10 years on: Thaivisa remembers the Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand

[boomerangutang]

I was fearless in the sea, not afraid of waves, etc. ...until once I drove my pick-up down a long side gravel road in Mexico. I got to a completely secluded beach. Went in, the waves pounded my skinny body. I came out with renewed respect for the surf.

Another time, also in Mexico, I went out, again at a secluded beach. This was early a.m. sun just coming up. I was nude. Waves weren't bigger than 2 feet, but the undertoe pulled me out far. I got tired, couldn't touch bottom, and waves were breaking from the sea and from the shore - stereo. I got more tired and started panicking (I had run out of money a week earlier, and was subsisting on corn chips and water for a week). I was down to 123 lbs, at 6' tall. I would have drowned, except that I forced myself to the bottom, and swam along toward shore until my lungs ached and had to come up for air. Then back down, swimming along the sandy bottom. Made it. However, that same day, two surfers died in the same surf.

re; the Asian tsunami of 10 years ago: I heard about a farang couple who were out scuba diving that morning. All of a sudden they were taken down very deep - and then taken up again to the surface. Luckily they had scuba equip. If they had been snorkeling, they probably would have drowned.

[culicine]

Was in Patong beach on the day,.RIP to those that lost their lives

I was staying at Patong Resort, preparing to go out in a hired car abut 20 mins later. Lucky for me, wife and son, we were slow to leave, and were still in our room. Fortunately it as on the second floor. We stayed in the hotel that nite with no power, and got out the Puket Town the next day.

[culicine]

The wife and myself where on Koh PhI Phi 10 days before the Tsunami. I am sure we would not be here to this day if we were on Phi Phi when the waves came.

My wife had planned for us to go to PhiPhi that morning, but I had changed my mind as we were going to Puket Fantasy the night before, and I don't like getting up early after a late night. I've no idea what happened to the boat, passengers or crew of the vessel we were supposed to board. We were very fortunate two times on that fateful holiday.

[khaowong1]

Myself and a friend came from Phoenix, Arizona to Thailand on the 23rd. We decided to spend the holidays in Thailand that year. We were in Bangkok and trying to decide between Phuket and Pattaya. I picked Pattaya because of all the golf courses. On the 26th we were sitting in a coffee shop on Walking street. Saw the news on CNN. My friend tells everyone to this day, that I saved his life.

[kaobang]

did Prayuth join any ceremony?the indonesian government did

the local newspaper of my small hometown interviewed a survivor from here

he was in a small island around Phuket with his wife and son all 3 were injured but alive..60 people on the island..only they and other 15 survived

few years later they came back trying to win their fear..and they won

Edited December 26, 2014 by kaobang

[Lite Beer]

10 YEARS ON
People flock to beaches to honour 2004 tsunami victims
The Nation

Relatives of tsunami victims place flower garlands in memory of their loved ones at Ban Nam Khem Tsunami Memorial Park in Phang Nga province yesterday. The deadly tsunami hit many seaside provinces in Thailand on December 26, 2004.

BANGKOK: -- One decade on, people gathered at various seaside spots in tsunami-hit provinces to remember those who perished in the deadly waves.

Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the tsunami that killed more than 5,000 people of various nationalities in this country.

In Phuket province, people laid flowers and lit candles in memory of tsunami victims on Patong Beach.

The Light Up Phuket event, which runs until tomorrow, also offers musical performances and exhibitions on emergency responses so people can take care of themselves should a similar event happen in the future.

In Phang Nga province, Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda joined several high-ranking officials in an event at Ban Nam Khem Tsunami Memorial Park.

Anupong read a statement from Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha that emphasised the need to promote a culture of safety among Thais.

Anupong said he hoped the 10th anniversary of the tsunami would remind people of the need to be on the alert and well prepared to deal with disasters.

In Phuket, the Tambon Mai Khao Administrative Organisation organised Buddhist, Muslim and Christian rituals in dedication to tsunami victims. There was also a one-minute vigil among people who showed up in memory of those who died in the tsunami 10 years ago.

