Sharing My Volunteer Experience In Phuket

[Candyflip]

Sharing My Volunteer Experience In Phuket

Member Of Thaivisa.com

My name is Estrella , female 27 , Thai nationality. I would like to share my volunteering experience in Southern Thailand.

I was in Bangkok when it happened. After they announced on Television that they needed some translators to help coordinated with foreigner victims, I have sent my request by fax to Phuket air that myself who speak fluently Thai- English and Spanish and my dear friend , Daan from Holland who speaks many European languages would like to help out at the disaster area. They granted us tickets. Thank you Phuket Air.

We got to Phuket in the evening of 28 December. We were taken to tourist police to work at their local station. As it was quite late, there was not much going on., we helped out some phone calls, basically give them information where and what they need to do. We did not want to take the accommodation at Tourist Police office as it was not very convenient to get to town hall, so we stayed in Phuket town with our own budget.

December 29,2004 we went to town hall in the beginning, I have been told that they needed a lot of people to go to help in Kao lak , Pang nga, the major disaster area. We went their with journalist and another two guys who would help in the rescue team with the volunteer car which they come to stand by at town hall to take people away where they need to go. Everybody tried to help as much as they can in this situation, anyone who has car, they come to pick up people, victim, volunteer to take them away, many people supplied food, drinking water, etc.

So it took us about 2 hours to arrive in Kaolak station. It was devastating. Almost nothing has left. The tidal must have been very powerful here. It has taken the big army ship from the ocean to the land ( mile away), which tearing those houses aparted, hits cars and everything. Thousands of coconut trees fell down. It was really as devastated as one could never ever imagine.

At Kao lak station, I went with the international diving team to look for bodies. There were 5 scuba divers, about 6-7 helpers. They came from Phuket ,most of them are teachers at Dulwich international school in Phuket. Two of them had been diving in Ocean plaza in Phuket the day before in the underground supermarket. So I went along with their team as I could translate English to Thai when they worked with Thai rescue team to get the bodies out of water.

We arrived in Sofitel Magic Lagoon Hotel around 2 o’clock in the afternoon. This hotel could have been the most beautiful hotel I have seen in my life. It was like an empire. They had the biggest swimming pool in Asia, big ship in swimming pool as a bar but what I had seen now was the collapsed empire.

Everything on the first floor was all damaged, ruin, and broken. I could hardly imagine if one could survive if they had stayed on the first floor.

There were a few underground rooms that divers needed to sort out, we started with the small room next to the beach. This room is kinda technical room with chemical tangs, pumps and one technician. So our divers Peter and Hugo went in, after we have checked with engineer there what and where in everything stands in that room (for safety reason). They found one dead farangs body blocked the entrance. As we did not have a water pump with us, people needed to help us out by taking out water with big basket till we reached the level that our divers could go in. It took hour. In the mean time our team checked other spots.

Some spots are impossible to get in to as the chemical tanks had exploded. It was not safe to go in. the diver went in to another r big room but he could not found any bodies inside, as it was very dark and full of broken construction, at the end we left that big room and come back to work on small room.

At small room when the water was a little bit below. They went in and tried to take bodies out. As the bodies had been around in water for many days, They were double size. It was so hard to take them out. There was a shot that the diver told rescue team to help them put down the bodies and they could not communicate. As much as I did not want to see the bodies, I had to be there, translate it to them, seeing the dead bodies. Actually, I was ok at the point, did not have time to think about it but smell. The body we got was a foreign lady. It could have been taken by the tidal wave to stuck in there.

We finally took this body out but our diver could not go in anymore to search more as the water had reached to the same level , it would take them another hours to have it below again. So we checked more spots and clean the diving suits plus showers. On the way to our car, we had to walk by those dead bodies which the rescue team had got them from hotel rooms. Even though they were wrapped in white cloths, but it was horrifying to walk by. Unforgettable smell…

As much as I want to write all I had been doing for these 5 days. I now feel terrible to carry on. Maybe I will post later. One thing I have learned is that life is so short. One should make a good merit and be a good person, at the end of the day… we all will die...

