Homepage away from home: February 2005

Phuket runway

Helicopters and debris at Phuket Airport
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo.

This is the Phuket runway on January 8th. Just a couple hundred feet in the opposite direction is the ocean. The waves took out the fence and washed debris onto the runway. Neither the airport or runway were badly affected and there was just this small bit of debris visible as our plane taxied for take off. The helicopters on the tarmac are from all over the world there to assist in the relief efforts in the area.

Missing people

Missing people from the tsunami posted at Phuket Airport
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo.

Nothing really prepared us for the emotions we would feel when we arrived at the Phuket airport and found several pillars covered in photo's of the missing. Sean took this photo because I just couldn't. You could tell that loved ones either in Phuket at the time of the tsunami or those who had just landed from other countries had hastily posted these signs. Most were quickly written by hand with a description of their loved ones and where they had been staying. Photo's were stapled or taped to the page and some folks posted photocopies on each side of every pillar.

So many images were of children often more than one from the same family. Some were of entire families. I saw one photo of a family where someone had come back and circled the face of one person and wrote "found" next to it. I've slowly come to realize that these pillars were more about hope than anything else. I hope that more people were able to come back and circle other found loved ones or remove their signs altogether.

My reminder

Great Wave of Kanagawa by Hokusai
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo.

Being a resident of Japan visiting Thailand when the tsunami hit, this print will forever be my personal icon of that event. It reminds me of the power and reach of Mother Nature and exactly how small and powerless we are if she decides to exact physical harm on us.