Forum.RttP{Tsunami crybabies}

This kinda pisses me off. These people need to quit whining and be grateful anyone gives a fuck at all about them.

Thai survivors say aid went to foreigners first
By Crispian Balmer, Reuters | January 4, 2005

BAN NAMKHEM, Thailand -- As a clean up operation finally gets into gear in this devastated Thai fishing village, some of the survivors complain that the authorities gave priority to foreign tourists rather than them.

They believe well over 1,000 friends and relatives died when the tsunami slammed into their homes on Dec. 26, obliterating buildings and tossing large fishing boats hundreds of yards inland.

"Help only really started to arrive three days after the wave. If they had got here sooner, they might have found more survivors," said Sonsak Jamradchai, a 39-year-old foodseller who lives on the edge of the destruction area. His family survived the disaster but he lost a number of friends.

"No-one knew this village existed and everyone paid attention to the foreigners," he said, staring out over the mounds of debris that now make up much of Ban Namkhem, near the Khao Lak beach where hundreds of tourists were killed.

On Tuesday, teams of workers were busy restoring snapped power lines and dozens of soldiers were helping clear up the rubble and mud that has invaded the few buildings left standing.

"The government got here late," said teacher Bomboon Kengpob. "Only simple fishermen live here and the authorities were more worried about the tourist resorts."

The killer tsunami swept up a large swathe of the Thai coastline, but reserved its biggest punch for a stretch of beach dotted by luxury hotels and simple fishing villages.

Foreign tourists have been swift to praise the generosity and selflessness of their hosts as Thais rallied round in the wake of the disaster.

People in Ban Namkhem -- whose name translates as "village of salty water" -- said the tsunami also created a great sense of solidarity in their community.

"We all just helped each other," said 43-year-old Ratree Yuankeaw, who lost her mother and two grandchildren.

Many of the survivors have moved to a makeshift camp set up on nearby government land where food, water and clothing is distributed by a handful of exhausted helpers.

By contrast, scores of foreign volunteers have been assigned to help at a temple up the road where teams of international forensic experts are trying to identify the dead tourists.

Levi Blankenship, from Demani, Alaska, decided to come to the Ban Namkhem camp, where he handed out about $10,000 in cash he and his friends raised for the victims.

While there, he cleaned and stitched up some of the injured, whose wounds risked turning sceptic in the humid heat. "I'm not a doctor, but anyone can do this," he said. "There aren't enough doctors here," he added.

"Most of the Thais who died in the tsunami died here and yet the attention seems to be going elsewhere. It is chaotic here. These people need more help," he said as he fished some more bills from his trouser pockets and distributed the cash.