Air Force transports tsunami survivors

Tsunami survivors on a Royal New Zealand Air Force flight from Banda Aceh to Jakarta. Picture / RNZAF

Two Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules are flying injured refugees from the tsunami-wracked Indonesian region of Banda Aceh to the capital of Jakarta.

The two Hercules have been flying in much-needed supplies and medical help as well as evacuating refugees.

Army nurse Major Debs Blythen, born in Hamilton but usually based at Ohakea, is one of the team flying between Banda Aceh and Jakarta, assessing refugees' need for a flight out.

"It's an incredible sight, long lines of people waiting to get on to the Herc, the injured being carried, the elderly, women and children and then of course the men."

Maj Blythen said the injuries treated onboard included "a lot of lacerations, cuts and skin wounds".

The more badly injured were laid on stretchers and others sat shoulder to shoulder on the floor of the aircraft.

"We're not doing anything astounding -- we just want to help out however we can," said Maj Blythen.

Following the Boxing Day tsunami which devastated south Asia, killing an estimated 150,000, Maj Blythen first travelled to the Thai beach resort of Phuket to search for New Zealanders in the hospitals.

"It was a long slow process, people had been moved from hospital to hospital and just because of the sheer volume of people it was hard to fit the pieces together," she said.

"It was remarkable to hear first hand how they got away from the waves and how it's affected them."

Maj Blythen checked endless lists of names and boards covered in photos of the missing.

"It was really sobering to put faces to the disasters. You just kept on seeing pictures of honeymooners and children, that's when I realised the magnitude."

- NZPA