In Krabi province, a commemorative event was held at Loh Dalum Bay, Ban Koh Phi Phi, Muang district. There, the tsunami killed 722 people and left 587 missing on December 26, 2004.

"I still vividly remember what happened that day," said Mard Wangsen, 76.

"I hope the commemorative event will nudge people into understanding that they need to rush uphill if there are signs of tidal waves coming."

Ban Nam Khem approach wins praise

In Ranong province, religious rituals were conducted to make merit for tsunami victims. The giant waves killed 152 people and affected 45 communities in this southern province.

Preecha Pinang, a kamnan in the province, said he was still worried that preparations in the wake of the 2004 tsunami would not be good enough to protect people's lives if the waves hit again.

"On existing evacuation routes, it would take locals half an hour to reach a safe spot. But a tsunami can ravage everything in less than five minutes," he lamented.

Margareta Wahlstrom, the United Nations secretary-general's special representative for disaster risk reduction, who came to Thailand to attend commemoration events, yesterday emphasised that Thai government agencies and local administrative bodies must collaborate closely to prepare for emergency responses at the community level.

She praised the impressive approach used by the Ban Nam Khem community in Phang Nga province and suggested that it should expand further

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/People-flock-to-beaches-to-honour-2004-tsunami-vic-30250775.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-27

[Lite Beer]

Thai PM joins ten year tsunami memorial service

PHANG NGA, 26 December 2014 (NNT) -- The Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-Ocha and his key ministers have participated in the tenth anniversary tsunami memorial service, in the southern province of Phang Nga.

On the evening of December 26, Gen. Prayut made a speech and then laid a wreath to commemorate the victims at the monument in Bang Niang beach. The monument has over time become a symbol of the disaster. The Thai PM also joined diplomats and relatives of victims to observe one minute of silence to remember those who died in the incident.

The massive tsunami set off by a magnitude 9.1 undersea earthquake on the morning of Dec. 26, 2004 killed more than 200,000 in many countries on the rim of the Indian Ocean. In Thailand the beaches of popular destinations such as Phuket and Khao Lak were hammered by the huge wave, with terrible loss of life at the height of the tourist season ten years ago .

-- NNT 2014-12-26

[Lite Beer]

A decade on, tourist survivors revisit tsunami-hit Thai beaches

Khao Lak, Thailand | AFP |

BANGKOK: -- Ten years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, foreign tourists who survived the crushing waves still return to the Thai beaches where thousands lost loved ones, seeking recovery and solace.


"As soon as I could walk properly, we came back," said Steve McQueenie, a detective for London's Metropolitan Police, explaining the powerful urge to revisit Thailand just six months after the December 26, 2004, disaster to make sense of the unfathomable.


On Boxing Day this year the 46-year-old Glaswegian again returned, joining hundreds of other survivors at a candlelight vigil in the resort hub of Khao Lak, southwest Thailand, to mark a decade since the tsunami claimed 220,000 lives across 14 nations.


Memories of the calamity are never far away for McQueenie and his wife Nicola, who survived waters that killed 5,395 in Thailand alone -- half of them foreign holidaymakers celebrating Christmas.


Sitting before a tranquil Andaman Sea, just a few metres (feet) from where they had stayed, he recalls the sudden "huge brown wall of water" that ripped apart their bungalow and plunged him underwater.


"When I reached the surface, everything I could see was water. I couldn't see any buildings above it, I couldn't see inland really, and it just felt we'd been dropped in the middle of a really rough ocean."


Flung further inland by the colossal wave, he kept afloat long enough to latch onto a palm tree until the water retreated.


In spite of a severe leg injury the policeman limped towards the road and was eventually transported up into the hills by Thais who feared more waves would strike.


He was reunited hours later with Nicola.


McQueenie's voice breaks as he remembers the "selfless" help of local Thais, aid that spurred the couple to raise $15,500 for ravaged communities around Khao Lak once they returned home.


