''It we tough meeting the people…the aunts, uncles, cousins, mothers and fathers…who rushed to Thailand spending every day looking through hospitals and body bags hoping some way they'd find their missing loved one. Yet though it all we saw perseverance and strength as people from different cultures and parts of the world held hands and did the work that many could never dream of and others might recoil in horror at the thought. Here are parts of a few of my blogs from that time.''
I'll never forget that morning and while so much time has passed, it seems like just a few weeks ago. We started our morning very early here on the west coast the day after Christmas five years ago. My producer Jeff Nguyen and I got the call as the sun was just beginning to rise over California and within two hours we were packed and on a plane headed for destruction we could have never imagined, or prepared to see.
For the next three and a half weeks we watched as people from around the globe came to do anything and everything to help the people of Southeast Asia. Despite criticism from other nations, American Marines stationed in Thailand were me of the first "boots on the ground" helping those in need. Americans ended up being the most generous with time, money and hands on work that continues to this day, yet you don't hear other governments saying any of that….at the time some people were quick to criticize and promise, but slow to act.
The pictures in this slide show are just a few of hundreds. Many more still stick in my mind. I could have never imagined the destruction in Patong Beach for example. Homes and businesses four blocks in from the ocean were leveled, yet areas on bluffs overlooking the million dollar view…left untouched by the incredible force of mother nature. We saw dead bodies and a human head on Phi Phi island. People there lined the dock, both alive and dead.
Makeshift morgues could be found across the countryside, trailers full of dry ice brought to try and preserve the bodies of those lost as best as possible. Meantime everywhere we looked there were stacks of coffins being built and plywood walls erected with either pictures of dead bodies waiting for identification, or pictures of families with arrows pointed to those unaccounted for.
It we tough meeting the people…the aunts, uncles, cousins, mothers and fathers…who rushed to Thailand spending every day looking through hospitals and body bags hoping some way they'd find their missing loved one. Yet though it all we saw perseverance and strength as people from different cultures and parts of the world held hands and did the work that many could never dream of and others might recoil in horror at the thought. Here are parts of a few of my blogs from that time.