December 31, 2004
The Nation
Phuket - Authorities have installed microchips in about 1,000 bodies that have been autopsied pending claim by their relatives.
The microchip stores key data about the victim’s identity, so it will be easier for relatives to claim the bodies later.
An IT centre has also been opened with high-speed Internet links to the Public Health Ministry and Foreign Ministry and other government agencies that can offer information about the dead victims.
Clean-up of wreckage on most of Phuket’s beaches is almost complete. At Patong Beach, the main beach-front road has been cleared. Rescue workers have been unable to search beyond the basement floor of the Ocean Plaza for bodies.
Phang Nga
Phang Nga Governor Anuwat Metheewiboonwut has asked for donations of money to build about 2,000 houses for victims of the disaster, saying that people should stop sending relief items, which have overwhelmed local officials.
“The province has received so many donated items that we have lost control of distribution,” he said, adding that any money donated would buy materials to build houses for people affected as soon as possible.
Kamnan Thawee Paeyai of tambon Lam Kaen complained that no agencies had come to help salvage 100 fishing boats, each worth about Bt10 million, which were swept by the tsunami waves into nearby mangrove forests.
About 50 more corpses were found in fishing nets and 200 more bodies in the debris of hotels. All were taken to Phang Nga temples for autopsies.
Krabi
About 300 to 400 more bodies are expected to be retrieved from Phi Phi Island and all bodies should be retrieved within two or three more days, authorities said yesterday.
Authorities and private rescue workers agreed to divide the island into six zones as they comb for more bodies. They said they would have to search for more bodies in a waste-water treatment pond and from the hills.
The rescue workers also called for more body bags, saying they didn’t have enough to cope with the increasing numbers of dead.
They said two refrigerated containers from Unocal Co Ltd - used toa store corpses - were almost full and the company would be asked to send more.
Meanwhile, on Koh Lanta, the number of confirmed dead increased to 11, including two foreigners.
Ranong
Ranong Governor Winai Mongkhonthan said damage in Muang Ranong, Kapoe districts and the Suk Samran sub-district had cost Bt436 million, with the death toll reaching 162, while 189 people had been injured and 14 people were still missing.
The province had already paid for 90 funerals, he said. But the province faces a problem. It requires marriage certificates before funerals will be paid for, he said.
But because many locals do not legally wed, it was suggested they bring witnesses of their union, such as their village headman, when they claim the money. Payments of Bt25,000 for a bread-winner and Bt15,000 for a spouse are being offered.
The Ranong Coastal Resource Research Station (RCRRS) has confirmed it lost 10 officials and their relatives, three buildings were wiped out and nine buildings damaged, making for at least
Bt25 million in damages, said RCRRS official Sompoj Nimsantichareon.
Trang
Government and private organisations have launched a rehabilitation campaign to restore the province’s tourist attractions and people’s confidence to visit, sources at the Tourist Authority of Thailand’s Region 2 office and the provincial tourist centre said yesterday.
Although many of Trang’s tourist attractions were untouched by Sunday’s tsunami, the overall tourist industry in the southwestern coast has been affected, the sources said.
And so it was hoped the campaign would help restore the physical environment and make visitors more confident. Rituals of Buddhist, Christian and Islamic faiths were held in the province yesterday for victims, while locals gathered to help clean Pak Meng Beach in Sikao district.
Satun
The Department of Mineral Resources yesterday said Satun’s four districts had been placed on a watch list for possible land subsidence.
After dispatching three mineral-resource experts to investigate land subsidence at Ban Pak Kok intersection in Ma Mang sub-district, the department announced that Muang Satun, Khuan Don and Tha Phae districts and Ma Mang sub-district were at some risk, said Sathorn Songkittipaisal, the acting provincial natural resources and environment official.
Tourists were also warned not to visit the Phuphapet and Jed Cod caves, and many of the province’s other caves were under close watch.
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Brief hope but no miracle at resort in Takua Pa
There was no miracle on Wednesday night when a search-and-rescue team rushed to a resort in Phang Nga’s Takua Pa district after villagers heard calls for help from underneath debris.
Following a report by a villager that sounds of life had been heard from under rubble of the Bamboo Orchid Resort near the Khao Lak National Park, Thai and German rescue workers together with rescue dogs went to investigate.
Rescue workers first knocked to see if there was a response from anyone trapped in the ruins. German rescuers also placed microphones in gaps in the debris to make sure even the slightest sound would be heard.
Heavy machinery was then used to dig a hole big enough for workers to get in and help anyone there while bystanders were asked to keep quiet and stand 30 metres away from the site.
Ambulances and medical teams from Takua Pa were standing by to help any survivors before they were taken to hospital 20 minutes away, and a helicopter was said to be standing by at Phang Nga town to assist in any rescue.
Hope began to wane. There was no sound from underneath the debris although rescue dogs barked from time to time.
By 1am, they started barking again. But by this time the rescue team decided there were no survivors.
The heavy machinery then demolished what once was a one-storey bamboo resort to clear the area.
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Prasom’s family make plea
The family of Dr Prasom Satapitanonda, an expert golfer and columnist, has asked the government to step up forensic and DNA testing of tsunami victims so his body can be identified and given a proper funeral.
Family members are resigned to the loss of Prasom, his wife and two of their daughters, who were staying in Khao Lak, one of the beaches most severely hit on Sunday morning.
The kin described Prasom, 77, as having a set of false teeth, while his wife Kanika, 62, was wearing two rings on her middle figure and a Philippe Charriol watch. A daughter, Kachakorn, 33, has a mark on her right foot, while the other daughter Navamol, 29, was wearing a Casio G-Shock watch. Kachakorn was working for Nokia Thailand, while Navamol was teaching languages at Chulalongkorn University.
