Images and news from the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami have been horrific as I've witnessed them. Devastation in Thailand has particularly hit home due to the fact that Railay, Ao Nang and Hat Pra Nang on the Andaman coastline were places we visited in August of 2003. We stayed in bungalows not five feet above sea level, all near the beach. If the waves had hit when we were there, we were particularly vunerable at Railay because there isn't really a road back to Ao Nang, the biggest nearby town with highway access. Railay and Hat Pra-Nang are at the end of a roadless peninsula flanked by towering, verdant limestone cliffs.
The most wrenching testimonial I have read is from an Anchorage, AK college student vacationing at Railay with a friend. They were rock climbing in the area when the waves headed for the shore. His friend snapped some photos, both posted at the Anchorage Daily News website.
Below are three photos from our own vacation 16 months ago, each of places mentioned in the Alaskan's account, followed by two photos of the tsunami taken by his friend.
Railay/Hat Pra-Nang
Jill at Railay/Hat Pra-Nang
Beach at Ao Nang
Railay Tsunami (Anchorage Daily News)
Yachts Enduring Railay Tsunami (Anchorage Daily News)
The best updates about how to help tsunami victims everywhere around the Indian Ocean are found at The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog.
The American Red Cross is also taking donations via Amazon.com. To date, they've raised over $2.6 million with no overhead costs reducing the amount actually helping those in need.
Sue Frye, frequent contributor at the Johnson Gardner office, came in to say that a friend of hers that lives in Thailand half of the year to teach diving was unscathed by the tsunami due to his higher elevation home on the coast. However, his diving skills are being called upon to help extract the numerous bodies trapped underwater in coral reefs lining the Thai Andaman coastline.
Prayers and money are all most of us can do for them now.
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