AU J.T. 9(1): 29-40 (Jul. 2505)
Tsunami Aftermath: Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction
Elfren Bringas Paz
Faculty of Architecture, Assumption University
Bangkok, Thailand
Abstract
Why there were no Tsunami alert systems in the Indian Ocean. Many Asian
countries lacked preparedness. Clearly the hazard had been grossly underestimated.
Seven weeks after December’s Tsunami, thousands of new houses being built for
Tsunami victims could go to waste if survivors abandon them. Some residents of the
worst hit areas are unhappy about the designs. The agencies which built them excluded
the villagers’ opinions, resulting in new houses alien to their tribal or fishing style.
These victims although penniless, have their dignity. Thus any assistance to them should
be given while allowing them a role in making decisions on matters that directly affect
them; Without much ado fishermen from many communities along the coast have joined
hands to regain their livelihood repaired their damaged boats or building new ones,
with the help of non-governmental groups, had now returned to their fishing grounds.
Today the white sand and calm blue waters offered no hint of the destruction the
big wave brought to the western coast of Thailand. Some local residents believe it
should be kept that way. Urban planners, tourist operators and land developers are
hoping to transform crisis into opportunity by rethinking development priorities along
these beaches. Now, it appears a rising wave of development may deprive villagers and
ethnic survivors of their ancestral villages. The affected areas are bowing to pressure
from the tourism industry to clean up the land and put it to more economic uses.
Abandoned in the aftermath some children may have survived nature’s worst
disaster, but were unfortunate to have lost both parents. Without appropriate social aid,
a generation may grow up in an environment where people did everything to survive.
There was a huge international effort to help the Thai authorities to identify the
bodies of more than 5000 victims of the Tsunami. Some said it could take as long as a
year to finish the painstaking work based on dental DNA and fingerprint records.
The region’s tourism industry relied heavily on the successful recovery of the hotel
and resort sector. As the tourism industry reinvents itself, provisions must be made to
guarantee social security, emergency benefits insurance and workmen’s compensation
for rehired workers. Small business owners should be supported in every way possible
to rebuild and restock shops and receive their necessary tools of the trade, enabling
them to once again to provide useful services. Coastal management and seaside
infrastructure should be carefully reorganized, but with enough flexibility to provide for
independent self-employment initiatives. Local residents applying for work should be
given preferential consideration; expanded skills training programs should be offered;
and low interest loans should be facilitated.
There is still hope amidst the gloom. The Tsunami incident triggered a form of
“borderless humanitarianism.”
Valuable lessons can be learned to avoid the pitfalls experienced as a result of
the unexpected Tsunami. Out of this catastrophe the authorities should be able to draw
up a management guide to be prepared based on shared experiences and strategies on
how to cope with major disasters management.
Keywords: Tsunami, Sea-gypsy, alert system, mangrove forest, indigenous
survivors, orphaned children, recovery and rehabilitation.
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referred to a shop house measuring four by nine
meters with one bedroom, one multi-utility
room and one toilet. It is one of three designs
available on a budget of 120,000 baht for
villagers who opt for houses designed by the
state.
The houses of the Moken people or socalled sea-gypsies are building are elevated on
pillars. They use the open areas underneath
give natural cooling.
A spokesperson, of the network for
development of southern communities, said
people should be allowed to choose their
homes. “We give only technical support and
advice to the Moken people. No one knows
better than they do.”
Houses built by state agencies following
the Krathun floods a few years ago were
eventually abandoned by survivors who left to
rebuild their own community.
For donors, the Moken houses are
cheaper as they pay for the materials only.
Labor costs are spared because the Moken
build their own houses themselves.
An official from the Social Development
and Human Resources Department said
villagers can still build to their own design, but
the houses must come in under budget
(Hutasingh 2005).
Introduction
The 26 Dec. Tsunami disaster has taught
many that unity and sympathy were all that was
needed to overcome a tragedy of this
magnitude. A hundred days after the Tsunami
swept away thousands of lives, great stories of
generosity and perseverance continue to emerge
in its aftermath.
Scope and Objectives
The scope of this paper is limited to
recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction. The
range of this study is listed below:
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Houses not suited for Tsunami victims
Many survivors face resettlement
Rebuilding the dream island of
Phi Phi
Tsunami orphans
Body recovery and identification
Tourism industry recovery
Boat operators decry compensation
scheme
Evacuation plans
Coastal Ecology
December quake 2nd largest ever
Managers needed to rebuild the
Andaman coast
Restoration of livelihood
Flaws seen in Tsunami rehabilitation
efforts
Tsunami alert system
Many Survivors Face Resettlement
Today the white sand and calm blue
waters offered no hint of destruction the deadly
Tsunami caused by the huge earthquake off
Sumatra; brought to the affected islands and
beaches along Thailand’s western coastline.
Some local residents believe it should be kept
that way. Urban planners, tourist operators and
powerful property developers are hoping to
transform crisis into opportunity by rethinking
development priorities along the beaches
(Katharangsiporn 2005).
