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Tsunami Volunteer Work on Phi Phi Island, Thailand ("The Beach")Jun 4, 2005
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Arriving on Phi Phi Island
Natalya working on clearing debris from the beach
Dave working on a volunteer project
June 4th
Volunteering on Phi Phi Island, Thailand
Dave
Phi Phi Island was somewhere we had heard about for years and always wanted to come to. It is known for its white sand beaches, its towering limestone cliffs and for the picture perfect setting, where the movie "The Beach" was filmed.
This image dramatically changed however on December 26th. Of all the resort areas in Thailand this was one of the most heavily effected and where the loss of life was staggering. Coming here 6 months later, the signs of destruction are still everywhere you look, and the few hotels that are open cater mostly to the teams of international volunteers who are here trying to reconstruct paradise, and give the people of the island a livelihood again. We had seen a fair amount of Tsunami damage in Phuket and met many survivors with their own horrific stories to tell, but the destruction here was near total. The two bays on either side of the island where hit by two separate waves that left very little surviving in their paths.
The organization that is heading up most of the reconstruction effort here is an NGO known as HI PHI PHI (Help International Phi Phi), a huge volunteer organization that with the help of young people from around the world is helping try to get this place back on its feet.( www.hiphiphi.com) The jobs to do around the island our almost endless with rubble littering every corner.
That being said there is progress being made; things do look bad here, until you see pictures of how they looked just a few months ago. Hotels, restaurants and bars are beginning to reopen, but I would imagine it will be many years before things are entirely back to normal.
You really get a sense of the human toll of the disaster here when meeting the local people. One shop keeper yesterday told us of losing two of her five children that day, and showed us how she climbed on top of her market stall with a foreigner's help to survive. She then showed us pictures of her shop that day, which is in the middle of the island and far from the ocean front , but was still nearly totally destroyed. Later in the evening we came to support her shop and bought several things to bring home.
We have spent some time here volunteering ourselves, but one gets the sense the some of the most help you bring is just bringing your business here and helping these people return to some sense of normalcy. It is still one of the most beautiful spots in the world, and badly needs the help by just visiting it.
Dave