"There's always going to be part of us that kind of belongs here," McQueenie said.





- Unlikely connection -




There are other survivors for whom the disaster is too painful to revisit, including many residents who would prefer to focus on the future.


Yet many foreigners share a desire to return to a place with which they share a bond forged through tragedy.


Swiss national Raymond Moor returns every year with his wife to remember the dead, especially the Thai hotel worker who hauled him out of the water to safety.


The 58-year-old breaks into tears recounting the moment.


"The Thai people helped us so, so much. They gave us food, clothes," says his wife, picking up where he stopped, as they visited a memorial in Ban Nam Khem fishing village north of Khao Lak, virtually erased by the waves.


Returning to Thailand has helped the couple reconcile the tragedy and also allows them to visit the local orphanage they support.


Andy Chaggar survived the tsunami that killed his girlfriend, Nova Mills, after the first 10-foot-high wave propelled him out of their beachside bungalow onto a higher storey of a resort under construction.


The British electronics engineer also returned to Khao Lak after months of rehabilitation for his injuries, but this time as a volunteer to rebuild a decimated village.


Chaggar, 37, said it was an integral part of his recovery, going on to co-found the charity International Disaster Volunteers, which has run projects in Haiti as well as Manila and typhoon-hit Tacloban in the Philippines.


"After going through the tsunami, my previous job felt meaningless," he said, finding new purpose through aid work and two years ago marrying his American wife Emma, who he met while volunteering.


A small white lighthouse a few metres from the shore is the only recognisable landmark Chaggar can recall on Nang Thong beach, as hotels reduced to rubble have been rebuilt in greater number and size in the years since the waves struck.


But perhaps longer-lasting changes are found in the survivors now revisiting beaches where they escaped death, drawn back, for different reasons, year after year.

-- ©Copyright AFP 2014-12-27 | AFP News Sponsor
Published with written approval from AFP.

[Strangebrew]

I wish what happened 10 years ago on no one it was indeed a sad day for all. Especially those who lost loved ones. remember that por farang child lost both parents And if she had relatives it is unknown hope she had some one. RIP all. And if at the beach and tide suddenly pulls from beach Run opposite direction as fast as possible.

[Lite Beer]

10 YEARS ON
Tsunami survivors remember 'selfless help' of Thais


A foreign tourist yesterday walks past a fishing boat that was washed up in the December 2004 tsunami and is now built into a window of the wave shaped tunnel that forms the Tsunami Memorial Park in Phang-nga.

KHAO LAK: -- Ten years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, foreign tourists who survived the crushing waves still return to the Thai beaches where thousands lost loved ones, seeking recovery and solace.

"As soon as I could walk properly, we came back," said Steve McQueenie, a detective for London's Metropolitan Police, explaining the powerful urge to revisit Thailand just six months after the December 26, 2004, disaster to make sense of the unfathomable.

On Boxing Day this year, the 46-year-old Glaswegian again returned, joining hundreds of other survivors at a candlelight vigil in the resort hub of Khao Lak, just north of Phuket, to mark a decade since the tsunami claimed more than 220,000 lives in 14 nations.

Memories of the calamity are never far away for McQueenie and his wife Nicola, who survived waters that killed well over 5,395 in Thailand alone - half of them foreign holidaymakers celebrating Christmas.

Sitting before a tranquil Andaman Sea, just a few metres from where they had stayed, he recalls the sudden "huge brown wall of water" that ripped apart their bungalow and plunged him underwater.

"When I reached the surface, everything I could see was water. I couldn't see any buildings above it, I couldn't see inland really, and it just felt we'd been dropped in the middle of a really rough ocean."

Flung further inland by the colossal wave, he kept afloat long enough to latch onto a palm tree until the water retreated.

In spite of a severe leg injury the policeman limped towards the road and was eventually transported up into the hills by Thais who feared more waves would strike.

He was reunited hours later with Nicola.