As it was on 26 December, the sky above
the Ban Khao Lak village beachfront on
Saturday was clear and fresh. But the
atmosphere at the two-month commemoration
service for 26 villagers lost in the Tsunami was
sobering. As Buddhist monks chanted, about
100 survivors from 23 families pondered their
fate. They’ve been told that their land is no
Houses not suited for
Tsunami victims
Thousands of new houses being built for
Tsunami victims could go to waste if survivors
abandon them. Some residents are unhappy
about the designs. They say the houses are
cramped and do not suit their lifestyles. They
stand in contrast with the spacious houses in
which the so-called sea-gypsies, have designed
and building for themselves. She says, “It’s so
narrow and dark. It must be really hot in there. I
want the one being built on the pillars such as
the Moken are building, but army engineers say
they can’t change,” said one resident. She
30
government. Prasit Ketrai and his neighbors
quickly erected their sign, stating that the sea
gypsies had been settled on the land for nearly
a century. They may have lost 42 of their 281strong community to the giant wave, but they
were not about to part their land on top of it,
the sign read. The German Embassy
acknowledging the villagers’ concern met with
Prasit two weeks ago and told him that while
they planned to fund a new hospital, it would
not take over previously occupied land,
especially that of an ethnic minority
(Tangwisutijit 2005).
After the Tsunami, it was reported that
landlords had reclaimed their land in 40
villages. “Ownership will be determined by the
courts,” a government official said (Hutasingh
2005b).
longer theirs. They cannot rebuild their village.
And that’s now the fate of at least 32 villages
within the six Tsunami-affected provinces.
Local administrations are, says social activists
Vichote Kraithep, bowing to pressure from the
tourism industry to “clean-up the land and put
it to more economic uses.” For several decades,
beachfront villages have been steadily disappearing at the behest of the tourism industry, but
the Tsunami has created unprecedented
activity. A villager of Ban Khao Lak, was
furious to learn that the land on which he was
born no longer belongs to his family. Although
he and his family successfully outran the giant
Tsunami wave, they returned to the remains of
their home a few days later to find that the
poles that once supported their home were
replaced by red concrete blocks demarcating
new ownership. He said, “Let them know that I
will fight to take keep my land.” But he’s
facing an uphill battle. Technically the land in
dispute does not belong to him. His father, who
settled on the land four decades ago, did not
acquire land rights. This lack of legal land title
is a common problem. His neighbors at Ban
Khao Lak – along with communities at Ban
Thung Dap, Ban Ta Phae O, Ban Pak Chok and
Ban Ko Ra in the nearby Khura Buri district –
are erased from the map. Nearly 200 families
at Ban Nai Rai in Thai Mueang district recently
found the land they have lived on for
generations was registered in somebody else’s
name. Laem Kaen Tambon Administrative
Organization (TAO) does not seem to agree
with the villager’s claim. The chief
administrator of Laem Kaen TAO declared,
“The beachfront is public property managed by
TAO.” “Now that the [Ban Khao Lak] village
was swept away, we want to keep the area
empty so it can be accessible to the public,” she
said (Tangwisutijit 2005).
Rebuilding the Dream Island of Phi Phi
For the first few weeks after the 26 Dec
Tsunami, the Thai island of Phi Phi is eerily
quiet. More than 6,000 people died in Thailand
alone – and the backpacker haven of Phi Phi
was one of the worst affected areas. In the
immediate aftermath of the disaster, all those
who survived were encouraged to leave the
island. But now, nearly three months on, Phi
Phi is a hive of activity. Local Thais works
alongside foreign volunteers clean out partially
destroyed buildings and bring this beautiful
tourist island back to life. But much remains to
be done. Huge piles of rubble need to be
shifted, and most of the islanders are still living
in temporary shelters in the nearby mainland
town of Krabi.
Perhaps
most
importantly,
the
government has yet to decide its long-term
plans for Phi Phi, making it difficult for people
to begin rebuilding. The government’s decision
is due by the beginning of May, but many
people are not prepared to wait until then.
Instead, they determined to press on with the
clean-up operation.
Many of the islanders face unsettling
problem in their quest to return to Phi Phi.
They have heard rumors of a government
proposal to ban houses from the beach area,
and turn the island to a luxury resort – a plan
they say will deprive them of jobs. Many local
Giant waves forced seaside villagers to
take refuge at relief centers. Now a rising wave
of development is keeping them away from
their old village sites (Hutasingh 2005). The
Phang-nga’s Thung Wa Tambon Administrative Organization (TAO) had determined that
the sea-gypsy village of Thung Wa were wiped
off the map by the Tsunami, it would be
opportune time to expropriate the land for a
hospital to be financed by the German
31
personnel should avoid asking questions that
can have a damaging effect on the victims’
minds, or that make them more upset than they
already are, she said (Sukphisit 2005).
people were worried they would never be able
to return if the rumored plans were true.
