For a man dealing with death and destruction on an unimaginable scale, Anthony Thomas appears to be commendably unfazed by his experiences.

The Bovey Tracey painter and decorator was part of the nine-man volunteer crew sent by Rapid UK to rescue survivors of the Haiti earthquake disaster.

The statistics are chilling. Hundreds of thousands injured, possibly 200,000 dead and more than a million left homeless.

International aid agencies may have had delays distributing essential supplies, but rescue workers have been on the scene since the first quake on January 12.

From a secure tented compound at Port-au-Prince airport, Anthony and his colleagues travelled daily to collapsed buildings, crawling through the debris in search of those entombed but alive.

When he spoke to us last Thursday, he was about to make a ten-mile trip to the haunting remains of a devastated school.

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