Mr Hugh Coulson

In the aftermarth of the Asian Tsunami in 2004 I had been evacuated from the island of Koh Phi Phi to the port of Krabi on the mainland some 48kms away. This was 56hrs after the waves and I was at the international hotel that had been set up as ane emergengcy centre for people to gather and get repatriated, get help and put their name on a list or check if loved ones had put their name on a list, that sort of thing. I was adding my name to said lists at a group of tables with 8 interpreters working away. As I was going through this process I noticed a young American woman talking to the next door interpreter to mine (on my right handside), explaining she had also been on Phi Phi and had lost everything, her bungalow had been swept away and she had lost her passport, wallet and all her belongings. On my left handside at the same time was a middle aged American woman who had been waiting at the main peir in Krabi for the boats to come in from the island for friends who were still missing. Whilst she was waiting she had seen a wallet floating in the water at the foot of the steps of the peir, which she retrieved and was handing in. The interpreter went throught he wallet and found identification inside which had a driving liscence with a photo of the woman on my right. a sense a immense shock came across all of us as the realisation that the wallet had been reunited with its owner after floating 48kms across the sea, had been retrieved and most astonishing of all been handed in at the exact time the owner was reporting its lost. It was quite overwhelming and tears were shed. The money was still in the water!