The vice-governor of Krabi province
denied that plans to turn the island into an
exclusive resort were on the table, but he did
say big changes were needed.
The government is considering making
the beach area of Phi Phi a “special area.”
(bbcnews.com. 2005).
Body Recovery and Identification
About 50 multinational forensic experts,
police officers, and ambassadors joined an
emotional farewell ceremony to Wat Yan Yao
in Takua Pa district yesterday, ending their
three-month forensic operation to put names on
several thousands of Tsunami victims.
The international Disaster Victims
Identification team (DVI) at Wat Yan Yao,
involving Interpol, Thai police, doctors and
forensic experts from the Netherlands,
Australia, Germany, New Zealand and the
United Kingdom, has carried out the task
shortly after the 26 Dec. catastrophe and
completed the collection of post-mortem data
of the last batch of about 1,100 bodies
yesterday.
The DVI team, headed by Dutch forensic
expert Arie de Bruyn, also handed over the data
of the last batch of about 1,100 bodies to the
Royal Thai Police’s Tsunami victims
identification team.
“Wat Yan Yao will forever remain a
symbol of the catastrophe, a symbol of cruel
sudden death, a human vanity in the light of
destiny, and also of hospitality of the abbot, the
monks and a whole people towards all the
victims from all over the world,” said the
German ambassador in his speech marking the
DVI’s accomplishment.
The abbot of Wat Yan Yao, said he was
relieved the temple would be returned to its
normal environment (Samabuddhi 2005).
It may take up to five years to put names
to the 2,547 unidentified Tsunami victims in
Thailand, half of them thought to be foreign
tourists, a senior official said.
The official toll in Thailand stands at
5,395, of which 1,953 are believed to be
foreigners. Another 2,929 are missing.
The senior official said families of
people reported missing were slow to produce
sufficient “ante mortem” data for matching
against samples taken from the corpses (Anon.
2005c).
Tsunami Orphans
A new survey has found there are more
Tsunami orphans than originally thought who
urgently
need
long-term
professional
psychological support, psychologists said
yesterday. The survey by the mental health
department found 1101 children were made
orphans by the 26 Dec. Tsunami that damaged
six Andaman coastal provinces, an increase
from 800 reported last month. Most were
residents of Phangnga’s Takua Pa district,
where more than 20 communities were
destroyed (Treerutkuarkul 2005a).
The Ministry of Public Health has set up
a war room at the Hospital in Amphoe Takua
Pa in Phang-nga province that is called the
Center of Public Health Surveillance and Relief
after the Tsunami. Every Wednesday highlevel public officials hold a meeting there at
which they hear reports of what has occurred
during the previous week. Then plans are made
to deal with the problems that have arisen
(Sukphisit 2005).
A spokesperson of the ministry said,
“One problem involves people who come from
various places like Bangkok to help the
children in the schools that had been set up for
the victims’ children. In these schools, all of
the children study together, regardless how the
Tsunami affected their families. The people
who come to help want to separate the children
according to the seriousness of their personal
experience, so they will ask all children who
lost both of their parents to come out and form
a line, and those who lost just one parent to
form a separate line. Who can imagine how
heartbroken these children are? They may
follow these orders, but no one knows or seems
interested in how sad they are.” The ones who
are sending people in must be told that their
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expenses plus 250,000 baht for boats that had
to be salvaged from the sea. Operators say
average repairs cost 0.9-1.2 million baht, while
some reach 10 million baht (Chuenniran 2005.
Five projects in line for US private sector cash.
(Chuenniran 2005b).
Tourism Industry Recovery
Three months after the Tsunami, tourism
is gradually returning to Thailand – but there is
still a long way to go.
Phuket’s famous Pa Tong, Kata and
Karon beaches are recovering from the damage
left by the 26 Dec Tsunami and now ready to
welcome back tourists in large numbers.
The good news was passed on at a
function held here yesterday by the Tourism
Authority of Thailand (TAT), Thai Airways
International (THAI) and the Federation of
Thai Industries (FTI), to rekindle confidence in
the tourism potential of the six Tsunami-hit
provinces on the coast of the Andaman Sea.
More than 700 tourism operators and
journalists from all over the world heard from
the TAT governor, who said damage to tourist
attractions were moderate, and sea water was
cleaner. Only 10-20% of shallow-water coral
reefs were destroyed.
About 80% of hotel rooms in the six
provinces could reopen for visitors, she said
adding that the occupancy rate in Phuket was
now at 40%.
Mega-events such as the Miss Universe
beauty pageant and major sport tournaments
should draw more tourists from the Asian
region, she said.
The Phuket mayor said Pa Tong beach
had quickly recovered, and seven broadcasting
towers for early disaster warnings were being
built along the beach.
The
deputy
mayor
of
Karon
municipality, said Kata and Karon beaches had
been rehabilitated, businesses there had
recovered and people were now waiting for the
return of tourists (Chuenniran 2005).