The family members have given DNA information to the Institute of Forensic Science team.
Another daughter, Dr Prarichart, issued a statement expressing hope that the DNA testing could be conducted quickly.
She also wished that the government and local authorities would maintain Khao Lak as an environmentally protected site and not permit any more construction there due to its exposure to the dangers of an open beach. – The Nation
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Trainee students learn the value of life
Student trainees who were at work on Sunday in Phuket and Krabi when the tsunami struck recounted yesterday their horrifying experiences, which they said had changed their outlooks on life.
Darunee Pomsuwan, 19, from Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai, said she was taking care of a tour group arranged by the Sea Trans Travel when somebody noticed that the tide had ebbed unnaturally fast.
“The weather was nice when our boat landed on the Phi Phi Island,” Darunee said.
“A senior guide pointed at the tide, which was running out so fast that fish were being left on the beach.”
“We were told to wear life vests. Then a few minutes later we saw a wall of water coming towards the shore, followed by bigger waves. We ran towards a hill.”
Darunee said that she had to drag some tourists with her because they had stopped to see what was going on. “I learned that despite my age, I can help others in a crisis situation.”
Sakesun Jangavee, 20, also from Mae Fah Luang University and a trainee at the Holiday Inn on Phuket’s Patong Beach, said he was about to leave the hotel after completing his midnight shift when he saw flocks of people running from the beach.
He looked toward the ocean and saw seawater darkened with garbage racing towards the hotel.
“I turned back and shouted ‘Run’. We ran towards the staff building. The water followed us and it arrived at about the same time as we did,” Sakesun said.
“I couldn’t answer questions from the hotel guests about what happened. I had never even heard the word ‘tsunami’.”
Sakesun said he was “quite materialistic” before the disaster, with a taste for the latest mobile phones and brand-name products.
“But I have learnt that nothing is more important than life and someone to care for you in a time of crisis.”
Mae Fah Luang University had three student trainees working in the disaster-hit areas and all are safe and sound, said Vanchai Sirichana, the university’s president.
“Our third student was in Phang Nga. We managed to locate her after two days of trying,” he said.
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Translators flock to help survivors
University students descend on Rangsit campus to lend their skills
Scores of college, high school and university students have been working as interpreters and other volunteers for tsunami survivors at Thammasat University in Pathum Thani since the university opened a relief centre there on Monday.
“I came here to help people out,” said Chayaphol, a high-school student, who gave one name. “I want the best for them. I did not see any Finnish people today. Five Finnish people left the centre yesterday,” he said in English.
“Another two Finnish survivors went to Chiang Mai on holiday this morning. They are desperate for sightseeing,” he said.
Another student, Athitporn Promprayoon, is working as a Portuguese interpreter, but she had not yet spoken with anyone from Portugal. “I learned Portuguese when I studied in Brazil as an exchange student,” she said.
She said she felt it was time for her to stand by those traumatised by the killer tsunami that formed a wall of death in southern Thailand, she said.
The Rangsit campus of Thammasat University was abuzz with volunteers, who came from a broad spectrum of society.
More than 600 tsunami survivors from at least 25 countries, including Thailand, took shelter at the relief centre that provided free medical care, food and lodging, Internet services, transportation and other assistance. But only 29 survivors yesterday stayed overnight at the centre, which provided a dormitory for them.
“I think the assistance we are providing is more than enough,” said Dr Siriporn Khampalikit, vice rector for general administration at the university.
“We are taking care of everything – from food to long-distance calls,” she told The Nation.
The relief centre turned into a virtual kaleidoscope of surreal scenes: injured foreigners limping their way through the crowd, tourism police on duty, interpreters manning their desks according to country, hungry and exhausted volunteers eating, and others sending e-mails back home.
Outside the relief centre Kate Baldor, a nurse from Massachusetts, waited along with her children Joceline and Dan. “I came to Bangkok for a vacation. I want to work for tsunami survivors now, because I am a nurse,” said Baldor, who arrived in Bangkok on Monday only to discover the catastrophe left by the 9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami waves that battered coastal regions in Asia.
“My children will also work with me,” said Baldor, with unbounded enthusiasm.
Embassies have set up information desks at the centre to help survivors, but some volunteers, asking not to be named, complained of a communication gap.
Ian Dwyer from Australia went to the centre in the hope of seeing his British friend Julie Greene, who was scheduled to visit Phuket.
“The British Embassy is clueless. Nobody knows anything,” he said. “I am new here. I don’t know anybody either,” said Dwyer, his voice thick with emotion.
Many tsunami survivors are too traumatised to talk to the media. One tired-looking man in red trousers, legs bandaged, limped into the centre, refusing to talk to journalists.
“I don’t want to talk. I don’t know why I am here,” he muttered, wandering off.
But another Spanish survivor who escaped with cuts and bruises said: “Thai people helped us a lot.”
Arun Devnath
The Nation
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Paetongtarn offers help
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s youngest daughter Paetongtarn led a group of friends from Chulalongkorn University and Mater Dei School yesterday to volunteer as English interpreters for foreign tourists left stranded by Sunday’s tsunami.
Paetongtarn’s group registered at Thammasat University’s Rangsit campus to help tourists taking shelter there. But coordinating officials told her they already had enough English-speaking interpreters.
Paetongtarn then helped sort donated clothes and items to be shipped to the disaster-hit South. She told reporters she had received permission from her parents to work as a volunteer and she was willing to help in anyway she could.
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