'Like a massive dam collapsing'

By Tim Fawcett, Phuket, Thailand

Some tourists in Phuket are still looking for friends and relatives

A few days ago the small beach town of Kamala, just north of Patong in Phuket, was a paradise of white sand and restaurants lit up by Christmas lights.

The sea surge, known as a tsunami, has left hellish conditions behind.

A dead body is taken away on the back of an open truck to add to the numbers already ticking up by the hour here.

Official casualty figures for Phuket are growing and in Kamala - which bore the full brunt of the tsunami - it is a town torn to sheds.

People sit and stare upon piles of rubble looking around themselves in disbelief and shock. Once their home, their business, now nothing.

The job of clearing up has begun - a filthy business and also a horrific one.

While police search a lagoon in rubber dinghies, hundreds of onlookers wait - nervous that one of the dead bodies found is a family member or friend.

'No insurance'

Janjira Sopanout, a 33-year-old Thai woman, has lived in Kamala six years and ran a small tourism business operating tours to the nearby islands of Phi Phi and Krabi as well as renting motorbikes.

"More than 10 people I know have died - more of my friends hurt. It was horrible - people were running everywhere screaming when the huge wave hit us."

She looks devastated by what has happened and explains how she has lost everything.

People are still coming to terms with the devastation Reporters' log

Her business is gone - her car was washed away by the torrent over 150 metres down the road, and now lies smashed to pieces on its end against a tree.

"None of us here have insurance for our businesses," she said in desperation.

"We will take at least three years to recover - tourists won't want to come here any more."

The scene here is a huge shock for those visiting the place - a favourite for those preferring a quiet holiday in a low-key resort without the hordes of visitors found in nearby Patong, with its bars and shows - itself now lying in rubble.

One tourist here for a week was trapped, though lucky his room was on the first floor.

He watched in horror for over one hour as the torrent swept people, trucks, cars and motorbikes along the road below with all kind of debris.

"People were trapped, others were getting cut by glass as they tried to escape the huge flood of water - it was just like a massive dam had been breached."

So much weight of water - up to 12 feet along the main street has torn everything away.

Solidarity

A massive reconstruction is needed if this small town stands any hope of getting back to normal business.

There is no trace of the beachside restaurants - the whole beach has gone where they once stood.

Shops and banks have been left as a skeletal structure, their frontages smashed and the insides ripped out, now piled with rubble after the water receded.

The street is a ruin of power cables draped over debris and broken glass - a shop front still has in tatters its tinsel sign declaring Happy New Year - not for these people.

Someone has rescued a picture of the Queen of Thailand and propped it up against a stool.

You can smell the despondency, but already there are signs of clean-up activity.

Not much can be saved - a computer lies crushed and covered in mud, and a plastic calculator face down - technology that helped keep this place ticking at its own pace.

Reports of looting are occasional - most people are helping each other and families and friends organising accommodation for their relatives.

A crackly loudspeaker blares out instructions to people in need of food and water - power is not expected for at least two more days.

Helicopters are overhead, and on the ground the authorities are keeping order.

It will be some considerable time before Kamala is once again one of Phuket's happy and unspoilt beach resorts.

Their world gone, it is amazing to see the Thais showing such a brave face, bravery and solidarity.