Smiles Return to the Faces
of Local Fishermen
Two months after the 26 Dec Tsunami
disaster, smiles have again returned to the faces
of local fishermen in Ban Nam Khem, one of
the hardest-hit areas in Takua Pa district.
The reason: They have been handed the
first batch of 10 new fishing boats.
On 26 Dec, the Tsunami struck 418
seaside villages and damage 3,304 fishing
boats in six Andaman coastline provinces. Ban
Nam Khem received the biggest battering
where more than 400 small fishing boats and
between 40-50 big trawlers were lost. All the
1,500 families there survive on fishing.
The residents looked happy and lively
again yesterday when the new boats were
released by the Deputy Prime Minister Gen
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh who had promised
them that he would push for a 300-million-baht
fisheries development fund for fishermen in the
Andaman provinces. A 28-year-old fisherman
who survived the Tsunami catastrophe but lost
his house and a fishing boat, said he was happy
to have started earning again after he and his
neighbors had to pool all their talents to fix the
boats and boat engines that were not too badly
damaged (Suksamran 2005).
Klaus D. Orlik, a German member of the
international non-governmental organization
Poseidon Crus Alders which also bought 20
new fishing boats for the villagers there, said
his group would buy 80 more fishing boats for
the locals so they could do their beloved job
again.
A spokesman for the fishermen of Ban
Nam Khem, said what the fishermen here
needed most was fishing tools because there
were enough fishing boats, some of which are
newly bought with donations and some were
fixed with loans borrowed by villagers who did
not want to wait for help.
Boat Operators Decry
Compensation Scheme
A provincial fishery official said about
30 million baht had been paid to fishermen
who lost 550 fishing boats to the Tsunami.
However, the provincial fishery chief, said the
operators of many large boats were unhappy
with the scheme, saying state aid was too low.
The state paid 700,000 baht for repairs to
large boats and 200,000 baht for general
33
Conducted by a team of British and Thai
researchers since the end of February, the study
concentrated on six main areas covering 1,424
sub-transects of the 28 km of reef around the
island.
“Much of the reef area was considered to
be ecologically ‘healthy’ with 274 species of
fish and 70 species of hard coral being
identified during the study,” said James
Comley, a British scientist and director of
Coral Cay Conservation Ltd.’s (CCC) Marine
Science Department. However, some key sites
had high levels of coral damage, especially
Mae Yai Bay, he said.
The study also found damage at different
study sites and differing shallows of seawater
at each area.
Detailed assessment of information from
the use of satellite images and the site survey
revealed that the damage caused by the
Tsunami might only be 8% and that most of the
damage was man-made, another British
scientist said.
The researchers said the reef could
potentially recover fully if there is no
destructive activity.
“Leave them alone [for the natural
recovery] and grow more mangroves along the
coastal area,” said David Bellamy, CCC
president
and
well-known
British
conservationist.
Dr. Thorn Thamrongnasawasdi, a Thai
marine scientist who conducted his own study
at Mu Ko Surin, said that more studies were
important but it was even more crucial to help
recovery.
“Current information about the damage
and impact to the reef is sufficient for further
action. We should move forward to action now,
action that would lead to sustainable tourism
development in the area,” he said.
“We have already made more steps at
Mu Ko Surin by closing worst sites that were
hit seriously by the Tsunami and opening three
new sites for diving instead.”
Thorn’s study revealed that the worst
critical sites are Torinla and Ao Phak, both of
which need to be placed out of reach of humans
(Sukin 2005).
As reports from Tsunami stricken
nations filtered in last December, a pattern
Another leading villager, called for the
dredging of water channels as the three-rai Pha
Island which had been used as a shelter for
fishing boats were also destroyed by the tidal
waves (Suksamran 2005).
Evacuation Plans
A director of the Mineral Resources
Department’s
Environmental
Geology
Division, conceded relevant agencies were too
slow to put in place evacuation plans,
particularly for Phuket’s Pa Tong beach and
Ban Nam Khem in Phang-nga’s Takua Pa
district, resulting in chaos during the Sumatra
earthquake evacuation on 28 March 2005.
According to department estimates, Pa Tong
residents should be evacuated 500 meters from
the sea, while in Khao Lak and Ban Nam
Khem they must move up to 2km inland to
ensure safety from waves. Town planning in Pa
Tong, Kao Lak, and Ban Nam Khem must also
be altered to facilitate transportation during
evacuations, he added (Samabuddhi 2005).
At last the foundation stone was laid on
29 March 2005 for the country’s first
evacuation building at a model village in
Phang-nga’s Takua Pa district. The building is
part of an evacuation system being devised for
coastal villages that are at risk from Tsunamis.
The model village will also feature evacuation
routes, a news distribution tower and
landscaping designed to cushion the impact of
tidal and seismic waves.
