TSUNAMI THAILAND DISASTER 2004
POST INCIDENT REPORT- INDIAN OCEAN
TSUNAMI THAILAND BY MEMBERS OF UKFSSART DOG TEAMS
Our thoughts are with all the families who have lost loved
ones in this tragic incident.
INTRODUCTION
The
following report is a brief overview of the experiences of Sub Officer Hampton
and Divisional Officer Andy Dermott who are both members of the
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue UKFSSART team and
deployed to Thailand in response to the Boxing Day Tsunami. Our
assistance was requested on Boxing Day, we
flew out to Thailand on the 27th December and returned on
January 1st. The deployment was a natural progression of a canine
search project, the details of which are attached as appendix 1.
OPERATIONS
Following our arrival in Bangkok, we transferred to a flight for Phuket and
once there, travelled north to the town of Takua
Pa
in Phang Nga province. This was the principal town in the province and was the
command centre for the provincial Local Emergency Management Authority.
We met up with the Search
Dog Unit and were informed that we would be working in the Khoa Lak area. The
following morning (Wed 29th) we travelled to the area of operations. The Major
in command of the team decided to split the team in two, with both me and Keith
acting as an advisor to a sub section of 3 dogs, their handlers, body recovery
teams and a section commander. One team was tasked with continuing search
operations in the Soffitel Magic Lagoon, Khoa Lak where the day before the team
had recovered approximately 100 bodies. That morning other military units, a
German team, and ourselves located and recovered another 40 bodies. In the
afternoon we rejoined the other team who had earlier been searching a
construction site on
the
Khoa Lak peninsular. These searches had located nearly 150 bodies although over
100 were not recovered at that time as they were in a basement.
A joint search was then carried out on a hotel complex that was largely used
by Scandinavians. This hotel was also located on the Khoa Lak peninsular. The
search revealed only a few bodies. During the search we met a Norwegian police
officer who informed us that there were nearly 1200 Scandinavians (the majority
of which were Swedes) missing.
The next day (Dec 30th) the team returned to the Khoa Lak peninsular area and
this time we were tasked with completing a search of a hotel complex called the
Bamboo Orchard where there were 70 persons still unaccounted for. The team again
split into two and searched different parts of the complex. Again only bodies
were recovered. This search took most of the day.
At the end of this search, the Major in command withdrew the team back to our
base at Takua Pa. Once there he liaised with the military command team and as a
result the team was stood down as it was rightly decided that there was now
little chance of locating any live survivors.
RETURN
Keith and I left Takua Pa on the evening of the 30th, stayed that night in
Pkuket and then caught an early morning flight to Bangkok, At Bangkok we were
able to book seats on that evening's flight to London, where we arrived at 06.30
the following day.
APPENDIX 1- CANINE SEARCH
PROJECT BACKGROUND
For the last 4 years,
members of the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Team have been cooperating with
Effem Foods Thailand in
sponsoring the Thai Army, Military Dog Center in a
project to assist the development of the units Collapsed Structure Search Dog
capability. These dogs are the only trained collapsed structure dogs in
Thailand. Effem Thailand a part of the Mars Group, funds this project, the local
UK agents being Masterfoods based in Melton Mowbray. The project involves the
acquisition and development of search dogs that are competent to operate in an
urban collapsed structure environment. Brigade members regularly fly out to
Thailand to work with the dogs and their handlers, the costs being sponsored by
Effem Foods Thailand. Materfoods also supports the Fire Service Urban Search
and Rescue Dog Team in the UK and team members from other Brigades have
recently been involved in the project.
Following the Tsunami on
Boxing Day, the Colonel in command of the Dog Section was ordered to put the
Search Dog Unit on standby to respond to Phuket. He decided to request the
support of the UK trainers via Effem in order to provide technical and command support to
the Thai Officer in Charge as this would be the first time that the unit had
operated in a real incident. The request for assistance was received late on
Boxing Day, and our Chief Fire Officer agreed that our support could be
provided. Keith Ring, an Assistant Inspector of HMFSI (which is part of ODPM)
and the coordinator of the Fire Services Search and Rescue Dog Team, was also
consulted and also supported the deployment. He agreed to liaise with DFID in
line with normal UKFSSART arrangements. Effem facilitated the travel
arrangements from the UK to Thailand.
Further
details of this project can be found at this link
Asia tsunamis explained in graphics Asia
Map showing the areas effected in S E
Asia by tsunamis
