Sister Ya-chun’s notes about her
Phuket trip on Dec. 28, 2004
It was the third day since the tsunami
hit. In this area, bodies of tourists were being dug up continuously
(In fact, most of the bodies were still laying on the beach,
among those that were visible, but there were many more that
had yet to be dug out of the sand and debris). As we sat in
gridlock traffic, the sound of a siren suddenly grew and closed
in from the distance. An ambulance followed by a series of
vehicles carrying dead bodies passed by.
Some bodies were already covered up, while
others were exposed. In utter shock, I instinctively pressed
the shutter, only to discover I had taken a picture of a corpse
that was completely naked, and still covered with a visible
layer of dirt and mud.
Before our “Disaster Survey and Relief
Assessment Team” headed out from Bangkok, much preparation
was made for us, including some facemasks and gloves. Before
we got out of our vehicle, Brother Hsieh, who is always meticulous,
handed out a box of facemasks that had been sprinkled with
menthol herbal oils to help cut down the stench from the dead
bodies.
As we walked into the disaster zone, we
couldn’t help but wonder: How can this be a vacation
haven? There’s nothing but debris everywhere the eyes
could see, and even though the taller structures remained
standing, all the ground floors had been completely gutted.
A more frightening sight was the cargo truck that was jammed
into the vacant lobby. But this was a common sight in this
area, just as the countless mutilated cars everywhere left
by the disaster.
As we walked on, we met a family of Indians.
Upon inquiry, we found out that they were originally from
Bangkok, and they owned the Rangoon Hotel in this area. They
said their father sat in the hotel everyday, but since the
tsunami hit, they haven’t seen him since. For three
days, the children had searched for him from the hospital
to the disaster site, from looking at every passing face to
checking every corpse on the ground, but there was still no
sight of their father. We asked them how many more people
do they estimate have yet to be dug up. They said, according
to the research they did when they were planning their hotel,
during the peak tourist season, some four to five thousand
people would gather in this area, because it was known as
the most beautiful spot and best vacation paradise in all
of Phuket Island.
Therefore, if 40 percent of the vacationers
were killed by the tsunami, that meant there were about 2,000
more people still waiting to be dug up. One of them told us,
if this were our first time in Phuket, we could not possibly
imagine just how beautiful Phuket really was. He said he simply
loved this place, and he had invested a significant sum of
money as well as efforts here, but now it’s all gone.
However, if he could only find his father now, all that did
not matter to him a bit.
He also told us that the casualty this
time was really unprecedented, and most of the people that
were here were foreign tourists and only a small percentage
of hotel employees were locals. Sri Lanka and Indonesia also
suffered very severe devastation, because they’ve almost
never had a tsunami before, and they did not have any warning
system for such a thing, which greatly exacerbated the level
of devastation this time.
He also mentioned that economic recovery
for the Kaolak area alone was probably going to take at least
five years. But what he didn’t mention was that the
psychological recovery may take much longer than that. Many
people lost both of their parents or their children. There
were families that came to Phuket for a joyful family vacation,
only to end up with only one member still alive, or all of
them lost their lives. It’s no wonder that even if one
survived, one can hardly find any feelings of blessing or
luck.
We listened to him a while longer to allow
him to release his anguish, and we offered him our blessings,
reminding him to take good care of himself. Walking further,
we saw other Tzu Chi volunteers were already on their way
back. There were still corpses left on the beach that had
yet to be retrieved. Some were marked and were awaiting to
be wrapped at first light the next day.
Brother Lee Chien-chung and other Tzu Chi
volunteers reported that they saw a corpse that was in a sitting
position, which gave a chilling clue to just how quickly that
peaceful Sunday morning turned into doomsday for many people.
In a blink of an eye, paradise was instantly turned into hell;
it was not only fate’s cruelest joke, but also a demonstration
of life’s impermanence that cannot be any clearer or
more poignant.
We kept encountering people from other
areas that had brought relief supplies for the victims, and
were going around the disaster site to see how else they could
help. Other than learning the desperate need for body bags
from looking at the countless bodies on the beach, these good
Samaritans could only pray to heaven above for the peace of
the deceased, as many helicopters, possibly sent by the government
for rescue efforts, hovered in the sky overhead.
Restoration of electricity was still being
rushed, and body-collecting work neared an end for the day.
We decided to head back before it got pitch dark. We stopped
by a temple on along the way, where it had become one of the
temples used as a temporary gathering place for bodies of
the deceased (there are three of these temples in Phang Nga).
We were first greeted by wooden caskets
that have been stacked high, which were donated by kind people.
There were also piles of cloth to be used for wrapping the
bodies. We turned a corner, and saw bodies on the floor everywhere.
Since it was beginning to get darker, and out of respect for
the dead, I did not take my camera out again. Instead, I closed
my hands, and filled my thoughts with blessings for the deceased,
wishing that they will be free of fear soon and may rest peacefully.
All the other Tzu Chi volunteers also closed their palms and
chanted Buddhist prayers to the deceased.
All of the corpses, young and old, males and females, have
all stiffened. Their wounds were still visible and bloody,
and many of the hands were raised high, as if in a fit of
struggle. Some were retrieved from the ocean (some were still
in their wetsuit), and others were found in hotels or on the
beach.
Perhaps it’s been a while, the corpses
now appeared swollen, and these Westerners’ statures
were larger to begin with. Plus some were completely exposed
without any wrapping yet, and they seem particularly harrowing.
As if nearly 200 corpses lined up awaiting forensic examination
and DNA identification as well as preservative would be enough
of an unnerving scene, seeing their last gesture gives a hint
of the last-second struggle only made it more shocking. One
can feel the incredible fear and desperation at the very last
breath of life.
I couldn’t help but feel a profound
sense of regret, thinking that these were mostly well-to-do
vacationers who never have thought they would lose their life
so far away from home, where there was no one to identify
them, and their bodies just laid-out on the ground along with
countless others waiting to be processed…
Moreover, the caskets donated by the Thais
were mostly too small for these Westerners, plus the bodies
had become swollen, so how would they ever fit into them?
In spite of all the corpses gathered in the temple, there
was not an obvious stench like at the disaster site. Perhaps
it was because the bodies had already been prayed for and
blessed.
Before we departed, we gave the workers
the snack and juice given to us by the Thai Airway flight
attendants whom specifically asked us to deliver them to the
relief workers. After finding out that the most needed items
at this time were body bags and thicker rubber gloves, we
began on our journey back to Bangkok.
While in the car, we reached a consensus
that we would first serve as the back-up support for the rescue
and relief team for the time being, and rush deliver 2,000
body bags from Bangkok, plus allocate 1,000 pairs of rubber
gloves from the Tzu Chi chapter office. Tomorrow, we would
continue our disaster survey and relief assessment in Phang
Nga as well as Phi Phi Island and the city center to cover
the entire heavy devastation zone.
We would also focus our relief efforts
on the local villages, as well as assess the feasibility of
the school reconstruction proposed by Brother Hsieh during
the evening meeting. If possible, we would also have an official
meeting with the provincial governor to discuss future needs
in the area as well as collect the necessary information for
the activities that will be feasible for carrying out by Tzu
Chi.
