Rockwood Trading / Natural Thai donates $5,000.00 to Thai Tsunami Help.org, to assist in helping Thai families recover from the disaster.   Randy French founder of Surf Tech surfboards in Santa Cruz, California donates surf boards from their production facility in Chonburi, Thailand to Phuket Boardriders Club president Khun Joop for beach life guards, local instructors & local grom's to learn and perfect their surfing skills. Will Howard, founder and president of Dragon Opitical donates, sunglasses and accessories to help "re-stock" the surf shop at Kata Beach that was destroyed by the Tsunami waves.  The shop should open by late January 2006. ( 5 MB, mp3 file download) Click and listen to an interview with Dave Rockwood by Julie Rose with Public Radio Station KCPW "Mid-Day Metro Show" in Salt Lake City, Utah about the recovery efforts in Phuket, Thailand and the challenges of making meaningful contributions to the victim families, this was recorded live via internet phone from Phuket, Thailand August 1, 2005 ( interview length approx 17 minutes) One Year Later... update, feelings, more help is needed. Dave & Lindsey Rockwood Dear Friends; It is now about 1 year since I got involved with Thai Tsunami Aid projects and we have had moments where I knew we were being guided by angels and moments of despair when we only had "mixed results" with all of the needs that came to our attention.  I was able to help some of my old Thai missionary friends in Phuket that suffered many losses to their businesses and families, and we were able to help some families claim their loved one's remains.  Now when I think back to the wonderful assistance of Sorenson Genomics and Mr. Sorenson himself and his personal involvement with these families it is very gratifying.  I still have some items that I wore at the morgue for 6 weeks that still have the smell of death on them, I keep them as a reminder of what a tragedy it was and the scale of work that needed to be done.  I have developed some wonderful friendships with other aid workers that were busy, next to me, day by day, making sure that the DNA samples we collected would be collated and processed correctly before the long flight back to Salt Lake City, Utah and Sorenson Genomics Labs.  I still have dreams of my time there at the morgue, I am not a "medical professional" and have not worked with mass disasters or thousands of corpses before, but I knew that I was uniquely qualified to deliver these important services to Dr. Porntip and her forensic team and be able to efficiently manage this project from across the globe for these Thai victim families.  Doing the "clinical work" of sample management was physically taxing with 14 hour days and tropical heat, but working with the victim family members and those seeking out missing loved ones was very emotionally draining, as I was one of the few "Thai speaking foreigners" working on site and many of these Thai family members would plead for me to take special attention to their case and help them...  I cried just about every night when I went to my hotel, showered the corpse smell off my body, and said my prayers before retiring, exhausted and knowing that I needed to continue every day until we could generate some results. (little did I know that it would take 6 weeks straight of my time in Thailand and another 3 - 12 months to get results, back) At Wat Yan Yao in Phangnga, Thailand we had a HUGE operation that required approx. 1,000 volunteers EVERY DAY, to manage the task of gathering victim identification data, organizing the data, sorting the data and trying to find "matches" so family members could claim their loved ones remains.  I had served as an "emergency preparedness leader" in my church congregation before and had organized large scale service projects and events in my home in Park City, but to offer the logistical support for 1,000 workers every day was amazing, and it came off very well with Dr. Porntip's leadership and the Thai Army.  The volunteer groups all worked very hard and cooperated, it was the professional Disaster Victim Identification international teams that caused constant troubles.  EVERY country that had tsunami victims sent a DVI team to come and identify their citizens, they required fully air-conditioned exam units and full autopsy equipment & 5 star accommodations, which the Thai's did their best to provide.  However, our "Thai team" did our work out in the tropical sun, and stacked dry ice around the Thai bodies so that we could slow the decomposition process so that the visual identification by the family members would be easier.  We were constantly being interviewed by global press and many were looking for "mistakes or errors" in the work being done, but once they were "on site" for more than an hour or so, the smell, heat and sights would soften their view and they would realize the huge scale of this humanitarian effort to help these victims be re-united with their loved ones.  I constantly thought of my own children, we love to go to the beach and if we had been in Khao Lak or Phuket on holiday we would have surely been on the beach that morning, enjoying each other's company, surfing, or playing in the sand... there was NO warning for these families, it was a natural disaster and there was No way to be prepared... they would have perished too... So, I fully understood how these parents and surviving family members were driven to find their loved ones remains.  