Rebuilding paradise in Thailand

October 2005

Report: Robyn Anns

Monash alumna Ms Michelle Taffe (BA 1998) arrived in Thailand six weeks after the giant wave hit. She had booked her ticket long before and, once there, felt compelled to offer assistance.

Ms Taffe and her boyfriend first stopped in Khao Lak, where she began work on a volunteer centre website created to keep sponsors and donors to tsunami relief informed of work progress. Not long after, they heard about a project nearby where volunteers were helping rebuild the stilt homes of coastal villagers.

"We headed 20 kilometres up the road to the fishing village of Tap Tawan. The beach was beautiful, a typical picture postcard of a tropical paradise. Sitting by the calm water it was difficult to imagine the monstrous wave appearing out of nowhere to wreak so much havoc and destruction," Ms Taffe says.

Few people from Tap Tawan died in the tsunami. When the fishermen saw the sea receding fast to leave an expanse of sand, they remembered the legends of their ancestors telling of the same phenomenon, quickly followed by a terrible monster coming out of the sea to wreak havoc.

"So, witnessing the receding of the sea, the fishermen realised what was happening and quickly went up to warn the villagers who immediately piled into all the available vehicles and fled to higher ground," she says.

"While they were heading for the hills, many of the tourists in the nearby resorts were transfixed by the fish flopping on the newly exposed sand, totally unaware of the impending danger."

Ms Taffe and her boyfriend spent six weeks helping rebuild stilt houses before it was time to return to their jobs. "It was hard to say goodbye after having made so many new friendships, both with Thai locals and foreign volunteers," she says.

For information, contact Ms Michelle Taffe at michelle@netfusion.ws.