"‘It’s horrible beyond belief.’ That was the SMS I sent to my wife in the early afternoon on New Year’s Eve from Ban Muang Temple in Khao Lak, the region north of Phuket hardest hit by the tsumanis. Ban Muang...

When I accepted my friend’s offer to connect me with other volunteers in Phuket, I had a fairly clear idea what I was about to get myself into. My ability as a translator is nil, and though in hindsight my training in management and organization would have been useful, my key contribution would be to help with the physical labor, and definitely in the least desirable but greatest area of need: working with the dead.

...

It was at that point that one of the more veteran (i.e. 24-48 more hours of experience) volunteers imparted the most valuable piece of advice of my trip: take a long, hard look at the photos of the dead (posted on bulletin boards in front for identification purposes) before working up close with the bodies. What I saw was terrifying beyond comprehension. Horrendously bruised, bloodied, and mutilated bodies, twisted and contorted into grotesque death postures. Men and women, and most heartbreaking, the children. Open staring eyes, giving me an unequivocal idea of the terror and suffering they faced in their dying moments. They looked inhuman, like some monstrous alien race of the undead. All were bloated and swollen, and many were waterlogged and more than doubled in weight. What was most shocking was that I couldn’t discern Asian from Causasian, or any other ethnicity. Each body was similarly black & green, the features similarly swollen & bloated. No matter who you are, rich or poor, black or yellow or white, in the end we were all nothing more than rotting meat. It was a humbling revelation."

written by Paul on Metroblogging Bangkok.