Phuketwan Opinion: Photo Album Above
TWO MAJOR memorials to the 5400 people who died when a tsunami struck the Andaman coast are now in a disgraceful state, with the sixth anniversary of the big wave barely a month away.
Phuket's Tsunami Wall of Remembrance is today a thicket of weeds, with no flags left on the flagpoles lining the wall. In some cases, even the poles are now missing.
North of Phuket at the Tsunami Victim Cemetery in Bang Maruan, markers above the graves of about 380 unnamed victims are drowning under weeds. Just a few can be seen.
The flags and the names of 39 countries are listed on a plaque at the cemetery gate. The nations are also listed along the wall on Phuket.
At last August's meeting between then-governor Wichai Praisa-ngob and some 22 honorary consuls and embassy representatives, the governor went to some lengths to point out that the Andaman tsunami warning system was in good shape.
However, since then, Andaman coast tsunami drills have failed to convince anyone that the system is functioning as it should.
Another real tsunami disaster in Indonesia that saw hundreds killed without warning has also done nothing to ease concern.
The fact that a series of drills is now scheduled this year, for the first time during the tourism high season, with the final tsunami drill on December 24, indicates that concerns are being taken seriously. The drill comes just two days before the tsunami anniversary.
But if the tsunami memorials to the 5400 dead are not being maintained, how can visitors be sure that a drill means that the warning systems are functioning properly?
Or will the weeds be growing over the warning system too, as soon as the world is not watching?
The toll of the Indian Ocean tsunami is still misreported because of discrepancies that Phuketwan reporters discovered 12 months after the event. Here's what they wrote in 2005.
The Tsunami Toll One Year Later
The Tsunami: Week One Recalled
What was it like in that first week after the tsunami? Here one Phuket resident relates the story as it was reported in other places. This article has never appeared in print on Phuket.
The Tsunami: Week One Recalled
Tsunami Boats Now Attract Tourists
The village of Nam Khem, which means salt water, was a sad place during the tsunami but its fortunes have changed now. Tourists are welcome. Go to see the twin trawlers.
Tsunami Boats Now Attract Tourists
Killer Tsunami Raises Fresh Questions for Phuket
Latest People ignore the danger of a second big tsunami, hoping it will go away and trusting that officials have the warning system working. Hundreds of deaths in Indonesia indicate otherwise.
Killer Tsunami Raises Fresh Questions for Phuket
Phuket's Andaman Tsunami Nightmare Lives On
Phuketwan Opinion An exercise intended to show the world that Phuket and the Andaman coast are safe did just the opposite. It's high time the government got the tsunami warning system sorted.
Phuket's Andaman Tsunami Nightmare Lives On
Update: Phuket Tsunami Warning Buoy Floats Free
Phuketwan COMMENT In the latest blow to Thailand's tsunami warning system, the buoy in the protective frontline has broken free and then been recovered off the Phuket coast.
Update: Phuket Tsunami Warning Buoy Floats Free
Good Story,
Think of all the help Thailand had from all the countries, groups and individuals around the world during that time and no respect is given to all the people that died during that time. Its a shame
Posted by Michael on November 21, 2010 18:40