Heather's CTV Interview (Tu, Jan. 4)

From Heather's posting today:

"also, those in ontario, i have an interview shceduled for tomorrow night (tuesday night) with ctv in patong re working with the embassy. should be interesting."

Probably check out both the regular CTV Newscasts as well as CTV NewsNet (ch. 62 in our area).

New Year's Email from Joanna

Joanna was in France when the tsunami hit. As she mentions Taiwan and the entire South China Sea area was buffered from it by the Thailand/Malaysia peninsula and the eastern Indonesian islands.

Here is the content of her email sent out earlier today on her return from Paris.

Hey Everyone,

Many of you have asked if I and the rest of Taiwan was affected by the tsunami of last weekend. While the actual land was not affected our hearts were. If you look on a map, you will see that Taiwan was separated from the tsunami by the Thailand peninsula.

It is incredible to think that I was in Phuket and Phi Phi, Thailand only three months ago with my mother enjoying the same vacation as many of the victims before they were hit. A friend of mine who worked with me at McGinnis Landing in London, Heather Burtch, is currently living in Phuket town and is seeing the whole disaster first hand. Phuket town is on the Eastern side of Phuket Island and as far as I know, nothing was destroyed there. However, the beaches on the Western side, where my mother and I stayed, have been incredibly ravaged.

Heather has been kind enough to keep her family and friends posted with updates and photos. I have included her latest letter and you will be amazed to see what has happened and what needs to be done. Yes, Heather, my mother saw the article about you in The Toronto Star. Unfortunately, your name was reported as Heather Burton but the message was relayed.

I ask you all to also take a look at her website which includes her personal letters and photos. It is incredible.

Take care everyone and be thankful for all you have.

Love, Jo.

Heather's Letter

This is the letter from Heather referenced by Joanna; there is no date which makes it difficult to put a time frame on some of her comments. Heather's blog is an excellent and very poignant first person account of the emotions experienced by a foreigner first hand and her attempts to find ways to provide help. She ended up assisting the Canadian embassy delegation that came down to Phuket in the days immediately after the tsunami hit.

(Update - Jan. 3: she also has put this on her blog today.)

i have about three minutes left here before they kick me out so this has to be short.

i haven't checked my email in a few days, so i am sorry for not responding personally. thank you all for your emails, i really appreciate it.

things here are pretty awful. nothing improving, the numbers just increasing.
i appreciate the emails and i have heard from a few of you that you would like to come and help. that would be amazing. as of yet i haven't heard of companies sponsoring individuals to come over here, but really, all you have to do is ask. there are lots of people out there with lots of money. money that would make a difference, money that could get you here to help out (such as you, chris...i think it is an amazing idea.)

see who you can ask, and i will do what i can.

i think it is just hard to be here now because i am so far from family. when so many people have had their families ripped apart it seems so bizarre to me that i would choose to be so far from mine. but i will stay, for now. i miss you all so much, now more than ever.

as for the question of my students, i will see on tuesday when school resumes. we will see who is there and who is not. one of the best students had his mother taken from him as well as his home. i want to protect him from the world. why do these things happen?

my blog should be updated tomorrow with a little more information such as where money can be sent, etc. check out my blog, www.isobella.blogspot.com and click on the link "sharp mama." she is a canadian in phuket, 9 months pregnant and has a great deal of information on relief efforts.

oye. as i sit here there is a scandanavian man next to me looking through photos of the dead for his wife. what a bizarre time this is.

bisous and peace

love heather

the woods are lovely dark and deep
but i have promises to keep
and miles to go before i sleep
and miles to go before i sleep...

Sharp Mama

You will also find it interesting to read the accounts of "Sharp Mama", one of the Heather's Canadian acquaintances who has spent over six years living in Thailand.

She points out an update on the conditions at the various beaches along the west Thailand coast a week after the tsunami. "Simon J Hand, editor of Asia-Pacific TROPICAL HOMES and a long-time resident of Phuket, reports on the remarkable resilience of the island following Sunday’s tsunami and the speed with which those areas worst hit are recovering."

It highlights Patong Beach as one of the most damaged areas. For two nights Ev and Joanna stayed at a hotel on a mountainside above Kata Beach ... also covered in this report.

The Holiday Inn at Patong Beach

Yesterday the Toronto Star published a separate section on the Tsunami. The centre spread contained three pictures, from a video taken by a British family from their higher floor balcony, of the wave coming onto the Holiday Inn property. (The peaked hut and pathway on the lower left are the clues.)

Apparently the hotel has two "complexes"; Ev and Joanna stayed in a further back complex that may not have been damaged by the wave. Heather included a picture of the hotel entranceway after the tsunami on her blog. She refers to Joanna and Ev in her accompanying text.

First strike on the hotel property...

Hitting Patong Beach across the road from the Holiday Inn

First indications of a monster wave...