Tsunami survivors hail rescuers
2005-02-23 04:07
Johannesburg- Tsunami survivors shared memories and thanked their rescuers in
a moving, tearful event in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Tuesday
evening.
"I cannot explain the relief I felt when the plane came to pick
us up, I felt a burden had been lifted," Leslie Dewit told other
survivors, their families, and those involved in relief and rescue
missions.
She was referring to the mercy plane, arranged by the department
of foreign affairs, Discovery Health and Netcare, and the SA Jewish
Board of Deputies.
Dewit lost her father, Louis Panaino, and brother Bevan
when the tsunami struck Phi Phi island in Thailand.
Breaking into tears, she described the turmoil she felt not
knowing how she and her family - including her mother Myrtle
Panaino, sister-in-law Ilse and niece Chane - were going to get
home from disaster-struck Thailand.
"We had no money, no connection with the outside world," she
said.
"This evening is not to re-live the horrors of that day... but
to revel in the goodness and the kindness that was shown," said
board chair Zev Krengel.
"I am humbled to be here tonight surrounded by heroes."
Survivors were encouraged to meet those involved in relief
efforts, which led to a desperate plea from the family of Anita and
Anthony De Gouveia to find out about their last moments.
The couple went missing on Phi Phi island.
A memorial wall commemorated those who died in the Tsunami in
Thailand on December 26 last year.
In addition to the De Gouveias and Panainos, the South Africans
who lost their lives were: Avadya Berman, Daphne Coetzee, Magda
Findlay, Roy Fitzsimmons, Morris Isaacson, Stefan le Roux, Paul
Sender, Lisa Sun Lung, Anna Fitzgerald, Nicky Leibowitz and Dolores
Ribeiro.
The disaster left more than 150 000 dead in South Asia,
including the 15 South Africans. According to latest reports 30 000
to 100 000 people are still missing presumed dead.
- SAPA