Dan Vermilyer doesn’t know whether or not to consider himself
lucky. But the life-long San Juan Bautista resident is counting his
blessings, two days after returning from Thailand where his
vacation led him into the wake of the deadly tsunami that has
claimed close to 150,000 lives.
San Juan Bautista – Dan Vermilyer doesn’t know whether or not to consider himself lucky. But the life-long San Juan Bautista resident is counting his blessings, two days after returning from Thailand where his vacation led him into the wake of the deadly tsunami that has claimed close to 150,000 lives.
Dan, 39, and his son James, 15, were supposed to be in the coastal town of Krabi on Dec. 26, the day of one of the greatest catastrophes in modern history. But they got behind schedule while in Bangkok, Thiland’s capital, seeing the sites and arrived a day after the destructive waters had receded.
“We had heard there was an earthquake and storm, but since we didn’t feel it, we didn’t think it was a big deal,” said Dan.
But as soon as they got off the bus, they realized that something much more serious had occurred. Groups of tourists with packs strapped to their backs where anxiously searching for any mode of transportation leaving the resort area that had been directly in the path of the towering waves. And as Vermilyers approached the town with their group of eight other people, the fleeing foreigners told them to forget about visiting the demolished village.
“People we encountered basically described it as a war zone,” said Dan, who owns The Lost Forge, a blacksmithing business in San Juan. “They said many things had been destroyed and there really wasn’t anything there.”
But instead of turning around, the father and son asked the local authorities what they could do to help. They were directed to an immigration office where Dan was put in charge of reading names off foreigners’ passports found washed up on the beaches, in hopes of reconnecting them with their identification and hopefully a quick passage home. Dan felt strongly about helping the local community because throughout the trip, which started Dec. 16, he had experienced the generosity of the Thai people and wanted to help them during their time of need, he said.
“I had gotten a lot from the country and didn’t want to leave without being able to give back,” he said.
The father and son hitched a ride into town in the back of a pick-up truck and were shocked by the brutal destruction caused by tidal waves – which scientists estimate traveled at speeds of up to 500 mph. But what struck them the most were the blank looks on the faces of people whose lives had been shattered by the rushing waters. Debris was piled everywhere and, at times, ambulance sirens rushing throughout the chaos punctured the air like a symphony to the destruction. They remember seeing truckloads of dead bodies driven through the streets on their way to the morgue, hidden from sight with only a simple tarp. A deadly quiet hung in the air like a lingering reminder of the apocalyptic day before.
“There was no hysteria, no screaming and yelling, but more of a solemn feeling in the air,” said Dan.
James, a freshman at Anzar High School, said he will always wonder if he or his father could have been one of the somber faces stumbling through the wreckage in search of signs their loved ones hadn’t died.
“All this time, we were just thinking ‘Oh my God, this could have been us’,” said James.
After arriving in town, Dan left James and the two other teens in the group at a hotel, and began working at the makeshift immigration office that had sprung up after the catastrophe. Using a megaphone, he spent several hours reading names off passports with hopes their owners were alive to claim them. Sometimes they were, he said, but for others only an eerie silence followed his cries.
“You could see passports belonging to entire families, yet no one was there to pick them up,” he said.
In the days following the tsunami, communication was spotty and survivors found floating in the deep ocean waters were taken to different hospitals. Children were separated from their parents and husbands from wives – each fearing the worst had happened, said Dan.
On Monday night, Dan moved to a hospital, where his English was needed to relay information from patients to the mostly Thai-speaking staff. Although Dan does not speak the language, he still went around and talked to survivors, asking what they needed. Many wanted him to simply phone relatives at home and tell them they had survived. Later, James joined his dad at the hospital and compiled lists of people who were ready to leave on flights to Bangkok or nearby Phuket where the foreign embassies were located. Meanwhile, more survivors quickly filled the vacated hospital beds that soon spilled into the hallways, offices and even outside the hospital walls.
The pair spent two days working at the hospital and were amazed at how much people cared for their loved ones, Dan said.
“They weren’t worried about themselves as much as they wanted to know what was going on with their family members or friends,” he said.
And although they would have liked to have helped more, the Vermilyers left after two days, heeding the U.S. embassy’s warning that an epidemic would soon spread disease throughout the area.
They spent the remainder of their time relaxing in Kohtao, an island paradise on the country’s eastern side untouched by tsunami’s hand, but were still haunted by the horrible images they had witnessed just days before.
New Year’s Eve came while they were on the island, but it was strange to see people celebrating less than a week after the catastrophe, Dan said.
“It was a weird feeling for me, seeing people partying and dancing,” he said.
The experiences the two shared – from the jungles of Northern Thailand to the ravaged resort town and the island were they spent the last part of their trip – are only now starting to sink in and it will take much more time to process all that they saw, Dan said.
“I don’t know if there are even words to describe what we felt and saw,” he said. Watching footage of the tsunami’s destruction on the news, he still doesn’t know how to react and has a hard time comprehending the immensity of the event, he said. However, he was forever transformed during his time with the Thai people and plans on returning to the country soon, he said.
“When you think of all those little experiences and multiply them by thousands, it just become hard to process,” he said. “How do you even begin talking about something like this?”
Karina Ioffee covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at (831)637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected]
