Tsunami: Wave of Destruction tells of the catastrophic impact of last year's tsunami on four families in the village of Nam Khem, near Phuket.
This story is made all the more poignant by the fact that the tragedy it depicts was replicated in villages all along Thailand's Andaman Coast, as well as in Aceh, Sri Lanka, India and as far away as Somalia.
When the tsunami struck, I was in Kuala Lumpur and the first I heard about it was from the Department of Foreign Affairs's official in Dublin, who provides an emergency service at weekends and over the Christmas period. When I reached Phuket the following day, this beautiful holiday island housed an international community of grief and loss. It was depressing to watch official estimates of the death toll multiply by the day. In all, some 5,400 people perished in Thailand, of whom almost half were foreigners, something that drew special international attention to Phuket and its environs. The deadly waves spared no one. The King of Thailand's grandson died not far from Nam Khem village.
Caught up in an unprecedented emergency, it was uplifting to receive supportive phone calls from the President, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The small Irish community in Phuket was of great assistance and colleagues were rushed out from Dublin to help. There was incessant contact with the emergency team that had been rapidly assembled in Iveagh House. Diplomacy is a varied activity, but the welfare of citizens is always paramount. In the wake of the tsunami, tracing our people, and facilitating their return to Ireland, became an obsession for everyone involved.
While I did not witness the destructive wave, I saw plenty of its tragic aftermath. This was visible in overstretched hospitals, in makeshift morgues and in the unbearable images of missing persons pinned in their hundreds on notice boards by desperate friends and relatives. Many of these were holiday snapshots, often capturing whole families in the peak of health and happiness before cruel fate swept them away.
Most of all, I remember the tales of the survivors, stories of people submerged by a raging tide who felt their number was up, but who somehow managed to cling to life. I was moved by the fortitude of those who sought in vain for lost loved ones. I doubt I will ever forget the inconsolable grief of one American woman after she had been told of the death of her beautiful, talented daughter.
Some weeks after the tsunami, I accompanied the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern to some of the most severely affected areas, where we saw the utter devastation wreaked by the tsunami. In Nam Khem village, where Wave of Destruction is set, sizeable fishing boats could be seen perched in gardens some distance from the sea where the ferocious wave had deposited them. This was the worst-hit village in Thailand and its population is now half of what it had been before the sea engulfed its misfortunate inhabitants.
Wave of Destruction is not a book about the tsunami, for there is no explanation of its cause and no overview of its calamitous impact across Asia. This story operates at the micro-level, giving us an intimate portrait of a handful of locals who were struck by the wave. There are moving accounts of desperate efforts to locate lost relatives and insights into the venality of those in positions of authority who hoarded donated items. Unscrupulous individuals allegedly came in from other parts of Thailand in order to pose as victims in the hope of material gain. Some victims had their land taken by developers who claimed ownership and hired toughs to deny them access to their ruined houses. One of the book's characters was persuaded to convert to Christianity by the prospect of assistance from the Church in rebuilding shattered lives.
While in phuket, I was deeply impressed by the way the relief operation was run and by the helpfulness of local officials in conditions of great strain. At the emergency centre, help was readily and speedily available to victims. Interpreters were invariably on hand to assist. Thais showed great resilience and resourcefulness in these trying circumstances. It is no accident that they were one of the few Asian peoples to remain free of colonial rule.
There was multiple evidence of how calamity and adversity can bring out the best in us. Young people from all over the world, although dazed by their experiences, volunteered to go out to the most severely affected areas to tend to the grizzly chore of retrieving bodies. Those stranded on the devastated Phi Phi Island spontaneously organised themselves so as to ensure that all those awaiting rescue had food, water, care and shelter.
Geographer and writer Erich Krauss has written a moving book. His characters, ordinary villagers whose lives were a struggle even before they became victims of the tsunami, are easy to admire as they cope with extreme adversity with strength and dignity. The descriptions of the series of waves that hit their village are dramatic and believable. As the anniversary of the tsunami approaches, I feel deep sympathy for the families of its many victims.
Wave of Destruction is a book worth reading by anyone who wants to know what it was like to be in the firing line when nature's merciless fury was so capriciously unleashed.
Daniel Mulhall was Ireland's ambassador to Thailand from 2001 to 2005
Wave of Destruction: One Thai Village and its Battle with the Tsunami By Erich Krauss. Vision, 271pp. £10.99