Also at the model village is a camp for
the mental and emotional rehabilitation of
children who survived the deadly Tsunami on
26 December (Anon.2005a).
Coastal Ecology
A recent study has concluded that much
of the coral reef around Mu Ko Surin damaged
by December’s Tsunami is ecologically
“healthy”, despite eyewitness accounts to the
contrary.
Damage to reefs around the popular
tourist island in Phang-nga province is
considered “low to moderate” with an overall
mean (damage to hard coral) of 18.2%, the
study said.
34
Another task of the team is to make a new
geological map across the Southern region
because the Tsunami has changed the previous
landscape and formed a new geological
landscape. Some islands have disappeared. A
new coastal map is also needed because many
shores were eroded (Trakullertsathien 2005).
emerged: Communities lying behind a fringe of
shallow-water mangroves, like parts of India’s
coastline, or behind an intact coral reef, as in
the Maldive Islands, suffered less damage and
loss of life than places exposed directly to the
brute force of the waves. Mangrove forests and
coral reefs had proved their worth once again,
helping deflect the enormous energy unleashed
by the Tsunami (O’Neil 2005).
Managers Needed To Rebuild The
Andaman Coast
December Quake 2nd Largest Ever
The 26 December Tsunami may be
referred to as a killer, but ironically it seems to
have restored life to the waters and beaches in
its path. Long-time Pa Tong residents say the
water is of the same clarity and the sand the
same whiteness that made the beach famous 20
years ago. Now people can go swimming
without worrying about eye infections and skin
rashes they say.
Those sentiments are echoed by a coastal
biologist in Krabi. “Now that the Tsunami has
cleaned things up for us, keeping it this way
should be a major goal of any recovery
program,” he stressed.
But like everyone else, they expressed
frustration that what they see is only temporary.
“Once all the businesses return, it will be hard
to preserve the pristine condition, they said.
One hotelier said, “We survey our guests
every year about what they don’t like, and the
answers are always the same. They don’t like
the pollution, the garbage or the mosquitoes.
We report this to the authorities, but things
never seemed to improve much.”
And efforts to preserve the environmental
windfall
are
markedly
absent
with
reconstruction getting underway. For example,
there are no plans to start up Pa Tong’s
wastewater treatment system, which has never
been fully used since completion in 1991. The
same is true of the never used but nowdamaged plant on Phi Phi Island. Khao Lak,
another hard-hit area, had no central treatment
system, nor any plans to build one.
Pa Tong’s tourism businesses blamed the
increasingly polluted condition of the beach
before the Tsunami on inefficiency and lax
controls on the part of local authorities. Hotels
and businesses have long been allowed to get
away with simply dumping wastewater into the sea.
In a reassessment of the 26 December
earthquake that unleashed the Indian Ocean
Tsunami, scientists say the tremblor measured
9.3 on the Richter scale – more than twice as
powerful as originally estimated and the second
biggest quake recorded. The quake split the
ocean floor northward from Sumatra along
1,200 kilometers, the longest on record and
twice as long as previously thought, according
to their research, which appeared yesterday in
Nature, the weekly science journal.
It was initially thought to be 9.0 in the
Richter scale. But an evaluation of very low
frequency data from seismograms shows that
the quake was in fact 9.3 magnitude.
As the Richter scale is logarithmic, the
difference between 9.3 and 9.0 is 2.5 times,
said the study by geologists Seth Stein and
Emile Okal of Nothwestern University in
Illinois (Anon. 2005b).
The recent devastation caused by the
Tsunami waves has heightened the need for
awareness of natural disasters – and how to
cope.
Cracks under the sea, sink holes, landslides – these are only the geological phenomenon
that have popped up after the Tsunami hit
Thailand’s southern shores on 26 Dec..
A team from the Department of Mineral
Resources led by Director-General Somsak
Potisak, is trying to find answers. They are
exploring every nook and cranny of the South
to pinpoint areas that might pose a danger to
villagers and tourists.
The team has investigated many districts.
So far, they have found 29 sinkholes,
landslides in more than 70 places, and many
cracked caves.
35
Furthermore, such a manager ought to be
able to find the balance between quantity and
quality-something which cannot be done with
rules and orders. This balance comes from
conviction.
Ironically, a prime example of the kind of
manager needed is Khun Banharn Silapaarcha.
His city management skills are as recognized as
his ability to fight for state funds. His home
province of Suphan Buri is neat and orderly.
This isn’t a question of money alone, but a
constant attention to detail, whether we’re
talking about garbage collection, public
gardens, canals or commercial activities.
Banharn’s is the kind of discipline that is in
such short supply. Of course, Khun Banharn is
no longer available for Phuket since he is in the
opposition (Janviroj 2005).
The Tsunami disaster could be a blessing
in disguise if reconstruction is carried out with
a long-term view of sustainable development
(Ashayagachat 2005a).
“We need a stronger will and better
technology and management,” said a
spokesman
of
the
Phuket
Tourism
Association’s Tsunami-recovery center.
(Tangwisutijit 2005).
