26 December 2005

Tsunami anniversary

by Philster, onboard the Esperanza

After watching the Southern Ocean the last 48 hours, several times having to go out in it to secure things, I will never cease to be in awe of the power of the Ocean.

It was this day 12 months ago that many people on the edge of the Indian Ocean felt the full force of the sea. On New Years Eve I drove north to Auckland to catch a flight the next morning to Singapore to join the Rainbow Warrior.

I had seen newspaper and television footage but nothing could compare or prepare us for what we saw.

We set sail the next day for Sumatra, to the regions closest to the epicentre to work with MSF (Doctors without Borders) in setting up field hospitals, water supplies and moving 500 tons of food and supplies. Most of it done by hand.

Greenpeace had no media on board, this was from the heart like all Greenpeace work, and this time we didn't need the world to know the crisis was happening, they already knew.

We witnessed the terrible destruction and still never could fully understand the immensity of the power of water. Coastal communities that relied on the ocean were gone. "The sea givith, the sea taketh back". We saw where waves had peaked at 30 meters travelling 400 nautical miles an hour removing anything in its path.

We worked with individuals who had pulled themselves into groups, who had lost family members. One had lost 17 of his family, one all 31 of his family members gone. My heart and thoughts go out to the people of Sumatra who after so much devastation still could find a smile, a wave and a "tere mikasi" (thank you).

I got ashore many times to meet the people when supplies were being distributed and drove inflatable boats around some of the worst areas, Blang Me, Banda Acheh, Medan. It occurred to me that the areas that still had mangroves complete, not destroyed for aquaculture survived the wall of water best. I trust that this lesson is never lost and while Greenpeace begins a campaign on the Life of the Oceans for a year we can remind people of the importance of looking after our coastlines.

The saying around Bandah Acheh, the area where most of the mangroves had been removed for aquaculture, was "what a pity". My New Year's resolution would be that in years to come the next generation aren't standing looking at a dying ocean, over-fished, polluted and devoid of whales saying "what a pity".

Comments

Posted by: daftsavant at December 26, 2005 4:18 PM

Posted by: bucharin at December 26, 2005 9:57 PM

Posted by: francois at December 28, 2005 10:22 AM

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