We worked very hard to find and assist in identifying Kali Breisch the daughter of Dr. Stu and Sally Breisch from Salt Lake City, Utah.  My new good friend Dr. Don Pederson from the U of U Physician's Assistant program was close to the family and I took him a few times to the ruins of the resort location where the Breisch's were staying in Khao Lak, we were looking for Jai Breisch's guitar and other items that may be the Breisch's... There was still the smell of unrecovered bodies in the rubble, teams with dogs were still working the area to try and find more victims, and the sea was now very calm, and the sunset was beautiful, and we could understand why people came to this location for recreation and renewal.  I stayed on to complete my DNA collection work, the project was going to be handed over to the Royal Thai Police from the Thai Department of Justice Center for Forensic Science and the volunteer teams. At first we got cooperation from the new Thai Police teams, then they decided to only use the INTERPOL accredited DNA lab in Bosnia for victim identification, even though we had over 1,000 samples that had been sent to Salt Lake City for analysis and matching... We had "matches" almost 3 months ahead of the Bosnian lab and I continued to work with the Thai Tsunami Victim Identification teams managed by the Thai Police to use our Sorenson Genomics generated data and matches, and some of our data was used as evidence in matching these bodies for Thai victims later in June.  There was "natural" friction between the Thai Police victim identification teams and Dr. Porntip's team from CIFS the Thai Department of Justice, because if the Thai Police ever made mistakes or may have been involved in some murder cases, the physical evidence from the forensic evaluations would come from the CIFS team.  And right after the tsunami there were a few "high profile" political murder cases that caused conflict between the Thai police and the Thai Department of Justice.  So, because we had been working with Dr. Porntip, we were not very welcome in the TTVI center, as they were afraid that the superior techniques and lab set up at Sorenson Genomics could be used to discredit their work... But I was relentless and continually tried to keep our results and work to be part of the reconciliation process for victim families, and our data was with THAI victims not the international victims that had plenty of resources for expensive and very technical DNA testing.  After June many of the unidentified corpses, approx. 1,000 left, were probably Burmese migrant worker victims, we volunteered our services to further identify these remaining cases and are still working to get these cases completed. As my work on the DNA project began to slow down, I turned my efforts to helping these same families that had come to my desk to try and identify loved ones and give me "ante-mortem" baccal swabs of their DNA, in an "economic recovery" mission.  We took some of the funds donated by my business partners, family, and friends and began helping one specific Thai Tsunami Victim Refugee Camp in Ban Nam Khem where they ALL had been victims, NO homes were spared and this camp was not near the main highway so the large NGO's did not help them due to the lack of "media exposure".  There were 80 families living here in make shift masonite walls with tin roof dwellings about 12' x 12' space for each family, as many as 8 people per unit.  The most poignant note for me was the hand written names of the family on the outside of the unit, with comments such as "missing" or "found dead w/date" next to each family members name and their age.  Children could not out run the huge waves, and there were many, many children lost, but this new community had built a play ground area for the surviving children and a "make shift" school was set up so the kid's could use their time studying.  I brought about $500.00 worth of fresh vegetables, fruits, food staples, and sweets for the kids for the 80 families about every 2 weeks for a few months, they only got "dry food" from the government aid, so our completely full truck of fresh vegetables, meat and fruit was appreciated and they distributed the food amongst them selves fairly.  My business partners from California did this "food run" with me once and they could see what appreciation these families had.  Then the local women began hand weaving "market baskets" out of plastic that they were selling to tourists and aid workers, I approached them and promised to buy about 200 units per month to sell in the USA to keep them employed and to provide extra income for their families... This program is still ongoing and we need your help to buy these baskets and keep these women working and providing for their families. As the months went by I tried to go to Phangna about every 3 weeks or so, when I could not go my new "employee & truck" would go down to take food, or new raw material plastic strips for the baskets, but I would stay in Kata Beach in Phuket before going back to work in Bangkok.  I walked down the beach and began talking to the local resort workers and learned many different stories of local beachside merchants that had lost all they had, and had lost some relatives too.... As I stated before we love the beach, and I had my daughters with me and one of these workers was a "surf coach" that taught tourists how to surf, so we hired him and Jessica learned to surf, as a certified ski instructor I was very impressed with his skills, and I got the idea of replacing his "rented" teaching surf board with his own "boards" from USA to use for teaching and to rent out to tourists... this was DIRECT AID, and he had lost all of his possessions at the beach during the tsunami as well...  