Clinton, Bush's tsunami tour begins in tears
"It's very moving," Bush said of a drawing of the giant wave hitting the village presented to the presidential pair by a young girl whose mother was among the estimated 1,500-2,000 people killed in Ban Namkhem. "I'll never forget this," he said.
Both were almost in tears when talking to reporters about the children who lost their parents in the Dec. 26 disaster. The girl, wearing a red cap and white blouse, drew in colored pencil a picture of a woman floating, eyes closed, in the water.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. But her village, which more than a third of its people to a tsunami that may have killed 300,000 people around the Indian Ocean, was also in the throes of rebirth.
Thai soldiers were busy building houses of concrete or brick as bulldozers removed the last ruins of a village the tsunami almost wiped off the map but now a hive of activity.
"President Bush and I have done what we could to raise money and give help for all the tsunami-affected and we hope to learn some more about what else we can do," Clinton said in a village where battered fishing boats sat among the buildings going up.
The former American leaders were appointed by 80-year-old Bush's son, President Bush, to lead US fund-raising for survivors of the tsunami. Once fierce political rivals, they said tsunami relief was above politics.
"You are almost in tears when you see this little girl here. It gets way beyond politics," said Bush.
Ban Namkhem was the first main stop on a lightning four-nation tour, including Indonesia's Aceh province, the worst hit area, to keep attention on the disaster and encourage Americans and US firms to keep giving.
Private donors worldwide are estimated to have given more than $2 billion so far in relief aid for the world's worst natural disaster in living memory. And Clinton said it was important to keep media attention focused on the tragedy.
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