[Paddlewise] tsunami damage

I imagine it's horrible down there. I was in Bangkok when the quake hit, with
plans to rent a kayak out of Phuket later this month. Siam Kayak in Chalong
Bay suffered little damage, but the owner didn't know the state of the island
bungalows where I was headed for a few days.

Roy said that the day before, two guys with Feathercrafts had taken off from
Phuket headed for Krabbi, and he hadn't heard whether they were OK or not. Will
check back with him soon to find out if he's heard anything. 

John, it's nice here in northern Thailand, esp. in Pai. No rotting corpses....it's
just horrifying watching the news....

Tina


John Kirk-Anderson wrote:
>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

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