All pictures copyright by Estrella

/added picture, and title

Edited January 2, 2005 by Darknight

[SunbeltAsia]

My hat is off to you. They say actions speak louder than words and your action shows you as a caring person. Appreciate your effort beyond words can say

Please take care of yourself.

Good luck to you and your fellow volunteers.

[SeaVisionBurma]

This is a deeply touching story and indicative of many difficult and agonizing situations various people have experienced in the aftermath of last week.

I would only hope that we can all take a little something from this tale with us.

SVB

[The_Moog]

Good work Estrella.

With no disrespect intended to our Thaivisa hosts, your story deserves to be in the international press.

[Darknight]

Good work Estrella.

With no disrespect intended to our Thaivisa hosts, your story deserves to be in the international press.

Mayby if she agrees to it you can see to it moog ?

there is more to the story but

She's currently oflline and sick, i'll ask her if i can contact her.

[tuky]

Candy, your my hero.

I would never have expected this from you when we met. You know what I mean. I had hoped so much that you were not still in the same situation that you were back then, obviously not, as you could not have dealt with this back then. I am so proud of your darl.

In my eyes and my heart your one of the heros of this disaster. I am so proud to have known you. Candygirl, I have lost some friends, and my wife has lost some family members here, on behalf of all looking on I want to tell you that your efforts are truly appreciated, your a hero to us Candy and we love you so much.

tukyleith

[kat]

Estrella:

Good work, and I must agree, your story should be in the international press.

[The_Moog]

I'm happy to send it to my Sub Editor in the US News Agency if she wants.

Estrella. PM me if you want it published

[george]

Please feel free to distribute, if they mention the source!

I'm happy to send it to my Sub Editor in the US News Agency if she wants.

Estrella. PM me if you want it published

[britmaveric]

Estrella- I'm proud of you!!! It takes a big heart to go out and volunteer your time when disaster hits. You have confirmed what I always thought - you are indeed an ANGEL!!!

[cdnvic]

Estrella, the first body I ever had to photgraph was a drowning victim and I thought it was difficult, but it pales in comparison to the level of horror you were in the middle of. Not to mention that you wrote about it with good composure, detached enough to present straight facts, yet still with compassion and humanity.

Outstanding work.

cv

[Candyflip]

The story continues ...

We had finished the work and left Sofitel about 6 pm, as soon as I got in to the car I could not speak a word. I was pretty much ok when I was doing such a job as I said before I did not have time to think about it. We picked up our friends, Daan and jaroen at the Kao lak info. station. They had been helping there while I was with the diving crew.

It took quite long to get back to Phuket as the traffic was very bad. There were a lot of rescue cars, tractors, ambulance, etc. Everybody was there to help out the victims who now have pretty much nothing left. They tried to put back the electricity, clear out broken constructions, and find the dead bodies.

We got to Phuket town around 8 pm, I said goodbye to the diver crew. Debbie gave me a big hug and she asked me if I was ok to do such a job again the following day. I did not answer but smiled and I said I would go tomorrow. At that moment I had a mix feeling; I love to be there as much as I hate it. Surely I am willing to give my hands as I know that having me in the team will make their job much easier, but it was hard to think about being there again, u know what I mean…

Peter Hamilton picked us up at 7 am from our hotel. We went to get water pump and other equipments at Blue Canyon Phuket. First I thought they would give us only equipments but when we got there, they had full team of their local workers (about 12 people ) standby and ready to go with us. That was very generous of the owner and the staffs there. They asked me a bunch of questions of the situation. I did not tell them much only said that they need to wear masks and gloves when they got there.

We finally got to the site around 10 am. On the way we got a call from the yesterday diving crews that they would not be coming to the site as they got a call from doctor that they should not go in the water anymore because of the epidemic. So we had to do it in different strategy. Instead of having diver to go in, we pumped all the water and have rescue team get the bodies.