My business partners from San Diego hand carried 3 new long boards for teaching, and this "tough guy Charley" was in tears when we presented these boards for him to use to re-launch his business.  To this day when I go to that beach I see the long yellow foam boards out with Charley teaching tourist, and local kids for free how to surf and enjoy the waters that took many of their family and friends.  This then led to my partnership with the Phuket Boardriders Club, I committed to them to help in collecting more "used boards" for the local surf kids to use, the members of the Phuket Boardriders Club would teach these kids for free and the boards would be distributed to the most needy and worthy kids, and next year I will help bring the winner of the Jr. division of the local surf contest to come to San Diego and compete with the local kids there... I have employed my driver Khun Bao, from day 1 at Wat Yan Yao, to work for me, I bought him a Mazda truck that he could use to hire out for work when I did not need him, he lost his job as a van driver after the tsunami, his wife left him about 2 weeks after he lost his job and ran off with a rich Chinese businessman along with his 2 year old daughter, he has 2 children from a previous marriage and his oldest daughter has leukemia.  Bao had a friend that owned an "artist gallery", and we went there to meet the Patong Beach Artist Co-op, they were all very emotional because their founder was a very famous Thai artist and he was killed in the tsunami at Khao Lak while drawing a mural at a newly constructed hotel lobby.  The best way for me to help this group was to buy about 6 different paintings from them immediately, and I promised to buy about 3 or 4 per month from them until the "tourist high season", and that I would sell them in the USA and keep buying as much as I could.  I purchased "portable easels" from Costco and gave them to them, they included a full array of oil paints, water colors and now they could go out in nature and paint... One of the best experiences I had was with having my two oldest daughters come to Thailand and study to be English as a Second Language teachers, they studies in Phuket with a crash course for 2 months and also did some work with my tsunami victim families, and took candy to the kids, went to church in Khao Lak and got to see what Dad had been doing all year in Thailand.  One of my daughters stayed in Thailand making furniture for tsunami victim families, through November, and she wants to go back again soon. We were also able to assist regularly the Latter Day Saint Charities Missionaries, Elder & Sister Zaugg with their work in Khao Lak and Phuket, there are now LDS Sacrament services in Phuket town, and my good friend of 30+ years Khun Hatakiat and a handful of Thai members can participate in church services, and I know try and make it to Phuket & Phangna every weekend when I work in Thailand to keep a spiritual connection with the area and the people.  I was able to host, and escort the Thai Ambassador to the USA, His Excellency Khun Kasit & his wife when he visited Salt Lake City and met with Governor Huntsman and was able to thank in person President Gordon B. Hinkley for the aid that the LDS Church had donated to the Thai Tsunami Victims. And in June I was able to facilitate a visit by Dr. Porntip & the Thai Department of Justice officials with Sorenson Genomics to see what more Sorenson Genomics could do to assist them with technology transfer and improving forensic science in Thailand.  I am still working on potential victim identification work for the victims in Sri Lanka as well, and should know more in these next few months. Thank you for all your help, time, and donations to this very worthy cause.  We still have much to do, and we are helping these families with vocational skills and direct investment so that they can recover and continue with their livelihoods.  If you can commit to buying a "carton of 10 plastic baskets", at a recommended donation of $15.00 per basket, I will ship them out to you, your local Boy Scouts, or community or church group can also "auction them off" for even greater prices to help these families... I also need donations of used 'under 6 foot, tri-fin" surfboards for the local kids to use so they can return to enjoy the ocean, we hope to ship these boards to Phuket in March of 2006.  Let me know if you or your family would like to donate some of your time in Thailand, we can make all arrangements and any one with Thai language skills can really make the most difference with these people. I am constantly reminded now... "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me..." Matthew 25:40 Dave Rockwood founder Tsunami team may form Thai group visits S.L. to explore DNA profiling By Dave Anderton Deseret Morning News       You could call them Thailand's version of CSI. Dr. Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan, left, Khun Manit Suthaporn, James Sorenson and Dr. Chumsak Pruksapong meet on Tuesday. Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News       This week, a Thai government delegation is in Utah, hoping to forge a partnership with a Salt Lake City company that will aid in identifying thousands of remaining victims from the Dec. 26 tsunami, as well as expand Thailand's missing-persons center.       