McQueenie's voice breaks as he remembers the "selfless" help of local Thais, aid that spurred the couple to raise $15,500 (Bt510,000) for ravaged communities around Khao Lak once they returned home.

"There's always going to be part of us that kind of belongs here," McQueenie said.

Unlikely connection

There are other survivors for whom the disaster is too painful to revisit, including many residents who would prefer to focus on the future.

Yet many foreigners share a desire to return to a place with which they share a bond forged through tragedy.

Swiss national Raymond Moor returns every year with his wife to remember the dead, especially the Thai hotel worker who hauled him out of the water to safety.

The 58-year-old breaks into tears recounting the moment.

"The Thai people helped us so, so much. They gave us food, clothes," says his wife, picking up where he stopped, as they visited a memorial in Ban Nam Khem fishing village north of Khao Lak, virtually erased by the waves.

Returning to Thailand has helped the couple reconcile the tragedy and also allows them to visit the local orphanage they support.

Andy Chaggar survived the tsunami that killed his girlfriend, Nova Mills, after the first 10-foot-high wave propelled him out of their beachside bungalow onto a higher storey of a resort under construction.

The British electronics engineer also returned to Khao Lak after months of rehabilitation for his injuries, but this time as a volunteer to rebuild a decimated village.

Chaggar, 37, said it was an integral part of his recovery, going on to co-found the charity International Disaster Volunteers, which has run projects in Haiti as well as Manila and typhoon-hit Tacloban in the Philippines.

"After going through the tsunami, my previous job felt meaningless," he said, finding new purpose through aid work and two years ago marrying his American wife Emma, who he met while volunteering.

A small white lighthouse a few metres from the shore is the only recognisable landmark Chaggar can recall on Nang Thong beach, as hotels reduced to rubble have been rebuilt in greater number and size in the years since the waves struck.

But perhaps longer-lasting changes are found in the survivors now revisiting beaches where they escaped death, drawn back, for different reasons, year after year.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Tsunami-survivors-remember-selfless-help-of-Thais-30250800.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-28

[Lite Beer]

EDITORIAL

Huge flood rocks the deep South as tsunami memorials held
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The power of Mother Nature can be shocking and brutal, but it can also bring out the best in us

People across Southeast Asia came together along the shores of the Indian Ocean this past few days to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2004 tsunami, an incident that claimed the lives of more than 230,000 people across the region and displaced millions.

There were moments of silence in various places and religious services held to commemorate the dead.

But ten years later, it was still hard for many to come to terms with the loss of their love ones. The 2004 tsunami destroyed entire coastal communities and in some pockets, like Thailand's southwest Andaman coast, the tourism industry came to a near complete halt.

The disaster was triggered by an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 near Indonesia's Sumatra, sending waves across the Indian Ocean to places as far away as East Africa.

Indonesia's already war-torn Aceh was hardest hit. The wave claimed more than 170,000 lives in Indonesia alone.

More than 8,000 people were killed and lost in Thailand. A large number of the dead and injured were migrant workers from neighbouring Myanmar.

Half of the dead in Thailand were tourists from 38 different countries. Many of their relatives came to the site this past week to pay respect to their love ones that died on that dreadful day ten years ago.

The post-tsunami recovery process brought the international community closer together as the world rally around the cause, raising money to help with disaster relief.

For a brief moment in history, people put aside their differences and worked for a common cause. There was no one to blame because this catastrophe was not man-made.

As for Aceh, where separatist insurgency had been taking place for several decades, the 2004 tsunami helped speed up the negotiation process.

We cannot prevent what Mother Nature will do but what really matters is how all of us handle the aftermath of such tragedy.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha led a commemorative ceremony at Khao Lak beach at a Thai Navy boat that was pushed two kilometres inland by waves on that day. The boat is still there and has become a permanent memorial to the 2004 disaster. Afterwards, he left for the southernmost provinces where a massive flood has ripped through much of the region.

