Warning: Some of the pages shown in this Tsunami section display some pictures that might shock the sensibility of certain people if not prepared.

You have probably heard lots if not too many stories about the December 2004 Tsunami in South East Asia has it has been widely covered by all Medias. However, having been deeply involved in the early stages of the post disaster efforts, I would like to share what happened to me just like many others who played an important role in the relief actions following the Tsunami of December 2004 on the west coast of Thailand. My life and the perception of certain things has been some what modified in the couple of months that followed the wave. Just like many other friends, colleagues, tourists and especially local people here in Thailand, everyone has done their best in less than ideal conditions.

These satelite shots show the west coast of Thailand with Phuket Island on the bottom left corner. The left picture has been taken on the 26th of December in the morning and the second in the afternoon of the same day. You can notice the color change of the water next to the west coast. This color change was due to all the wash out from the land once all the water went back to sea.

The initial shock of the disaster passed, everyone here employed themselves trying to help in every way they could. This is where many people discovered some strengths and weakness in themselves they would have never imagined. To illustrate this, I have an article written by a very special friend and colleague (Kylie Stevenson) a few weeks after the Tsunami. Read the article.

Since our house on Phuket Island is located in the hills, away from the sea, my first involvement on the early post Tsunami scene has been to give a place to stay to half of a family, separated when the wave had hit their hotel. They arrived with my wife who picked them up on the outskirt of Patong Beach where she was working in a dive shop. Then, as the mother of the two kids was thought to be still in their hotel with no means to contact anybody, it became obvious that it was necessary to go to Patong and have a look for her. Despite the police blocks everywhere on the roads leading to the coast, I finally managed to reach past them on a motorbike and cross the hills separating our house from the coast.

All my knowledge about Tsunamis was limited to what I vaguely remembered from high school quite some years ago (not much!). I really didn't know what to expect while driving up that hill towards Patong Beach... But seeing the mobilization of the police and the cars rushing back inland on my direction, I could feel something extremely severe had happened. It is only reaching the pass, when I got the first bird eye view on Patong and the sea that I felt the first adrenalin rush! The whole Patong bay was brown instead of its usual clear blue water. Then what I found on the bottom of the hill was absolutely unbelievable. I would have never suspected the water to have such a tremendous destruction power! It was completely impossible to pass on the beach road, even by bike... There were wrecked cars that had been floated away, shredded boats and mountains of all sorts of debris. The roads were covered by a good 15cm of sand and fish flapping around, caught by the rage of what had just happened.

Luckily, after trying to find my way through the debris, I managed to reach the pool area of the hotel which looked like a battle field up to the first floor. Despite the threat and the uncertainty of a second quake and wave hit, I found the Thai receptionists in shock but still on their post, trying to help the guests out as much as possible. There was no more running water nor telephone or electricity. This also meant no computer and no way to check anything about the person I was looking for. But since there were some concerns about a second wave hit, every minute spent next to the coast was a gamble. The last and best option was then to yell her name and hope for an answer... This is what I did and it has been a very special moment when a balcony door opened on the third floor following my call.

I then went up some bloody stairs full of bandages and people still in state of shock after what they had been through that morning. Reaching the room, we packed a bag with some basic gear and went back home as fast as possible where the rest of the family was waiting anxiously since there was no communication. All mobile phone were saturated and useless for the week that followed the wave.

But this was just the "happy" start of two long months that were going to change the life of many people.

Then started to raise an important need to take care of the people who had not been so lucky to necessitate any immediate rescue. This has been the biggest part of my involvement in the post Tsunami efforts. It started the very next morning as I could not stay home, knowing that there were many people still missing and rescue teams to join to give a hand wherever possible. On top of this, my knowledge of the Thai language could be a great help to facilitate communication between the Thai rescue teams and the survivors looking for missing people. This revealed to be very useful.