Dr. Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan, deputy director of Thailand's Central Institute of Forensic Science, dubbed "Dr. Death" by the media for her early work in processing corpses after the disaster, hopes to learn more from Sorenson Genomics, one of the few labs internationally accredited for verifying human identity.       Yet Porntip and her associates did not invite themselves.       Utah billionaire and Sorenson Genomics founder James LeVoy Sorenson asked them to come, paying for their 8,000-mile journey.       The team also includes Khun Manit Suthaporn, the Thai deputy permanent secretary of justice, who said he will report his findings to Thailand's justice minister and prime minister.       Porntip wants to convince her government that Sorenson Genomics is the right place to retest roughly 2,000 unidentified remains of roughly 5,300 bodies that were recovered in Thailand. Another 10,000 people remain missing in Thailand.       She also plans to organize future teams of her own scientists to visit Utah and learn of Sorenson Genomics' unique certification and information technology systems that match DNA profiles.       At the time of the tsunami, Porntip said, no labs in Thailand were internationally accredited.       However, the Thailand delegation is interested in more than tsunami identification efforts. In Thailand, where kidnappings and murders account for hundreds of missing people each year, Sorenson's DNA analysis also offers a new tool in fighting crime.       "In Thailand, we think that government officials, sometimes police, are the culprits abducting people," said Dr. Chumsak Pruksapong, co-director of the Thailand CIFS. "We are trying to establish a national database of DNA. Many countries have that kind of system." David Rockwood       Porntip estimates that 250 people are reported missing each year in four of 76 provinces in Thailand she oversees.       "We have 10,000 unidentified remains all over the country," Porntip said, "not related to the tsunami."       Sorenson's interest in Thailand piqued shortly after the disaster struck.       A friend, David Rockwood, president of Park City-based Pacific Rim Consulting, knew that one of Sorenson's companies had the technology to perform DNA matching.       The two came together. Sorenson donated DNA testing kits and Rockwood organized collection efforts. The DNA samples were flown to Salt Lake City and analyzed at Sorenson Genomics.       The kits and DNA analysis were valued at more than $1.5 million.       To date, 1,300 DNA samples have been collected by Sorenson Genomics — 500 of which are from living relatives hoping to find their loved ones. So far, 50 victims have been matched with relatives.       "We're actually in a beginning process," Sorenson said. "We want to be up there right at front, helping and working with them."       Sorenson's lab began testing mitochondrial DNA after many of the tissue samples were found to have degraded genomic DNA.       Testing of mitochondrial DNA — the genetic material found in mitochondria which are located in the cytoplasm of a cell and inherited maternally — can be used to make comparisons when matching victims with other victims, when no surviving relatives can be found.       "This is the only lab that did the mitochondrial DNA testing," Porntip said. "This is the better way to bring them home in a short time."       In some places in Khao Lak, Thailand, Rockwood said, three generations perished together — grandparents, parents and children.       "There are no surviving relatives to do that much," Rockwood said. "However, with the data that we generate from Sorenson Genomics extractions, we can show those relationship pairs, which nobody else can do." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Sorenson's DNA aid is 'miracle' By Lee Benson Deseret Morning News       They met under circumstances beyond difficult. She was knee deep, quite literally, in unidentified dead bodies. He was fresh off a plane after traveling halfway around the world.       There was no time for formalities, so Dave Rockwood, a goatee-wearing American businessman from Park City, Utah, got right to the point. In fluent Thai, he told Dr. KhunYing Porntip Rojanasunan, deputy director of Thailand's Central Institute of Forensic Science, he was there to help her identify the bodies of the thousands who perished in the Indian Ocean tsunami.       Her first reaction: Who is this man and how can he possibly help?       Followed several minutes later by her second reaction, which she recounted Thursday during a visit to the University of Utah, "This man is a miracle."       I met Dave Rockwood and the famous Dr. Porntip Thursday on the Utah campus, where they were hosted by Dr. Don Pedersen, another Utahn who rushed to Thailand this past January to assist in tsunami aid.       Porntip — as she is known far and wide in Thailand, where she is something of a one-woman real-life CSI movie — is in Utah as part of a Thai delegation hosted by Utah billionaire James Sorenson's DNA testing company, Sorenson Genomics.       