We went back to that small room again. The Thai man in late 40s came to me and told me that he had been looking for his missing brother who was normally worked in this small room as technician. He told me that his brother would wear the dark blue long sleep t shirt and dark blue pants. That was the same outfit I had informed by diving crew yesterday that there might be another body stuck inside which wear blue suit. At this point I was so glad that I came. People, dead and alive , were really waiting for us. Imagine when u lose your brother…

The blue canyon staffs got 2 water pumps run. The rescue team had arrived and help us looked for the body in the water. They tried to use their camera to search in the room. After 20 minute, the water was in the level that we could see. As I represented the diving team, the rescue team showed me the image of another dead body in room… Maybe they forgot that, after all, I was just a girl, they showed me the most terrifying image I have ever seen: the rotten foot of the dead body.

I wanted to cry…

We finally got the body out. The victim was the Thai technician that his brother had been looking for. It was finally over. They wrapped up the body and take it away.

I had a little accident. While they were pumping the water out, I was trying to help digging the place for water to run in to the sea. As clumsy one can be, I fall down when I carried my digging equipment. As a result, my left angle had twisted.

The crew went to get the water out from the boat bar; we had not found any bodies there. There were a few other spots that we had pumped out the water but I did not see much as I could not really walk. I was waiting for the crew upstairs. There were a few people from the hotel management team, engineer, military crews from government and the missing people’s family

I talked to Mrs Prapaipan, who was looking for her young daughter, Thanyamath who worked as the front manager at the hotel. She was sitting there and crying all the time. In her hands were carrying the poster of her daughter image. She told me that she wanted to stay until she found her. She asked me what the crew would do next. She was still hope to find her daughter somewhere. I pity her dearly. My mom would have done the same if she had lost me. She would have hoped till the last minute that I would have been still alive if she could not find my dead body yet.

I told her that the crew would pump out some water in the big underground room and then we would get the rescue team to come back for searching. Later her relative came and tried to persuade her to wait at home, since there was nothing much she could do there. First she denied going home but when the relative said that she would stress us out as she was crying all the time, she finally agreed to go to wait at home.

---------------------------

There are a few more things that I want to write down, but I am still finding it difficult to do. Maybe you will get it little by little, I hope it is ok.

I have no intention to write this to show off; I just hope that this story would give you an idea about the situation. If you have not made any donation yet, please do not hesitate. They all need your helps.

I am very happy if they want to publish it. Money will go to the counseling centre that I have helped set up in Phuket. Please contact me or darknight for info ka.

/Donation Info will be posted once available, it will go straight to the victims and aid workers.

Edited January 3, 2005 by Darknight

[bklyngal]

candyflip; You are a most couragous and brave woman. YOU are making a difference in peoples lives!!!! My heart goes out to you and the experiences you are living. Thailand should be proud to have you in their arms. Take care of that ankle...I wish I were there to help...the plane keeps calling me. My prayers are with you.

[The_Other_Mac]

Another eyewitness account of the cleanup, this one from Phang Nga.

www.2bangkok.com/quakesacc.shtml

[sonthaya]

Estrella you are a fantastic girl, did a great job, and the world could use more people like you, well done.

[The_Moog]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4145711.stm

Check out this BBC website link for the globally published version of Estrella's story.

MOOG

[kat]

Very cool, and very much needed - a local voice on the international stage.

[cookiephuket]

Sharing My Volunteer Experience In Phuket

Member Of Thaivisa.com

My name is Estrella , female 27 , Thai nationality. I would like to share my volunteering experience in Southern Thailand.

I was in Bangkok when it happened. After they announced on Television that they needed some translators to help coordinated with foreigner victims, I have sent my request by fax to Phuket air that myself who speak fluently Thai- English and Spanish and my dear friend , Daan from Holland who speaks many European languages would like to help out at  the disaster area. They granted us tickets. Thank you Phuket Air.

