I have only glanced at Paddlewise in the last few days, so this may be off topic. Today I was standing amongst the devestation that is, or was, the town of Khao Lak, Thailand. The tsunami wave has snapped concrete power poles 1500 metres from the water's edge, and twisted mobile cranes into waste metal. Driving along a road stripped of tarmac, with mangroves growing close on the sea-ward side, was unnerving. I can't imagine the horror as a solid wall of water smashed from the jungle, destroying everything in it's path. This wave was not water as we understand it, this was pure kinetic energy. The smell of over 1000 bodies at Wat Bang Muang, north of Khao Lak, awaiting identification is evidence of the fury that was unleashed on that morning. As volunteers work to gather information to help identify them, carpenters are building caskets, hundreds and hundreds, to offer some dignity to the victims. A sobering place. John Kirk-Anderson Banks Peninsula New Zealand *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Jan 01 2005 - 17:06:15 PST
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