Khao Lak 2004 Blog

Today a swedish journalist asked me to help her out with a very small detail for a major article about Khao Lak and Mai’s Quiet Zone. And just because I belive she is one of the best journalists in Sweden, I was happy to help her.

After a few days of not coming anywhere in the search for my friend I feel desperation getting under my skin. I can not do anything to make the situation better. I am not doing anything good to help out… at all… So a couple of days ago I used my website www.tweed.se to raise some money for the MQZ trust that is on the Mai’s Quiet Zone homepage (http://www.pepperbird.de/mqz/trust.php). I have persued friends and clients to open their wallets too. The trust was initiated to help out the surviving staff and the families of the staff that perished. And today I was happy to send about 250 US dollars to the trust.

It seems Khao Lak is a very flat place. I have found aerial pictures showing the beach and also the resort where my friend stayed. There is absolutely no way to escape. No high structures of solid nature… no hills… nothing. The shallow waters can be the answer why the wave became so high.

I think the first wave struck her particular resort from south west at about 20 minutes past 10 in the morning local time. About 25 minutes earlier the water withdrew from the beach. People where watching in growing exitement. Some even walked out on the former sea bottom. Many shoot pictures and video. A person told me he where shooting this spectaular scene with his video camera when he after a while saw a white line horisontally over the picture. It looked like statics and he thought the camera was broken. He did not understand that what he saw was the waves coming in a few kilometers away.

When people at last understood that a wave was coming, many never thought it be very dangerous. Not untill it was to late to escape. Another man told me that he was standing on a deck a few meters above the beach when the waves hit. He just thought it would be a mess in the garden. Not very much more than that. A group of guests started running a few minutes before the waves reach land. When the wave hit them, they had run about 100 meter inland. One of the persons in the group was swept more then 1000 meter, into the village of Bang Niang. The second wave was much larger… it must have been 10 meter high or more. There where almost no buildings in that particilar area that could survive that second wave.

In that single resort, more then 3/4 of the guest is still missing. And many of the survivors made it becouse they happened to be on a day trip away from Khao Lak.

I got mails from many survivors of the particular resort and we exchange what little information we have. I get stories and now also pictures. I am starting to get a grip on what happened over there.

I am deeply in gratitude for all the help I get from so many people.

A couple of intense days to say the least. Still no sign of my friend. And it seems that people is losing hope very quickly now. I wish I just could find someone that knows anything about her whereabouts. I keep contacting people that could know something.

There is absolutely no good documentation or map over Khao Lak. I just find crude commercial maps. It is hard to figure out what kind of place this is.

Talked to a guy who met my friend a few days before the tsunami on a trip to the Similian Islands. It really felt good. But he also said that she might have changed resort. I need to find out what resort that could be!

The name is Mai’s Quet Zone. It was not a big resort. In fact it was small and simple. And very relaxed. And it was for it’s tranquility and simplicity it’s guests came from all over the world. It was made up of a dozen of small, wooden bungalows sorounding a wonderfull garden. And it was situated right on the beach.

There was a small restaurant and a small massage. And in a tree on the beach, there was a swing. It was famous in the area and a trade mark for Mai’s Quiet Zone.

The resort has a web page with pictures and a message board. This site was set up by a german guest who want to help out. Youi can find the site here: http://www.maisquietzone.com/

(The picture above was taken a few days before the tsunami and shows Mai’s Quiet Zone from the water front with the famous swing in the foreground. Thanks Dirk for the picture. And for everything else!)

Alltough there has been plenty about Khao Lak in the media the last two weeks, I dont really have an idea of what is is… is it a beach, a village? I called my father-in-law, who I knew got great knowledge about Thailand, for some information. And later the same day he sent me a hand full of scans from magazines and broshures with pictures and maps of various quality.

Khao Lak is a very small village a couple of hours drive north of Phuket. The travel agencys refer to a much larger area when they talk about Khao Lak. An area that is 20-30 kilometer long and one or two kilometers wide, along the beach and it is full of resorts and hotels. It streches through several small villages along a very streight highway from south to north: Khao Lak, Ban Bang La On, Ban Bang Niang, Ban Kuk Khak, Ban Bang Khaya, Ban Khao Ba and Ban Bang Sak.

I have been searching for my friend all day yesterday and all night. I have found out where she was when the waves struck. I got the name of the resort and I have been in contact with a few survivors from there. No one has seen her. I am putting notes on the lists in hope that someone maybe know her whereabouts. There is a list with names on people who is being or has been treated in Thai hospitals and I found her name in one of them. But it is very unlikely that it really is she.

The picture above is a list of injured and dead people registered up to january 5 at Thai hospitals. It is 35 meter (117 A4 papers) long and here it is shrinked down to 10 meter to just to fit.

The disaster had been going on in the media for a couple of weeks… and it was all growing in proportions. It was feared that no less then a five thousand Swedish peopla had perished in the waves.

I knew that so many where going to Khao Lak this vinter. I tried to think of all I knew who could be down there. Relatives and friends. I made many phone calls to check out if they all where ok. And they all where. But I had a bad feeling I had forgot to check up someone.

When the Christmas holidays where over I returned to work. All of a sudden it struck me… Just like that. A cooworker where on holiday with her family in Sri Lanka. I went all cold. After a few hours we found out that she had survived the tsunami. Just barely.

Two days passed. I thought, now it is all over… this was going to be ok. It has been two weeks from the disaster and I surely would have got the word by now if there where someone I know that had been lost.

But I was wrong. Magnus called me this morning. A very beloved friend was missing. He had no details but gave me names on people who know more.