Thursday, January 4, 2007 Older Editions

Making the world safe from tsunamis

By April Guilmet

When LisaMarie DiTroia turns 21 later this month, she'll probably have more pressing matters to attend to than imbibing in her first beer.

Like deciding whether to take her malaria pills.

On Dec. 30, DiTroia began her 25-hour flight to Thailand. She won't return until sometime this March. It's all a required part of the curriculum at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where DiTroia, a junior, is studying biomedical engineering.

"We basically have to combine engineering concepts with a humanitarian outreach," DiTroia said. Her group, which consists of about 25 students, will travel to Ban Nam Khem, a Thai village that was one of the worst hit by 2004's tsunami.

"We're trying to help them devise a plan to escape if this happens again. Right now, the whole village is up in arms, since they lost around half of their population during the tsunami," DiTroia said.

The project, she added, is being sponsored by the Duang Pratheep Foundation, a Thai nonprofit founded by two women wanting to help children living in the country's slums. After the tsunami hit, the group shifted its focus towards disaster relief, DiTroia said.

While DiTroia and three other students will map out an escape route, others, she said, will help in other areas, such as chemical safety. Two professors will accompany them.

"Then we'll get to write a paper about the outcome," DiTroia said.

Preparations for her trip involved many trips to the doctor and even more shots, she said. Since DiTroia once lived in Europe, she'd already had hepatitis vaccines.

"Some people get vaccinated for rabies. Then there's diseases which I can't even pronounce," she laughed. She opted not to take the recommended malaria pills yet because she'd heard they make people sick sometimes.

For most of her stay, she and her peers will bunk in the dorms of a university in Bangkok.

"But for two or three weeks, I'll be right in the village, talking to the villagers about an escape plan," DiTroia said.

She was not yet certain where she'd be sleeping during those weeks, but said she hoped it would be at a hotel.

"It's really rural around that area," she said, admitting she had some misgivings about staying in the village.

Students who traveled to Thailand last year have told her what to expect.

"One girl told me to be careful with most of the soaps and creams there. They'll bleach your skin," DiTroia said. While in the West most women work at achieving a suntan, Thai women, she said, work at becoming lighter. "

Then there's the heat and humidity.

"It's ridiculously hot there, so I won't even bother to bring my hair straightener," DiTroia said. She's also been advised to always travel in groups, although she speculated that Thailand is probably safer than some parts of Worcester, where she attends school. "Still, it can be dangerous," she said.

After all, she added, there will be no mistaking she's a tourist.

"There's so much to learn about the culture. You can't wear open-toed shoes there since it's considered improper," DiTroia said.

Cultural standards of modesty also dictate against wearing shorts or miniskirts, she said. And while she's been taking Thai classes at school this year, she said the language is a difficult one to learn. In the Thai language, she said, present- and past-tense verbs are one and the same, making it especially confusing.

"The language is completely different than ours," DiTroia said.

Still, she welcomes the chance to encounter another culture - and impact lives in the process. "It's a lot of work, but you learn so much," DiTroia said.