March 2005
In almost twenty years of writing editorials, this is the hardest one I have ever had to compose.
The tsunami that inundated the shores of so many Asian countries left in its wake so much tragedy, loss and misery that words fail to express the grief, sorrow and compassion we at ScubaGlobe feel. As with so many others around the world, we lost friends and colleagues and saw the labours of many years wiped out in an instant. Our deepest and sincerest sympathies and condolences go out to everyone who lost a loved one in this terrible time.
We have been trying to think of any one single event in recorded history that took so many lives in so short a space of time, and we cannot think of one. Over 250,000 people lost their lives in the space of a couple of hours, an unprecedented disaster for humanity.
But out of this tragedy, humanity has risen to unprecedented levels of caring and sacrifice. The coffers of international aid agencies are swollen with donations from concerned donors from around the world anxious to help. Within days, volunteers started arriving from around the world in the affected areas, moved to action by the scale of the tragedy.
And on wave lashed beaches around the region, thousands of unrecorded acts of spontaneous and selfless heroism saved lives, gave comfort and succour and strived to help in whatever way possible.
The diving industry was no exception. Within moments of realising the scale of the disaster, dive operators, never usually known for cooperating overmuch with each other, were united in their immediate and effective desire to help out. Some immediately rushed to help in the grisly and harrowing task of recovering victims. One resort owner we know of spent five days searching for that mother, father and 17-year old brother of a 16-year old Czech boy who had returned from a fishing trip to find his family missing from the beach at Khao Lak. Others emptied their stocks of t-shirts and apparel to clothe victims who had lost everything. Diving professionals dug deep into their own pockets and gave generously to provide food, water, clothes, medicine and other essentials to victims. In the weeks following, as relief efforts got underway, they set about assessing the damage and making plans to rebuild. The one concern we have heard from every dive operator in the affected areas is that they want to continue supporting their staff and their families and the local communities in which they are located. To do this they need the tourists to return.
Overall, the diving community was lucky. With a few exceptions, most dive operations and their staff, and almost all of their customers, divers who were out diving, survived the tsunami. Practically every liveaboard boat and most day boats survived without mishap. Damage to dive centres was also not as bad overall as it could have been, most have rebuilt already. Even in areas like Khao Lak, where only one resort was left standing, almost all of the dive centres survived relatively intact.
Now they are facing the challenge of surviving and supporting their employees in areas that have seen up to a 90% drop in tourist arrivals since the tsunami hit, in areas that depend on the tourist dollar for survival.
Perhaps the best thing we as divers can do to help now is to continue visiting and spending money on diving vacations to ensure that one of the major income earners in the affected areas gets back on its feet as quickly as possible. That way, everyone benefits.
Safe diving everyone.
H |
