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Broken
Bodies, Broken Hearts, Broken Spirits and Broken Dreams
Asia:
Trip Report 1
The smell of death that fills the air along the coast of Thailand
represents much more than the loss of so many people. It also represents
the mourning, the pain and the fear of those that survived and uncertainty
ahead
We have just returned to our hotel/base camp from Pang Nga and Khao
Lak, Thailand. Fortunately we slept on the plane on the way over from
the U.S.. There has been very little sleep since.
The number one problem in the disaster areas is the handling and disposal
of the decaying bodies. Rescue workers throughout the disaster zones
are searching for corpses. Once found the bodies are collected, wrapped
in plastic, placed into a small pick-up truck, then loaded into a
large Bob-tail truck, and brought to community Buddhist temple compounds.
These Bob-tail trucks can be seen all along the coast. We most have
passed fifteen in two hours.
At the open air morgue at the temple in Pang Nga we worked with the
chief corner and asked about the immediate needs. He asked for more
rubber boots for his staff and all volunteers who work through the
rows and rows and rows of dead people. We are providing them. He also
asked for Halls mentholated cough drops. The stench is horrid. An
old firefighter's trick (Gary was a Fire Fighter) is to rub Vicks
in your mustache. The menthol covers the smell to a degree. One of
us (Andrea) does not have a mustache and Andrea's nose is still burning
from the cream she stuffed in her nostrils. The disaster workers use
Halls mentholated drops in their mouth, along with face masks. We
purchased thousands of drops from a local store and delivered them
within the hour.
The smell of death is one that you never forget. The cities reek of
it. Even if we could, we would not describe to you the stench of the
dead. There is foulness in the air throughout the entire coast. It
is so devastating it hardly seems real.
The entire coast is covered with debris; underneath the debris are
yet more bodies. Thousands of people have lost everything. Where homes
were destroyed and swept away people sit and just stare at the emptiness.
There are many, many orphans. These children lost their parents, aunts,
grandparents everyone. And there are too many families that have lost
all of their children.
Small and large businesses were destroyed. The workers had so little
to begin with now they have nothing. Four days after the disaster
we saw several small stores that had been torn to shreds. The front
of the stores just ripped right off. There is still product in the
stores..... There is no looting. These people are a people of respect
and peace.
The Thai people, even those who do not know the victims personally,
are mourning the loss as if it was their own family. Families in the
area are opening their homes to the hundreds of homeless. They are
now living in crowded spaces of at least five per room in one, two
and three room houses. They are asking for general household goods.
The people here have come together in this disaster situation much
like we Americans did in the San Diego fires, Florida hurricanes and
9/11, strangers helping strangers.
Off of the coast of Thailand there were islands swept completely clean.
Within just minutes entire peoples and their cultures erased.
All of our hearts go out to those who are gone. Our thoughts, prayers
and help are now for the survivors. The surviving victims now face
severe disease and hunger, cholera, especially, will be here soon.
We rescue and relief workers are at risk of being quarantined. The
contamination is horrible. The sewage systems are destroyed. The electrical
lines are down. The clean up immense.
Everything, every item that meant anything to these people is gone:
buried or swept away. Family, sisters, grandparents. So many people
are still missing. One of our translators, a young girl by the name
of Walaipurn, has been searching for her Aunt Loon. As of today still
no word of her being located. Please remember the families of the
missing in your prayers.
The weather here is tropical and the bodies are bloating and are unidentifiable.
The bodies that are assumed to be foreigners/tourist are being kept
on ice in portable shipping containers for eventual transport. The
thousands of unclaimed bodies of locals are being buried in mass graves
on temple grounds. In the temple compounds there are stacks of donated
automobile tires. These tires are used as fire fuel for burning of
the bodies. Before burial and/or cremation of the unidentified bodies
DNA samples are being taken.
The Thai government is great; organizing camps, missing persons list,
distributing relief supplies in an orderly manner. In the communities
we are helping the roads are usable and relief supplies are getting
in ok. The Thai government is most appreciative and gives us full
assistance and support in our efforts to serve.
On Tuesday, after Wendell joins us, we plan to advance to Sri Lanka.
Keep you posted,
Gary & Andrea
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