New Quote From The Brits

[phuketrichard]

This just out from British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw

He said today that identification of tsunami victims may take months and, in some cases, identification may never be possible.

Mr Straw was speaking during a visit to Phuket, where he met tsunami survivors and relatives of some of the thousands killed by the tsunami

He said, “There are many hundreds of dead in the mortuary areas. It is impossible to tell the country of origin of most of those poor people …

“Some victims may never, ever be identified and my heart goes out to all those who face this terrible and, I fear, continuing ordeal... [of not having the death of a loved one confirmed].

“The agony of long uncertainty for many families, and the scale of the effort still required, is totally daunting.”

British forensic experts have joined colleagues from 29 other countries in the attempt to identify as many of the dead as possible. At the same time, the Thai government is to send DNA samples from 2,500 corpses to China for analysis.

And to make maters worse,"

Mr Straw also said he is unable to alter the British Government’s advice to tourists not to travel to Phuket until he has spoken with other members of the British Cabinet.

Oddly the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) today amended its website advisory to reflect reality with much greater ac curacy, bringing sighs of relief from those who had been grinding their teeth at the its earlier assertions that Phuket’s infrastructure and public services had been "severely disrupted".

From the FCO,

"Following the recent tsunami, we recommend against all but essential travel to those areas of Thailand still badly affected, in particular Khao Lak and the Phi Phi islands. For the latest information please refer to the Natural Disasters section of this Travel Advice.

We recommend against all but essential travel to the far southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla. On 25 October 2004, in Tak Bai, Narathiwat Province, over 80 people are reported to have died following clashes between protestors and members of the Thai security forces. There have also been a number of explosions in both Narathiwat and Yala, in the latest incident on 9 December 2004, a series of three explosions occurred on rail tracks, no injuries were reported.

When will it end?

[Richard W]

From the FCO,

"Following the recent tsunami, we recommend against all but essential travel to those areas of Thailand still badly affected, in particular Khao Lak and the Phi Phi islands. For the latest information please refer to the Natural Disasters section of this Travel Advice.

We recommend against all but essential travel to the far southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla. On 25 October 2004, in Tak Bai, Narathiwat Province, over 80 people are reported to have died following clashes between protestors and members of the Thai security forces. There have also been a number of explosions in both Narathiwat and Yala, in the latest incident on 9 December 2004, a series of three explosions occurred on rail tracks, no injuries were reported.

When will it end?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Unfortunately, that's the 11:25 GMT version for 7 January. The 14:24 GMT version for 7 January has reverted to:

Following the recent tsunami, until local conditions improve we recommend against all but essential travel to affected resorts and towns along Thailand’s west coast, in particular Phuket, Krabi and Khao Lak. Some coastal areas of Thailand were hit by a large tsunami on 26 December, resulting in widespread flooding and damage. Large numbers of casualties have been reported. The infrastructure and public services are severely disrupted. For the latest information please refer to the Natural Disasters section of this Travel Advice.

We recommend against all but essential travel to the far southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla. On 25 October 2004, in Tak Bai, Narathiwat Province, over 80 people are reported to have died following clashes between protestors and members of the Thai security forces. There have also been a number of explosions in both Narathiwat and Yala, in the latest incident on 9 December 2004, a series of three explosions occurred on rail tracks, no injuries were reported.

<snip>

Following the recent tsunami, until local conditions improve we recommend against all but essential travel to affected resorts and towns along Thailand’s west coast, in particular Phuket, Krabi and the Khao Lak.

Someone seems to have typed the old one in afresh - the line breaks in the HTML are in different places, and the 'the' before Khao Lak is new. I can't see how the differences are an artefact of the IE 'save as' commands behaviour.

The timestamps are those on the change notifications - I've subscribed to the embassy's change notification service.

[phuketrichard]

Yep; here is today's, wonder why they went back. Phuket is fine for travel as much of the island was not affected.

Its things like this that will keep Phuket from recovering. Tourists need to know that for the most part nothing has chnaged here excpet for parts of patong and Kamala mostley.

Without the tourist, the economy will collaspe and then there will be a real disaster and I am not refering to the million dollar homes and estates but the locals will lose.

Do you think land values will drop in Khao lak or Here in Phuket?? I doubt it.

Still Current at: 8 January 2005

Updated: 7 January 2005

Thailand

This advice has been reviewed and reissued with amendments to the Summary and Natural Disasters section. The overall level of the advice has not changed.

SUMMARY

Tsunami: Information for families affected by the tsunami can be found at Thailand: Information for Families

Following the recent tsunami, until local conditions improve we recommend against all but essential travel to affected resorts and towns along Thailand’s west coast, in particular Phuket, Krabi and Khao Lak. Some coastal areas of Thailand were hit by a large tsunami on 26 December, resulting in widespread flooding and damage. Large numbers of casualties have been reported. The infrastructure and public services are severely disrupted. For the latest information please refer to the Natural Disasters section of this Travel Advice.

[Richard W]

They've now (version of 18:28 GMT 9/1/05) had third thoughts and declared that

In other places, including Phuket island, some hotels and other facilities remain in good order.

. I don't know why they haven't conceded 'most' rather than 'some', but it's a vast improvement.