Debatemne: Thai-Dk Din debat side :: Thailand Tsunami 2004

Oprettet af thai d. 19-11-2014 09:33
#4

Thailand Tsunami 10th Memorial Plans Take Shape on Phuket, Phang Nga: Three Days Set Aside

PHUKET: International news reports and a live television coverage of some events in the Phuket region are expected to mark the tenth anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami over three days in late December.

Thailand's largest natural disaster claimed 5400 tourists and residents and shattered many resorts and lives along the Andaman coast in the provinces of Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi, as well as on the island of Phi Phi.



Only after hearing first about the December 26 tragedy in Thailand did the rest of the world learn that around the Indian Ocean rim, in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Africa, more than 220,000 people had been killed.

A global outpouring of generosity for the surviving victims was matched in Thailand by bravery and exceptional deeds.

More than 40 countries contributed personnel to the Thai Tsunami Victims Identification unit, which set about restoring identities to more than 3000 nameless victims. About half of those killed were tourists or Burmese immigrants.

Most of the identification work took place on Phuket, near where the tsunami memorial wall is now in Mai Khao.

A total of 388 bodies are yet to be identified and have been buried in a special cemetery north of Phuket, in Phang Nga. Concrete tombs and metal coffins preserve the DNA of the dead for possible identification in years to come.

Today the Deputy Director General of the Department of Information, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Russ Jalichandra, met with Phuket Governor Nisit Jansomwong and other leading island administrators to discuss the three-day plan for commemorating the tsunami.

Talks with the Governor of Phang Nga are also likely to follow.

Huge overseas interest is expected around the time of the anniversary. The tsunami was a catastrophe for many but it put Phuket on the tourist map, even though Phang Nga and Phi Phi suffered a greater proportion of deaths and damage.

So that international and Bangkok dignitaries, residents and relatives can move from Phuket to Phang Nga for the whole commemoration, tenth anniversary services are being spread over three days.

On December 25 - Christmas Day and the eve of the tsunami - ceremonies will be held in Patong, Kamala and Rawai on Phuket. The Patong ceremony is likely to start at 5pm and include a Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation tsunami drill. Details have yet to be revealed. The Phuket ceremony is expected to last about two hours.

On December 26 a multi-religious service and Buddhist merit-making is expected to take place at the Patrol Boat memorial in Khao Lak in early morning. This will be followed about 5pm by a commemoration involving a sea of candlelight around the Patrol Boat.

On December 27 a special morning of commemoration is planned at the tsunami memorial in the fishing village of Nam Khem (salt water) north of Khao Lak, where about 800 people perished.

A live telecast is likely of some of the tsunami events. International media attention will be intense.

Phuketwan has suggested that as well as marking the disaster, Thailand should also note the extraordinary good deeds that followed. There will be no better time to honor the courage, the perseverance and the love that sprang from international volunteers and Thais alike in the aftermath of the tsunami.

Plans are believed to be underway for a Swedish language memorial service. More than 540 Swedes were killed along the Andaman coast.

The toll among Germans, Austrians and Swiss was even higher, and a memorial service in the German language is also believed to be being planned.

Some other nations are also planning independent commemorations.

Several television documentaries have already been compiled and are likely to renew the world's interest in the events of December 26, 2004.

In Phuketwan's experience on Phuket and in Phang Nga, there are those who do not wish to remember and those who will never be able to forget the Thailand tsunami.
http://phuketwan....ide-21402/