Former Southeast Asia residents in Oklahoma concerned about loved ones back home in Thailand

Green Country families with ties to Southeast Asia quickly tried to contact friends and relatives after the disaster. <br/><br/>Some still haven't heard a thing. After learning his loved ones are

Wednesday, December 29th 2004, 6:04 am

By: News On 6

Green Country families with ties to Southeast Asia quickly tried to contact friends and relatives after the disaster.

Some still haven't heard a thing. After learning his loved ones are safe, restaurant owner Pat Srisukkum is mourning the devastation in his native land. He says growing up in Thailand he'd never heard of tsunamis, and people there were unfamiliar and unprepared.

Srisukkum says it's been overwhelming. And the news of the rising death toll is just too much to bear. "To see the people walk with the baby, in hands, I just turn it off, I can't take it."

He's lived in the US for 30 years, but Srisukkum returns home to Thailand every spring. He knows this time it just won't be the same.