking of the English family I had
met the day before the tsunami. The area where my bungalow was
located was flat for several kilometers inland. There was no escape
by running up a nearby hill. The best chance of survival would
probably have been to hang onto a palm tree but that would have
been nearly impossible considering all the wreckage that would have
been pushed along with the wave. After seeing such little
possibilities for escape in the Mai Quiet Zone area, I realize just how
lucky I am to have survived. I think back about all the small
decisions I made, renting a motorbike, not sleeping in, being anxious
to explore the area, and if anyone of those decisions had been
different the possibility is extremely high that I too would have been
one of the many foreigners killed in this tragedy. Seeing the area
again I could tell the options for escape were extremely limited.
Traveling with us in our rented Suzuki 4×4 jeep was another
American, Jenny, from San Diego, who was working with a relief
organization. Her purpose was to scout the area for the relief agency
and determine what supplies, if any, were needed. We left what
remained of Mai’s Quiet Zone and drove back up to the main road
and stopped at what appeared to be a command center and make
shift camp. Supplies seemed to be plentiful. Long conveys of trucks
were arriving all the time bringing with them boxes of everything
imaginable. Local Thai’s were picking through mounds of donated
clothes. Tables were set up distributing free food and water. We met
with British volunteer, John, who was helping with cataloging all the
documents retrieved off the dead bodies. His job was to sort the
credit cards, passports, driver’s licenses, and any other
documentation found on the bodies. There were a few other
volunteers doing similar jobs. One of the more gruesome jobs was
cataloging photographs of the corpses for posting on the internet for
possible identification. We had hoped to be of some use as medical
volunteers, but all of the injured had already been transported out of
the area. The remaining tasks were to continue searching for bodies
and then to clear all the rubble.

Across the street from the makeshift command center was where that day’s
recovered bodies were being stored. We found out that just that day over
200 bodies had been recovered. Lined up in bodies bags under a large tent
and surrounded by low white plastic fencing were several hundred bodies
wrapped in body bags. I saw all sizes of bodies, including what were
unmistakably the small bodies of children who were unable to escape the
massive wave. The smell was overwhelming from the decaying bodies. Along
side all the bodies were stacks and stacks of coffins. Also around were
smoldering fires. Rescue workers were burning gloves and clothing and any
other items that might have been contaminated by the decay.
It was overwhelming standing in the middle of so much destruction, then
seeing all these bodies wrapped up, along with the drifting smoke from the
burning rubbish. To top all this off, was a grey 70 foot military boat with
a gun turret mounted on the front deck washed up in the bushes behind the
center. It looked almost comical seeing the boat laying on its side far
from the sea. The wave had pushed the boat had least half a mile inland.
Having encountered numerous media personnel at the other locations we had
visited (Bangkok, Krabi), I was surprised at see almost no TV cameras or
journalists. This certainly is the hardest hit area of Thailand and the
media seems to have hardly even covered it. There were helicopters flying
overhead almost constantly, but the majority appeared to be military and
relief aircraft.

We next decided to drive 30 km north to the Tauku Pa hospital which is where
most of the injured had been initially taken. Jenny wanted to find out if
they needed any more supplies or doctors. By this time, about 2p, the main
road was at a dead stop with gridlock traffic. Mostly the traffic was
relief supplies and pickup trucks full of people and items that people were
attempting to salvage. Traffic was also stopping to look at what is now a
lake in what was once a low meadow. In the lake were zodiac type inflatable
boats and rescue divers searching for submerged bodies. Traffic picked up a
bit once we were past the wreckage. During the next 30 km at least 20 km of
the drive we drove past destroyed buildings and more wreckage.
As we neared Tauku Pa we saw a temple which appeared to be some
sort of rescue area. We parked on the side of the road and walked
through the gate into the temple complex. I thought we had seen the
worst there was to see, but the worst we saw was to come at this
temple. Immediately we were hit by the overpowering stench of
decaying human bodies. The small here was 100 times anything we
had smelled back in the ruins. We were soon provided with face
masks which helped to cut the smell, but I still had to cover my face
and nose with my hand. I almost threw up many times from the awful
smell. At first I could not tell where the smell was coming from. I saw
hundreds of coffins piled up but there were no bodies in them. I saw
large refrigerated container cases but the smell was not coming from
that. But behind the cases was the real horror. Spread on the
ground were hundreds, if not a thousand bodies. The entire area was
covered body to body with those that had perished in the tsunami.
Most of the bodies were naked with the arms spread above the heads and
the legs also spread out. All the bodies were extremely bloated, some
to the point that they had already burst. Eyes were popped out of eye
sockets, faces looked like balloons that had been blown up too tights.
Reproductive organs looked like enormous sacks. We did not linger
long in this area as it was way too overwhelming. I could not look at
the bodies specifically but tried to just see everything in quick
glances. In the middle of all this were computer stations where
identification work was progressing. the bodies were being
photographed and catalogued.