The rehabilitation of the Tsunami-hit
coastal areas of Phuket, Phang-nga and Krabi
would probably proceed more professionally
and at a much faster pace with a full-time
manager or managers coordinating the effort.
The responsibility should not be left
solely to administrators, who are geared
towards preserving the status quo and
bureaucratic
normalcy.
Rebuilding
the
Andaman coastal areas is a major challenge
that requires special attention from decisive,
creative officials.
It will soon pass the 100-day mark since
the Tsunami wreaked havoc in the otherwise
prosperous coastal areas of Phuket, Krabi and
Phang-nga. What has emerged as the greatest
impediment to the rehabilitation effort that
sprang to life during the past three months has
not been a lack of money, but a lack of people
with the authority to take charge of day-to-day
problems and to exercise leadership.
The need for such people is driven home
when one surveys the battered beaches of
Phuket. The debris still dominates the physical
appearance of Kamala Bay. The impression is
that everybody is doing their own thing rather
than working together. The bay looks like a
war zone. Pa Tong could also use some
housekeeping to ease the melancholy and bring
order to the shabbiness (Janviroj 2005).
The provincial governors should remain
doing their official duties. The challenges posed
by this situation, need a technocrat manager to
work with the governors.
These managers must have the
managerial skills both to envision the bigger
picture of the overall response to the calamity
and to get down to the nitty-gritty of the
particular details of the myriad reconstruction
projects. The six Tsunami affected provinces
needs an excellent manager or managers. They
need leader/leaders to give people hope and to
encourage
teamwork
and
community
management and participation. These provinces
need someone to manage the chaos.
Head Chosen for Baht 190bn
Disaster Fund
Indonesia’s president named former
minister of mines and energy, Kuntoro
Mangkusubroto to head the Rehabilitation and
Reconstruction Body for the Areas of Aceh
Province and Nias Island, North Sumatra, of
areas affected by the Tsunami and other recent
disasters, in a decree obtained on May 1, 2005.
The appointment of Mangkusubroto comes
after Indoneasia issued regulations aimed at
preventing graft and other abuses in the
management of the funds.
Foreign donors and independent groups
have called for prudent use of money
earmarked for disaster survivors in Indonesia.
Local Indonesian media have described
Mangkusubroto as one of the country’s most
respected and skilled bureaucrats with clean
track record (Anon. 2005d).
Restoration of Livelihood
Three months after the Tsunami, aid
organizations and survivors of the disaster are
struggling together on a new venture, creating
new
careers
for
the
unemployed.
36
But the only group that has really made
some headway with their products is the dress
making one, said the shelter co-ordinator.
World Vision Foundation has supplied the
group with sewing machines and materials for
their operation (Hemtasilpa 2005).
A 100 days after the Tsunami disaster
and 200 small operators in Pa Tong Beach area
have yet to see any of the promised financial
aid to help them restart their livelihoods.
In Khao Lak alone, more than 50 hotels
and resorts suffered losses of baht 20 billion.
Most of them had been in business for only one
or two years.
Some borrowers did not get their
applications for soft loans approved because
they had no business plans. Also a bank
spokesperson said, “We tried to help them out
but their businesses are risky because they have
very short leases remaining on their premises.”
Without a fresh injection of funds, they
cannot reconstruct their facilities and welcome
holidaymakers again (Srimalee 2005).
Although 1st May 2005 is labor Day,
workers in Tsunami-hit provinces have little to
celebrate – they are still struggling to pick up
the pieces of their Tsunami-ravaged lives
(Ekachai 2005).
Unfortunately, a micro entrepreneur cannot be
made overnight. Free lunches for the needy
cannot last forever. Aid organizations have
gradually ceased their assistance for survivors
from Tsunami ravaged communities in Phangnga provinces, either because they have used
up the funds earmarked for this project, or they
thought it was time for those survivors to try to
get back on their feet.
This could be the most painstaking time
for Tsunami victims that have lost their assets.
For those from fishing families living in
temporary shelters set up for Tsunami
survivors in Ban Nam Khem areas, aid
organizations, both governmental and nongovernmental, have already encouraged them
to embark on new occupations beside fishing.
Before the 26 Dec. Tsunami, fishermen
in Ban Nam Khem community owned about
300 small trawlers. Until now (31 March
2005), only 17 fishing families at the displaced
community have been given new trawlers from
aid organizations and are ready to go back to
the sea. “A trawler is not cheap nor easy to
build,” said a community co-ordinator at the
shelter center for Ban Nam Khem survivors
nearby the office at Bang Mueang Tambon
Administration Organization. A small trawler
costs at least 100,000 baht and one important
obstacle making the building of trawlers so
slow is the shortage of skilled trawler makers
in the Tsunami-hit provinces. “There aren’t
many boat builders in this region, and building
boats cannot be done overnight,” he said. “The
shortage of funding is another factor. Many
organizations that promised to give financial
assistance for the construction of trawlers have
yet to disperse the funds,” he added. According
to him, about 1,700 people have squeezed
together in 300 makeshift shelters for three
months now, and made his shelter center their
homes.