Besides lowering their political guard a bit, the disaster also shows that, regardless of one's religious beliefs, we all feel pain and sorrow. Leaders in European countries who lost their citizens to the tsunami also held religious ceremonies to commemorate the dead.

Today, with the massive flood hitting the far South - conflict-affected areas where more than 6,000 people have lost their lives since early 2004 to the ongoing insurgency - Mother Nature continues to remind us of her mighty wrath.

The concept of mercy does not apply to her or else she wouldn't have picked on an already wartorn area that also happens to be the least developed in the country.

Perhaps she is sending us a reminder, to look back at the 2004 tsunami, and asking us to dig deep into our heart and human spirit and apply it to the deep South.

As we go to press, local residents from all walks of live and political leanings are coming together to help one another to get through this flood.

On the outskirts of Yala, a Thai-Chinese Buddhist family turned their truck repair garage into a shelter so their Muslim neighbours could have a safer and drier place to sleep and cook their food.

The same generosity is displayed through out the traumatised region. Humans, curiously, can often show their best when it's needed most. Let's hope that this kind of mercy and generosity prevails when the flood recedes.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Huge-flood-rocks-the-deep-South-as-tsunami-memoria-30250797.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-28

[Johnniey]

Myself and a friend came from Phoenix, Arizona to Thailand on the 23rd. We decided to spend the holidays in Thailand that year. We were in Bangkok and trying to decide between Phuket and Pattaya. I picked Pattaya because of all the golf courses. On the 26th we were sitting in a coffee shop on Walking street. Saw the news on CNN. My friend tells everyone to this day, that I saved his life.

There are no golf courses on walking street. Pattaya for the golf courses. Lol

[Johnniey]

Horrible day.

I was working at a resort in Rawai. Soon enough, we had locals camping out on our hill. I had the staff go out and give them water and some snacks. Then, we started getting small injuries arriving at the hotel. Many children with parents (thank God) arrived. Most of the first aid stuff we did was for scratches from the waist down. The kids had scratches and bruises and cuts from the neck down.

By early afternoon, we had to turn away guests for rooms. We prioritized...rooms for families with children, elderly, no single person could check in. For safety reasons, we did not allow strangers to camp within the resort, but the just outside the entrances and surrounding hills of the property was left to anyone.

By 3pm, I almost got into a fistfight with a Belgium embassy representative, who demanded that due to her status, she be given a room and to kick someone out of their room. 2 of my drivers and I surrounded her and told her "the grass outside or leave the f...ing property".

Over the next few days, due to my Spanish fluency, I volunteered to help Latin American embassies from the region (Peru and Brazil), pics in hand, visiting all the makeshift morgues, putting signs up, and reading all of the ones I could find.

Helping parents find their children, helping children find their parents. Harrowing experience. Driving to Kao Lak with a truck full of water and some hotel volunteers and farangs.

What I learned from it:

1. I met some of the nicest Thais, very generous, always dropping tourists off at our resort without any charge, while still worried about their own.

2. Most of my hotel staff were incredible. Out of the 110 staff, 30 left, without announcing it or telling anyone, to look for their families. Some never came back.

3. The generosity of people along the way while driving up and down to Kao Lak and back, maybe 25 times. We had a sign on the truck. Going to Kao Lak. People blew horns, stopped to give water and food.

4. The greed of many people was astounding. About 2 weeks into the tragedy, there is an evangelical couple, with a box full of 1000 baht bills in Takua Pa. Handing out a one 1000 baht note to people in line. A person gets it, goes to the back of the line, and gets another.

5. I will never visit Belgium.

I appreciate my family a hell of a lot more now and every day is a blessing.

Judging Belgium by one person is irrational.

Never hit a woman.

I know Thais from RoibEt who travelled down there to take advantage of the handouts-terrible.

[steve187]

My first trip to Thailand was for xmas 2004, leaving heathrow on xmas eve with Phuket air, on check in we were informed of a 24 hour delay. We were put up in an airport hotel and we all ate in a large room on tables seating 8 or more. I got talking to fellow travelers some of whom were flying onto Phuket, and the surrounding areas.

