Nine days of hectic relief work followed, cleaning infected wounds, treating chest infections of people who had swallowed large amounts of salt water and treating patients who suffered scabies.

Ms Mohamad said the hardest part of the experience was dealing with people who had lost loved ones to the tsunami.

``The doctor that was showing us around would drive past [the remains of] a house and say, `that was mine' she lost six family members,'' she said.

``There was a 16-year-old girl who came in to the hospital to show us her wounds, and she had lost 12 members of her family.

``She had no food, no blankets.

``It makes you understand why you went into nursing.''

South-West Sydney paramedic Murray Traynor also went to Samoa to assist as logistics officer.

``It was worse than expected,'' he said.

``It was just devastation, as though something had come out and eradicated the landscape.

``It had gone from lush green to brown, boats, houses and rooftops were just sprawled around.''

Mr Traynor said he had previously helped at the Thredbo disaster, bushfires near Canberra and the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, and would do it all again.

``Your heart goes out but we are there to assist,'' he said. ``I think we did an effective job in getting them back on track.''