Banda Aceh was 'like Armageddon' after the tsunami: Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern talks to Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent.
The holiday season came to an abrupt end for Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern last Christmas. The Louth man was in his home town of Dundalk on St Stephen's Day and, "being a media person", had heard the early, vague reports on the radio about a disaster in southeast Asia.
Around 11 o'clock a neighbour phoned, urgently seeking help in locating his son, who was on holiday in the region. "By the time I got back to him, in fact, his son had texted to say that he was safe.
"As it happened, he was out on a boat, proposing to go diving on the morning in question. Lucky for him, the tsunami went under him and they were safe."
It was all systems go from then on, with specially designated staff at their desks in the department by midday. "We have an emergency plan which was put in place after 9/11 because in that situation we weren't particularly prepared."
Ahern travelled to southeast Asia with a team of senior officials and the heads of four leading NGOs, Tom Arnold of Concern, Carmel Dunne from the Red Cross, Justin Kilcullen of Trócaire and John O'Shea of Goal.
"Of all the things I have experienced in my political life, it was one of the most difficult but also the most poignant, in that we stood in places where literally hundreds of thousands of people were killed," says the Minister.
The group visited Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. "We did 19 takeoffs and landings in six days in the Government jet. It was a bonding experience for all of us."
Their first port of call was Phuket, and a Thai military aircraft took them over the affected areas.
"But to be honest the most incredible place was Banda Aceh," he says. They were only allowed a two-hour stopover because of conditions at the airport.
"Just the day before we flew into Banda Aceh, a US helicopter crashed on the runway and 11 soldiers were injured, so the place was just mayhem. And we flew over Banda Aceh twice, because the pilots wanted to get a proper steer as to how to fly into it because there were all these massive Hercules planes flying in from every direction.
"It was a very small airport, so they were a bit worried about air traffic control.
"But we got a great view of the entire devastation. And it was just mind-boggling. Where I live is Blackrock [ near Dundalk] - think of the beach in Blackrock and go as far as Knockbridge, which is, as the crow flies, maybe five or six miles. You could see that's how far the wave or the wall of water had come in. And that was only in the flat part."
Eventually the aircraft landed in the middle of the chaos. "When we got finally down, the place was just like a war zone. It was like a scene out of MASH actually. There were helicopters flying hither and thither, people running hither and thither. There were journalists all over the place," he says.
"It was like Armageddon. Television cameras would never replicate what we saw or smelt. We passed rows and rows of people pulling bodies out of buildings.
"We passed at least three mass graves where there were supposed to be thousands of people, where they were just bulldozing. You passed lorries with bodies piled high in black sacks."
It was on then to Sri Lanka: "It's paradise on earth but the people had no place to run."
On arrival, he met the Sri Lankan minister for foreign affairs, Lakshman Kadirgamar, who thanked the Irish nation for responding "handsomely and warmly" to the disaster.
Tragically, Mr Kadirgamar was assassinated in August as part of the continuing civil conflict in the country.
The Minister and his team responded to the sights they had seen, and to mounting public concern back home for the victims of the tsunami, by doubling the official Irish aid contribution to almost €20 million.
Looking back, he says it was "probably one of the most significant things I'll ever have to experience, Banda Aceh particularly".