Some who are fed up waiting for aid have
grouped together and started up some income
generating activities. These new occupation
groups at the shelter center are rather
conventional. They include dress making,
handicraft and souvenir production, fish
culture, traditional coffee and bakery stalls,
fishery tool production, boat building, and taximotorcycle services.
Flaws Seen in Tsunami
Rehabilitation Efforts
A hundred days after the Tsunami hit
Thailand’s six Andaman coastal provinces,
academics say most recovery measures carried
out by the government are focused on physical,
environmental and tourism aspects, while little
attention is paid to life and social recovery.
The Dean of Chulalongkorn University’s
Faculty of Political Science, said despite
several panels being set up for rehabilitation
tasks, work remained weak at community and
individual
levels
and
needed
more
comprehensive planning.
“Some committees were set up
specifically to revive tourism in the Andaman
coastal provinces, but tourism is not the only
problem we’re facing. A lot of people were
killed in the disaster and it is important for the
government to take social recovery into
account,” she said in a workshop entitled
37
Haruo Hayashi, from Kyoto University’s
Disaster Prevention Research Institute, said a
long-term holistic recovery must comprise of
three aspects – physical recovery through
infrastructure
restoration
and
housing,
economic recovery, and life recovery to
empower the victims.
Thailand must also remember the
Tsunami threat was real, and that the country
could be hit again in less than 100-150 years,
said Mr. Hayashi. This fact must be taken into
account while the country went about
rebuilding communities and set up a recovery
system, he said (Assavanonda 2005).
Ronald Waldman, an expert on health
policy at Columbia University, at a World
Health Organization conference held in Phuket
criticized the poor disaster relief response to
the 26 Dec. Tsunami catastrophe and urged that
better measures be put in place to keep the
number of casualties low when major disasters
strike again in future (Treerutkuarkul 2005b).
“Sharing Japan’s and Thailand’s Experiences
of Community Recovery from Naturel
Disasters”, organized by Chulalongkorn Univ.
and Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Affected villagers complained too little
state assistance actually reached them. More
importantly, most of the government’s
recovery measures showed little respect for
their cultures and dignity. A spokesperson from
Ban Nam Khem in Phang-nga province, said
most of the measures implemented failed to
answer the locals’ basic needs. New houses
provided by the state were too small and
inadequate, and villagers were not allowed to
have a say in their design and construction, he
said. “We were forced to choose between two
designs – the 4x6 meters or the 6x6 meters, or
take 30,000 baht and find our own places to
live in,” he said. Also he said the reconstructed
villages still lacked mapping and basic
facilities such as sewers.
Many of the locals were fishermen but
some of the new houses were located too far
from the shoreline and no space was provided
for them to keep their boats, making it
impossible for them to continue their fishing
occupation. “We had asked the state to suspend
the reconstruction and think about community
mapping so as to avoid future disasters, but
they didn’t listen,” he said. Some private
organizations had promised to build new boats
for them but nothing happened so far, he
added.
A representative from Save Andaman
Network, said Thai society did not realize there
were still problems since they were rarely
addressed by the state authorities who acted as
if everything had already returned to normal.
Also in carrying out the recovery measures the
government just did what they wanted to do,
without respecting the dignity of the victims,
he said.
Jin Sato, an expert from Tokyo
University, warned that “assistance” for the
victims could give rise to problems if it created
a sense of inequality and poverty.
“We shouldn’t be concerned too much
about the amount of aid, but the appropriate
channel and coordination to deliver it to the
people, “he said.
Conclusion: Tsunami Alert
On The Right Track
A major earthquake occurred off the coast
of northern Sumatra at 11.09pm Bangkok time
on Monday 28 March 2005.
Government agencies, including the
Meteorological Department , the Department of
Geology and Mineral resources, the Interior
ministry and state-run television and radio
networks delivered warnings through broadcast
media, while civil defense officials were
dispatched to coordinate the evacuation of atrisk areas in six Andaman coastal provinces
(Anon. 2005a).
Thousands of residents of low-lying
coastal areas were asked to take shelter on high
ground and in secure public buildings in a
relatively orderly manner. The evacuees were
asked to remain in these safe places until the
Meteorological Department announced an allclear two hours later at 2 a.m. on Tuesday.
A Tsunami evacuation drill, the first of its
kind in Thailand, went off without a hitch on
29 April 2005 at Pa Tong beach with about
2,000 people, including members of the
diplomatic corps, taking part.
38
The “safe areas” strategy takes a new
meaning with the opportunity of turning
enforced reconstruction into a well thought out
development program.
Nonetheless, such a strategy would also
need to safeguard the lifestyle of its fishing
communities and helping people back on their
feet to lure back the tourists and each countries
natural beauty, the cornerstone of their vital
tourist industries.
The evacuation exercise, presided over by
the prime minister, began with a tidal wave
warning over a public announcement system.