We next stopped at the Tauku Pa hospital. We found out that many doctors
had flown down from Bangkok and there was a Japanese medical team at that
hospital. It appeared that all the foreigners had been evacuated already.
The hospital contained very few injured people. It now was serving mostly
as an information center and meeting area. Unfortunately there was not much
for us to do at that hospital. It seems that this is the case with all the
hospitals in the area. They have plenty of medical supplies and help and
most of the injured have left. The work that remains really is just body
recovery, then clearing the wreckage, and then possible rebuilding.

Jenny was determined to stay in Khao Lak and volunteer with John the British
document cataloger. Instead of taking the traffic clogged beach road back
we took an inland route and dropped her off near Khao Lak. I certainly was
not up for staying around in that utter destruction and we had already
arranged to meet friends with a boat in Phuket. We were also interested in
seeing the amount of destruction there and if there was anything we could do
in Phuket. We made our way to Alex and Sonja’s yacht and spent a peaceful
night on board at Yacht Haven harbor in north Phuket.

This morning we set out with Alex, Sonja, and their two children to have a
look around Phuket island. I had expected to see the same sort of
destruction that I saw in Khao Lak but I was pleasantly surprised to see
very little destruction. At Patong Beach, which was the worst hit, all the
rubbish had already been cleared to a central area where bulldozers were
pushing it all into piles. The beaches were very clean since all the ruble
had already been removed. I was impressed by seeing the clean, wide, white
sandy beaches. Having never been here before I did not know that these
beaches were once packed full of bars, restaurants, massage places, and
beach chairs for hire. Now they were completely clean with just a fun sun
bathers out. It was a bit incongruous seeing the sun bathers on one side of
the road, and then across the street seeing all the piles of debris that had
been collected. We then continued on to Karon beach and the situation there
was similar but on a smaller scale. Other than the few piles of debris that
have been collected Phuket is mostly normal. Almost all the tourist places
have survived without a scratch. The infrastructure is intact with
electricity, water, phones, all working fine. We spoke with a local bar
owner, and Australian, and he said that all the charter flights have left
with thousands of tourists despite such little destruction here. Phuket
certainly is still capable of handling a big tourism industry as almost
everything is standing the same as it was prior to the tsunami. The real
attention should have been on Khao Lak area, but from watching CNN everyone
would think that Phuket was totally wiped out. This is hardly the case.
Hopefully word will get out and tourists will return to this area.

At one beach we met a Belgian couple who are friends of Alex and Sonja’s who
also are traveling around the world. One of the friends, Thomas Sifner, is
a major media personality in Belgium and he has already raised 5.5 million
baht through his television program. He donated 500,000B of it to help
rebuild a restaurant in the area that was completely devastated. Much of
the rest he hopes to donate to other small businesses in the area that were
destroyed.

Tomorrow we leave Phuket and head back to Krabi. We still have the relief
money we brought with us as it has been difficult to determine how to best
spend it. We will go to Ao Nang beach which is where Solomon was when this
disaster happened. He met some local families when he was there so
hopefully we can help some of them. I will write a further update when we
get back to that area.

John

PS: below is a very sad email informing us that the body of the girlfriend
of the Austrian patient we were caring for in BKK has been found. Roman was
lying next to his girlfriend on the beach at Phi Phi when the tsunami hit.
He was swept up under a collapsed bungalow where he was finally rescued some
12 hours later. He was found within 7 hours, but it took 5 more hours to
remove the rubble.

>Dear Solomon,
>
>
>
>Tragic news this morning – Saturday 1st.Jan. A priest from the Austrian
>Consul visited Roman at the Hospital to tell him that Sandra’s body had been
>identified.
>
>
>
>Roman and his parents are grief stricken. I believe they still plan to
>return to Austria tonight on an Air Ambulance that should arrive early
>Sunday morning back in Austria.
>
>
>
>Much sadness for many people. Roman with his strength and support will get
>through this tragedy. I wish I had something to say that would mean
>something but words escape me.
>
>
>
>My thoughts are with Roman, Sandra and their family
>
>
>
>Give me a call when you are back in Bangkok
>
>
>
>Best Rgds
>
>Brinley

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...