@Worzel Scrimmage Re: Tsunami

Got back last night and am feeling the afters of a day's clean-up sandwiched by a 16 hours return trip and a lot of booze...incredible scenes, incredible people. Mostly upbeat but some were still clearly shaken.

Some areas were completely devastated. Even though I had seen many similar images on TV it was different seeing it first hand - we went through one town where every store had been destroyed; the buildings were mostly still there as they were strong but they have been destroyed beyond use - going through that town at ground level gave a perspective that no footage I had seen before could match.

The small area we were working on had houses that could be saved, so we were clearing them of mud (the level of the tsunami still clearly marked on the wall of every room) and also dug out a guy's garden, including digging up a load of trees that had died from the exposure to the seawater and the mud. He still had dead fish in his garden after 3 months...

They will continue to need help for a long time yet, so if you do want to go, I am sure they will appreciate it. We went through an NGO and when we arrived at the volunteer centre, they assigned us work based on what was needed that day, so you cannot pick and choose. That said, there are two types of work - cleaning/clearing areas and houses or cleaning photos - the latter is important emotionally for the people who survived.

I will definitely be going to help again, once I recover from this trip.

Posted By: Jester, Jun 12, 07:32:53