With mutual affection and emotion, Rockwood and Porntip explained the details of their serendipitous meeting on Jan. 7 at a makeshift morgue at a Thai temple near Phuket, 12 days after the tsunami struck. Dave had been at home in Park City on Dec. 26, 2004, when he turned on TV and saw images of the tsunami's destruction. The news hit him hard and personal. Thirty years ago, he served an LDS mission in Thailand, and in the intervening years he has owned and operated Pacific Rim Consulting, an Asian-American business with offices in Park City and Bangkok. "These were my people," said Dave, "I had to do something."  That something turned out to be brokering a partnership between Sorenson Genomics — one of the world's most advanced DNA identification companies — and the Thai identification effort. With Sorenson's authorization, Rockwood flew to Thailand to offer identification kits free of charge.  Fortuitously, the day he met Porntip and made his offer was the day bureaucratic red tape threatened to shut down the identification process. "On that very date, that was the day we had conflict with several groups all wanting control," said Porntip. "He showed up and told me, 'Sorenson can do DNA without charge.' I don't know who is he. I don't know Sorenson. But I believe him because he can speak Thai. "Fifteen minutes later, he is online with his computer, showing how this can be done. Then I know he is a miracle." In just five months, the Thai-Sorenson bond has strengthened to the point that there is discussion of having Sorenson Genomics not only continue to help in tsunami identification but also assist in improving Thailand's overall DNA identification, helping to reduce crime and corruption and establish a missing persons bureau. "Before the disaster, we had no good system for identifying missing persons," Porntip said. "Our law lets the police decide whether (the body) goes to the doctor or is thrown in the river or what. But after the tsunami, I think now the government understands the importance of identification for everyone." It is the tragedy's silver lining. More than anything, the tsunami helped identify the importance of every single life. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Thais say thanks to Sorenson Genomics Laying groundwork: Officials hope to build a DNA program By Bob Mims The Salt Lake Tribune Lars Mouritsen from Sorenson Genomics, right, shows KhunYing Porntip Rojanasunan, left, and KhunManit Suthaporn the technology the Utah company used to test DNA and help Thailand identify tsunami victims. (Ryan Galbraith/The Salt Lake Tribune) SOUTH SALT LAKE - Thailand, overwhelmed last December when the Indian Ocean tsunami left thousands of badly-decomposed bodies to identify, turned to Utah's Sorenson Genomics.     On Thursday, a high-ranking delegation from the Southeast Asian nation's Ministry of Justice visited the company's laboratories to say thanks - and to lay the groundwork for building Thailand's first internationally certified DNA identification program.     "We need a long-term solution," said Chumsak Pruksapong, director the ministry's Central Institute of Forensic Science. "In Thailand, our police . . . are only able to do the [basic] investigations, nothing high tech."     Since volunteering to do the work in February - a donation of services worth an estimated $1.5 million so far - Sorenson technicians have analyzed specimens of 800 tsunami victims and compared them with more than 500 possible living relatives. So far, Sorenson has been able to help identify about 100 of the victims, essential proof for making survivors eligible for government death benefits.    Nearly   300,000 perished in the tsunami, including 8,500 in Thailand alone. The bodies of about 5,300 victims were taken to a makeshift morgue at the Wat Yaang Yao Buddhist temple in southern Thailand, and 2,000 of those have yet to be identified. While in Utah, the Thai delegation agreed to have Sorenson test hair, teeth and tissue samples from the remaining corpses.     It is possible that many of the mystery victims are related, explained KhunYing Porntip Rojanasunan, the institute's deputy director.  "It could be an entire family group perished at the same time, so there might have been no one left [to identify the victims]," she said.     Sorenson's early success with tsunami victim identification, and its status as the only laboratory in the world accredited to do genealogical-level DNA testing, put the company in a unique position to identify the remaining tsunami dead - and to help Thailand upgrade its forensic abilities.     While Sorenson offers laboratory know-how, other Utahns are assisting the Thais, too. Delegates also met with Don Pedersen, director   of the University of Utah's Physician Assistant program - and an early volunteer in DNA sample collection efforts.     Dave Rockwood, president of Park City-based Pacific Rim Consulting, also has volunteered, helping tsunami refugee families rebuild. His Web site, http://www.thaitsunamihelp.org, was set up for that effort.     Meanwhile, James LeVoy Sorenson, the billionaire founder of the testing company, is spending $2 million on the DNA project.     bmims@sltrib.com -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   "Dr. Death" Visits Utah Company Jun. 1, 2005  KSL TV- story Ed Yeates Reporting A delegation from Thailand is in Salt Lake this week, hoping to form a partnership with a Utah company that's been helping identify victims of the Tsunami. One of the visitors is that country's most visible and outspoken scientists, dubbed Dr. Death by the media. Dr. Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan's(Pawntip) (Rojana-Soo-non's) contemporary spike and colored hair make her stand out in any crowd. But she's respected, wearing the honorary title KunYing from her government because of her work in forensic science. After the Tsunami disaster, the media dubbed her Dr. Death because of her dedicated mission to process and identify the dead. Despite her political conflicts with the police there, who don't like all the attention she's getting, she's made her government aware of the need for more DNA profiling. Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan, M.D./Deputy Director, Central Institute of Forensic Science: "If we have no traditional data, which means fingerprints or dental records, only DNA can help. And in many groups of the dead, there are three generations of the family, so there are no relatives remaining in that place." But it's not just all the Tsunami dead. Dr. Porntip wants her government to set up DNA criminal profiling within the Ministry of Justice. She's hoping Utah based Sorensen Genomics, which provided expertise and DNA testing kits for the disaster itself, will expand its partnership even more. Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan, M.D.: "I believe in the Buddhist, maybe the spirits of the dead want me to improve the forensic science in the justice system and to set up a missing person bureau." Thailand has 10-thousand unidentified remains each year awaiting identification. In addition to the partnership with the Sorensen Group, Dr. Porntip is setting up her own foundation in her country to raise the money to pay for the training of her people in this very important DNA science. Dr. Porntip would like teams of her own scientists to come to Utah to learn specifics about the Sorensen Group's unique DNA technology. BAAN NAM KHEM : Many survivors struggling to cope Published on January 26, 2005 A month after devastating waves struck this idyllic southern province, tsunami survivors are still struggling to come to terms with irrevocable losses. “My four children are still missing. I have yet to find them,” a grief-stricken Tawil Duangsai said yesterday. He has already found six members of his family, including his wife: they all perished on December 26. Tawil only survived because he was out on the open sea, fishing. “The waves hurled me back to the shore,” he said. As soon as he recovered his presence of mind, he went in search of his family. The loved ones he could find were all dead. Tawil has spent the past month scurrying between local temples that have doubled as makeshift morgues and body-identification centres, hoping that he could recover his missing children’s remains for a parting act of compassion: granting them proper funeral rites. “I hope the government will not move local victims out of Phang Nga,” he said, referring to the government’s recent suggestion that all the corpses of still-unidentified tsunami victims be relocated to Phuket. “I will have to keep on searching.” Tawil is one of many who remain unable to find closure for their pain. Orphaned children, especially, are finding it hard to return to a life of normality and resume their studies, said Ounjit Wangnara, assistant director of Baan Nam Khem School. “Some children have lost a parent. Others have lost both parents,” he said. “Most of them are still unable to move on.” Twelve of the school’s students were found dead, while another 15 are still listed as missing. Yet beyond the psychological wounds, the physical scars of the disaster also remain visible. While teachers and administrators are working hard to restore the school to its original conditions, several classes are still being held in makeshift constructions. Chokechai Ploysikham, a seventh grader, has been lending a hand to his teachers rebuilding the school. “I’ve completely lost interest in my studies,” the boy said. “I keep thinking of my two best friends who both died.” Other students live in fear that like a vengeful beast the tsunami might strike again. “No matter how hard I try, I just can’t concentrate in class,” Saowalak Muthavej, a fifth grader, said. “I can’t just accept what happened. I just can’t.” And even the school remains a constant reminder of the tragedy, she said. “Look, the destruction here is still so plain to see,” Saowalak said, pointing to the rubble. More than 20 parents have taken their children to other provinces that were not affected by the tsunami to help them forget the disaster faster, Ounjit said. “Parents are concerned that their children might remain sad and dejected if they have to see scenes of devastation every day,” he said. Some locals, though, are eager to reconcile with the sea. Maitree Jongkraijak, a community leader in Baan Nam Khem, stressed he and like-minded fishermen wanted to return to their old neighbourhoods, which were devastated by the giant waves, because temporary shelters set up by the government were too far inland. “As long as we remain here, we won’t be able to fish,” he said. “We’re good only at fishing and don’t know how to earn a living any other way.” Hong Klatalay, a leader of relocated sea-gypsies expressed similar sentiments. “Let us go back to where we belong,” he pleaded. Sooner or later, all survivors will have to come to terms with their loss, pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, and carry on, an elderly couple living at a temporary shelter agreed. “Nature has robbed us of everything,” Kloy Rattanawichien said. “The waves took my beloved children away.”