The flight left the next day and arrived in Bangkok old airport, boxing day morning, I parted company from the new acquaintances I had made and made my way to Sattahip area.

Later that day i heard the terrible news and saw the devastation on the news channels. I was safe on the other side of the mainland, but i then and still today 10 years later think about my fellows travelers, who were heading off to the Tsunami area and would have arrived on early morning flights from Bangkok airport. some of whom may well have perished that dreadful day.

Watching the links to news footage on here bring tears to my eyes, for the tragic lose to life, and for the bravery of the helpers on that day, most of whom were just fellow tourists and local people, and my thoughts go to my fellow travelers on that Phuket air flight on Christmas day.

[Mudcrab]

A truly horrific event for those that died and for those that survived and are still traumatised 10 years on.

As an atheist, I ask again, as I have many times to those spouting religion at me, if there really is a God, in whatever form, why did he/she/they decide it was warranted to kill 235,000? A sensible answer as to why has as yet to be forthcoming from anyone, high or low.

That said, I don't want to get into a debate about religion. I don't try and convince those that believe to stop doing so, I only want others that do to stop trying to make me do so.

All that said, one man's meat.....

I remember reading what happened in the aftermath in Aceh.

You may recall Aceh had been subject to a Muslim "insurgency" in a Muslim country for decades.

After the tsunami the non Muslim survivors were being told that they should be Muslim, and the Muslim survivors were chastised for not being Muslim enough, and the staunch Muslims were told the dead didn't believe enough to survive.

The civil/religious war stopped after the tsunami.

Now Aceh is the only province in Indonesia living under Sharia Law..

[Mudcrab]

It was one of ThaiVisa's finest hours being the most informed website on the Internet the first 24 hours after the tsunami struck. News was breaking and information available here hours before it made it to the mainstream international media.

I opened the archived posts - interesting to see who were contributors then and who are posting now. Not too many old timers still around.

I saw one post by Logxxx..

Hope he died a horrible death after what he posted. Heartless pr!ck.

Edited December 28, 2014 by Mudcrab

[Mudcrab]

Let us not forget all the migrant workers, who lost their lives.

Many of them not even identified to this day, for a number of various reasons.

Sadly, even in death, society is socially divided.

Only in your twisted mind

[Mudcrab]

I was fearless in the sea, not afraid of waves, etc. ...until once I drove my pick-up down a long side gravel road in Mexico. I got to a completely secluded beach. Went in, the waves pounded my skinny body. I came out with renewed respect for the surf.

Another time, also in Mexico, I went out, again at a secluded beach. This was early a.m. sun just coming up. I was nude. Waves weren't bigger than 2 feet, but the undertoe pulled me out far. I got tired, couldn't touch bottom, and waves were breaking from the sea and from the shore - stereo. I got more tired and started panicking (I had run out of money a week earlier, and was subsisting on corn chips and water for a week). I was down to 123 lbs, at 6' tall. I would have drowned, except that I forced myself to the bottom, and swam along toward shore until my lungs ached and had to come up for air. Then back down, swimming along the sandy bottom. Made it. However, that same day, two surfers died in the same surf.

re; the Asian tsunami of 10 years ago: I heard about a farang couple who were out scuba diving that morning. All of a sudden they were taken down very deep - and then taken up again to the surface. Luckily they had scuba equip. If they had been snorkeling, they probably would have drowned.

Try and imagine being down in the surf...and it never stops...until you are dead. That's your tsunami.

[jamiesilver]

I was supposed to spend Xmas in Phuket - But i twisted my ankle the night before and couldn't walk so called it off. One accident i'm grateful for!
I will never forget the missing persons photos of children in Khaosarn road - there were thousands...
And spending new years eve in Bangkok with those survivors limping around with stories that were so sad,
I remember one guy saying he brought his GF on holiday to Thailand, but he doesnt think he will see her again, he didnt even know.