"We just got back from a very disturbing day. We went up through Khao Lak to Takua Pa, a small Thai town that we heard suffered a lot of damage. Well, the town itself wasn’t too badly damaged. So we went to the municipal building. There were helicopters, army trucks, earth-moving equipment and lots of people. The people were there under big tarps. They are the ones who now have no home to go back to. I asked my Thai wife to go see which villages these folks were from. I was particularly interested in a village called Ban Nam Kim. Ironically, this translated to “Salt Water Village”. We were directed toward a family consisting of a brother and two sisters. The brother was deaf. They were still in a daze. They introduced us to a couple of gentlemen from their village. They asked if we wanted to visit what’s left and we said yes. Police were directing traffic and keeping sightseers out. We were welcomed in as we had two trucks with supplies to donate. I can’t begin to describe what we saw. The degree of destruction was more than I could ever conceive. Huge fishing boats were a kilometre from the shore, upside-down on houses. Some houses suffered minor damage, while others were demolished. Some of the home owners were cleaned up in or around their houses. We stopped at each one that we saw and offered them drinks, gas stoves, woks, dishes and cutlery, etc. If they had infants, and many of them did, we gave them powdered milks and bottles. There were plenty of workers helping to clear the debris. Everyone was very receptive to our meager donations. Now that we’ve seen the degree of destruction, we can better gauge what they really need".
Katakayaking (January '05) Thorn Tree Post - A Day in Hell