He then sounded a siren, prompting
participants to scurry along evacuation routes
to designated areas. Pa Tong municipality was
selected by the Disaster Prevention and
Mitigation Department, which is drafting a
master plan for Tsunami evacuations.
Seven evacuation zones were demarcated
in the area, but only Zone 5 and Zone 7 were
used during the drill. The exercise was
observed by the governors of five other
Tsunami-ravaged provinces which are expected
to stage their own evacuation drills soon. The
prime minister said regular drills would help
restore tourists’ confidence and eventually
revive the tourism industry (Chuenniran
2005c).
References
Anon. 2005a. Tsunami alert on the right track
The Nation, Editorial, 30 March 2005.
Anon. 2005b. December quake 2nd largest
ever. The Nation, 1 April
2005.
Anon. 2005c. ID operation may take 5 years.
Bangkok Post, 8 April 2005.
Anon. 2005d. Head chosen for baht 190bn
disaster fund. The Nation, 2
May 2004.
Ashayagachat, A. 2005. Disaster ‘A blessing
in disguise’. Bangkok Post, 9 January 2005.
Assavanonda, A. 2005. Flaws seen in
Tsunami rehabilitation efforts. Bangkok Post,
6 April 2005.
bbcnews.com. 2005. Rebuilding the dream
island of Phi Phi. 18 March 2005.
Chuenniran, A. 2005a. Bad debt fears in
wave region as cash pours in. Bangkok Post,
23 February 2005.
Chuenniran, A. 2005b. Phuket back on its
feet, ready for tourists. Bangkok Post, 6
March 2005.
Chuenniran, A. 2005c. Wave evacuation
drill goes off without a hitch. Bangkok Post,
30 April 2005.
Ekachai, S. 2005. Labour Pains. Bangkok Post,
30 April 2005.
Hemtasilpa, S. 2005. Last hope for survival.
Bangkok Post, 31 March 2005.
Hutasingh, O. 2005a. Survivors caught on land
disputes. Bangkok Post, 16 February 2005.
Hutasingh, O. 2005b. Greedy landlords
reappear. Bangkok Post, 28 February 2005.
Janviroj, P. 2005. Managers needed to rebuild
the Andaman coast. The Nation, 30 March
2005.
Katharangsiporn, K. 2005. Pa Tong’s future in
balance. Bangkok Post, 10 January 2005.
Summary
The Tsunami disaster could be a
blessing in disguise if reconstruction is carried
out with a long-term view of sustainable
development, according to a United Nations
Development Program seminar held on 18
January 2005. Certainly, the massive seismic
waves have put several Asian countries
backward but with generous international
assistance together with efforts by national
governments and local civil society
organizations, like universities, the wellplanned reconstruction could be crafted to
enable them to reach sustainable development,
said Dato Lee Yee Cheong, co-author of the
Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) final
report submitted to the UN Secretary-General
on Monday (Ashayagachat 2005).
Since the Tsunami, many affected
governments are pursuing “safe areas” strategy
with renewed impetus. This aims, through a
process of voluntary resettlement, to
concentrate populations on “safe areas”, and
stronger buildings, and buffer stocks of
provisions and would incorporate measures to
protect against future disaster and mitigate its
effects. Concentrating populations in this way
would also allow for economies of scale in the
provision of social services, including schools
and health clinics.
39
Sukin, K. 2005. Much of Mu Ko Surin reef
‘healthy’. The Nation, 25 March 2005.
Sukphisit, S. 2005. Helping or hurting?
Bangkok Post, 28 February 2005.
Tangwisutijit, N. 2005a. More than 30
villages could disappear. The Nation, 28
February 2005.
Tangwisutijit,
N.
2005b.
Environment
shining in wake of disaster. The Nation, 2
March 2005.
Trakullertsathien, C. 2005. Preparing for the
worst. Bangkok Post, 3 March 2005.
Treerutkuarkul, A. 2005a. More wave orphans
than thought. Bangkok Post, 1 March 2005.
Treerutkuarkul, A. 2005b. Expert criticizes
poor disaster relief response after Tsunami.
Bangkok Post, 7 May 2005.
Wongruang, P. 2005. Fishermen head back
to sea. Bangkok Post, 21 February 2005.
Longstreath, D. 2005. Geographica Special
Tsunamis – Where Next?
National
Geographic, April 2005.
O’Neil, T 2005. Environmental Defense.
National Geographic, April 2005.
Prasertson, C. 2005. A holistic approach
needed for rebuilding the Tsunami-hit
South. The Nation, 17 February 2005.
Sakboon, M. 2005. Recovery action Plan. The
Nation, 18 February 2005.
Samabuddhi, K. 2005a. Emotional farewell
as DVI closes center. Bangkok Post, 25
March 2005.
Samabuddhi, K. 2005b. Seismic experts call
for evacuation plans. Bangkok Post, 1 April
2005.
Srimalee, S. 2005. Small firms still await
financial aid. The Nation, 4 April 2005.
40