Limerick woman helps families in aid effort

A young Irish woman, who survived the Asian tsumami disaster during a holiday to Thailand is helping local families devastated by the Tsunami to rebuild their lives.

A young Irish woman, who survived the Asian tsunami disaster during a holiday to Thailand is helping local families devastated by the Tsunami to rebuild their lives.

Deirdre Corbett, aged 29, from Limerick has joined forces with several Irish and English friends to raise money for people in the village of Kamala, which was one of the areas worst affected on the Thai island of Phuket.

Just today, some 29 more bodies were found washed up on the beach at Kamala where hundreds of people were swept away by the massive tidal wave.

Only rubble now remains of the beach village which was home to 25 local families.

Deirdre, who runs a marketing business in Limerick, had planned to ring in the New Year with her Irish friends during their annual Christmas holiday to Thailand.

However, shortly after she arrived in Phuket on St Stephen’s Day Deirdre saw the full scale of the tragedy unfolding and she narrowly escaped disaster when she witnessed a massive wall of water on the horizon as she was travelling by boat from Phuket.

“I wouldn’t feel right staying here unless I did something, it would be completely disrespectful. When it became clear that there was no threat of disease we decided to stay on and do something to help as we wouldn’t feel comfortable partying when people here have lost so much,” she said.

The Irish woman with the help of her friends has set up a special bank account to help the people of Kamala to rebuild their lives and in the first 24 hours alone the fundraising drive raised more than €10,000.

All the money raised will go directly to the affected families in Kamala village and the distribution of the money will be weighted according to the numbers in each family and their level of need.

Deirdre and her friends said they realise their efforts are not a long-term solution but will offer a quick-fix to the people of Kamala until the re-building programme gets underway.

The special account is open until January 12. Contributions can be made to Deirdre Corbett, Phuket Aid, Bank Of Ireland, Dooradoyle, Limerick. The account number is 7715 7014 and the sort code is 90-41-81.