We got to Phuket in the evening of 28 December. We were taken to tourist police to work at their local station. As it was quite late, there was not much going on., we helped out some phone calls, basically give them information where and what they need to do. We did not want to take the accommodation at Tourist Police office as it was not very convenient to get to town hall, so we stayed in Phuket town with our own budget.

December 29,2004 we went to town hall in the beginning, I have been told that they needed a lot of people to go to help in Kao lak , Pang nga, the major disaster area. We went their with journalist and another two guys who would help in the rescue team with the volunteer car which they come to stand by at town hall to take people away where they need to go. Everybody tried to help as much as they can in this situation, anyone who has car, they come to pick up people, victim, volunteer to take them away, many people supplied food, drinking water, etc.

So it took us about 2 hours to arrive in Kaolak station. It was devastating. Almost nothing has left. The tidal must have been very powerful here. It has taken the big army ship from the ocean to the land (  mile away), which tearing those houses aparted, hits cars and everything. Thousands of coconut trees fell down. It was really as devastated as one could never ever imagine.

At Kao lak station, I went with the international diving team to look for bodies. There were 5 scuba divers, about 6-7 helpers. They came from Phuket ,most of them are teachers at Dulwich international school in Phuket. Two of them had been diving in Ocean plaza in Phuket the day before in the underground supermarket. So I went along with their team as I could translate English to Thai when they worked with Thai rescue team to get the bodies out of water.

We arrived in Sofitel Magic Lagoon Hotel around 2 o’clock in the afternoon. This hotel could have been the most beautiful hotel I have seen in my life. It was like an empire. They had the biggest swimming pool in Asia, big ship in swimming pool as a bar but what I had seen now was the collapsed empire.

Everything on the first floor was all damaged, ruin, and broken. I could hardly imagine if one could survive if they had stayed on the first floor.

There were a few underground rooms that divers needed to sort out, we started with the small room next to the beach. This room is kinda technical room with chemical tangs, pumps and one technician. So our divers Peter and Hugo went in, after we have checked with engineer there what and where in everything stands in that room (for safety reason). They found one dead farangs body blocked the entrance. As we did not have a water pump with us, people needed to help us out by taking out water with big basket till we reached the level that our divers could go in. It took hour. In the mean time our team checked other spots.

Some spots are impossible to get in to as the chemical tanks had exploded. It was not safe to go in. the diver went in to another r big room but he could not found any bodies inside, as it was very dark and full of broken construction, at the end we left that big room and come back to work on small room.

At small room when the water was a little bit below. They went in and tried to take bodies out. As the bodies had been around in water for many days, They were double size. It was so hard to take them out. There was a shot that the diver told rescue team to help them put down the bodies and they could not communicate. As much as I did not want to see the bodies, I had to be there, translate it to them, seeing the dead bodies. Actually, I was ok at the point, did not have time to think about it but smell. The body we got was a foreign lady. It could have been taken by the tidal wave to stuck in there.

We finally took this body out but our diver could not go in anymore to search more as the water had reached to the same level , it would take them another hours to have it below again. So we checked more spots and clean the diving suits plus showers. On the way to our car, we had to walk by those dead bodies which the rescue team had got them from hotel rooms. Even though they were wrapped in white cloths, but it was horrifying to walk by. Unforgettable smell…

As much as I want to write all I had been doing for these 5 days. I now feel terrible to carry on. Maybe I will post later. One thing I have learned is that life is so short. One should make a good merit and be a good person, at the end of the day… we all will die...

All pictures copyright by Estrella

/added picture, and title

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

All I can say is thank you that there are such people in the world today. What you did was a true act of humanity.

[donna]

Your story is one of pure compassion and love for fellow human beings. May you be blessed with love and happiness for the rest of your life.

I cannot imagine what you must have gone through and pray that the images you have seen in the past few weeks don't stay with you forever.

Your courage and sensitivity during this horrible time should be commended and I know that everyone reading your article would be proud of you.

Take care of yourself. The world needs you.