Local and foreign visitors to locations with the worst cases of disaster come to recall lost loved ones.
People in regions along Thailand’s Andaman coast held memory activities on Thursday to indicate the 20th anniversary of the 2004 tsunami that killed 230, 000 people across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and nine different countries.
At Mai Khao Cemetery and Patong Beach in Phuket, at Ban Nam Khem Memorial Park in Phangnga, and at the Sailfish Sculpture on Ao Nang Beach in Krabi, spiritual festivities took place.
At the Mai Khao Cemetery, local and foreign mourning observed a moment’s silence. Following the laying of plants at a wall of the monument area, commemorations that were performed in accordance with Buddhist, Islamic, and Christian ceremonies were followed by the performing of religious ceremonies.
To level National Disaster Prevention Day, which falls on December 26, Wasawat Hongsasupasakul, the deputy chairman of the Mai Khao Tambon Administrative Organization, read a text from Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
Ronny Karlsen, a Norwegian man who survived the 2004 tsunami, said he had learned about the celebration and wanted to participate to recall those who perished.
” Things that happened on that day still be in my ram”, he said.
Noi Rakthong, a 52-year-old Thai girl, said she and her Scandinavian father owned a cafe on Karon shore when the storm struck 20 years earlier. They went back to Phuket for a vacation and were observing the festival to honor the friends who had been killed by the enormous waves.
” Our Norwegian associates and clients perished in the storm. After the event, we moved to live in Norway”, Mrs Noi said. ” Our thoughts remain the same despite the incident occurring 20 times before.”
Visitors in Krabi gave material bouquets and wreaths to fishermen who placed them at a wave memorial on the ocean in Tonsai Bay, about one kilometer away from Koh Phi Phi Phi Don, in Tonsai Bay.
More than 1, 000 victims and family of sufferers from five different Andaman regions, including Ranong, Phuket, Krabi, Trang, and Satun, also from abroad, took part in a religious meeting and had meal at the Ban Nam Khem Tsunami Memorial Park in Phangnga. The most participants to attend this year’s ceremony always is expected.
A light celebration is scheduled for the memorial plaza on Thursday at 7 p.m. ( Story continues below )
A person attends a meeting on December 26 at the wave-shaped memorial to the tsunami sufferers of the 2004 wave in Ban Nam Khem, a fishing town that was completely destroyed by the storm that struck Phangnga. ( Photo: Reuters )
My daughter was taken by the lake.
Urai Sirisuk, who lost her 4-year-old girl, was among the plenty visiting the Tsunami Wall to pay their respects to lost loved ones.
” I felt that the waves took my daughter apart, I was so hungry at it”, said Ms Urai, then 62. She said she would never go near the sea, only 50 yards away.
I can’t bring myself to go near it, and I can’t actually put my feet in the sand. I haven’t come around here if not needed, always. The lake took my daughter from me”, she said.
Phangnga was one of Thailand’s hardest-hit regions, with the crisis claiming 5, 400 life it, including some unusual visitors.
To enhance cooperation and exchange information between local and international experts from the public, private, and civil society fields, a two-day scientific community also took place on Thursday at the Khao Lak Marriott Beach Resort &, Spa.
The focus is on five key topics: public health and emergency medical services, national warning systems, research and innovation, promoting community immunity to natural disasters, and the development of sustainably safe cities.
The tsunami on Dec 26, 2004 was triggered by a 9.1 magnitude quake off the coast of Aceh province in Indonesia, sending waves as high as 17.4 metres slamming into coastlines of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and nine other countries.