Malaspina grads help out in Thailand

It’s a trip they will never forget.

Alison Katzko and Alex Dunkley – two Malaspina University-College graduates who married in 2000 – were in Thailand during the tsunami disaster, and spent four days helping relief efforts.

"They are on an extended travel tour through Asia," said Alison’s dad, Bob Katzko, site manager of Malaspina’s Parksville/Qualicum Centre. "They were on the eastern coast in December but fortunately, they had just moved to the northern city of Chang Mai when the tsunami hit. It was a huge relief to know that they were okay."

Alison, a graduate of Malaspina’s elementary education program, and Alex, a graduate of the nursing program, joined an aid organization in the Chaing Mai village called the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) on a fact-finding mission, and flew to Phuket on Thailand’s western coast on December 29. They made their way by minibus to Takua Pa, north of Phan Nga, to a small district hospital.

"The CBN wanted to deliver medical supplies, provide immediate help, and do some filming of the affected sites for fund raising and long term aid," explained Dunkley, who formed part of the medical team with three doctors. All 100 beds at the hospital "were full to the brim" but foreign patients had already been moved to Bangkok a day before the team arrived.

"One member of our group, a Thai surgeon, performed two days of surgeries, but the rest of us were handicapped by a lack of language skills," said Dunkley. "Students from a nearby nursing school were working on wards and had things well in hand. They seemed to run things like a well oiled machine."

The hospital itself was like something from the 1950's - old steel beds and gurneys, no IV pumps, all the old equipment "but it was clean and the care seemed excellent."

Dunkley said a Buddhist temple near the hospital served as a temporary morgue. "I don't know how many, but the rows of bodies stretched out in all directions on the temple grounds," he said. "The smell is something I cannot even begin to describe. It was more horrible than I can convey."

Katzko and Dunkley spent their first night in the hospital board room, and started the next day at Nam Khing Village, where there were no tourists, just locals.

"It was shocking to see just how much damage the waves had done," said Dunkley. "Houses were smashed for half a kilometer from the beach. Huge fishing boats were way inland, upside down and stuck through buildings. Every once and a while, you would pass an area with that smell and you knew that there was someone under the rubble."

Thai people "seem amazing in their coping abilities," added Dunkley. "A lot were just getting on with things, salvaging from the rubble and starting to clear things. But there were still those who just sat and stared."

One road was clogged with trucks of recovery rescue teams and uniformed young men who were recovering bodies from the wreckage. Surgical masks smeared with tiger balm were a standard part of the uniform. "Someone told us these men would earn merit for their families by doing this duty," said Dunkley. "It did not seem they were being paid."

The couple also visited Bang Nieng Beach, which caught the full force of the wave. "A lot of big hotels were located here, and are now totally gone. The damage went back over a mile from the beach. The part along the beach itself was nearly clean - the wave took everything away."

Dunkley and Katzko worked one afternoon at an aid station. One of the more gruesome tasks was sorting through a pile of passports and identification found on beaches.

"There were so many people from Skandinavia and Germany, but there were people from around the world," said Dunkley, including three from Canada. "The latest stats have at least 2,000 tourist deaths along this stretch of coast."

One of the saddest things to look at was two bulletin boards, one with missing people photos put up by families, and one with identification photos of the dead.

"Basically it boils down to a lot of people dead, and even more people homeless," reported Dunkley. "For every news story of a hotel destroyed, a Thai village is wiped out. People are getting enough to eat, but are most concerned about outbreaks of disease."

Dunkley said CBN has chosen to help rebuild one village called Bang Nai Rai, a 200-year-old fishing village with about 100 families. About half the village buildings are gone or uninhabitable, and others are severely damaged. Fortunately, only one person in the entire village died because the people living there noticed animals were acting strangely and moved to higher ground. They also received a warning phone call five minutes before the wave hit, said Dunkley. "The village is currently not slated for any government funds, because they did not have enough casualties," he added. That’s why the CBN has stepped in, with a small crew of people on site to channel the funds to clearing wreckage and building new houses.

"They are a Christian organization who seem from our experience to be small enough to be effective, but large enough to do something," added Dunkley. If you want to contribute to the relief effort, this would be one effective way to do so."

For further information about the CBN village rebuilding project, contact Sakchai Puangjakta (assistant manager), at 4/15 Nawarat Building, T.Watget, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, Thailand 50000. He can also be reached by email at sakchai@cbnsiam.com or sakchai84@hotmail.com, or www.cbnsiam.com.

Meanwhile, Katzko and Dunkley will never forget their four days helping with the relief effort. "While it was awful, we learned a lot," said Dunkley. "We are indebted to CBN for giving us the opportunity to help."

The couple plan to continue their tour of southeast Asia over the next year.