Local and foreign visitors to locations with the worst-hit areas are drawn to memorialize 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 the Tsunami Memorial Park at Ban Nam Khem in Phangnga, and at the Sailfish Sculpture on Ao Nang shore in Krabi, memorial services and religious festivities took place.
At the Mai Khao Cemetery, local and foreign onlookers observed a moment’s silence. Following ceremonial offerings in accordance with Buddhist, Islamic, and Christian ceremonies, flowers were erected along a memorial garden walls.
To level National Disaster Prevention Day, which falls on December 26, Wasawat Hongsasupasakul, assistant president of the Mai Khao Tambon Administrative Organization, read a message 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 storage”, 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 companions who had been killed by the enormous waves.
” The wave killed our Norwegian companions and clients,” the statement read. After the event, we moved to live in Norway”, Mrs Noi said. Our thoughts are the same despite the incident occurring 20 years earlier.
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 individuals at this year’s ceremony previously reached this year.
At 7o’clock, there was also a light ceremony at the monument area. ( Story continues below )
A person attends a meeting on December 26 at Ban Nam Khem, a fishing town that was completely destroyed by the tsunami’s storm that struck Phangnga, to pay tribute to the subjects of the 2004 tsunami. ( Photo: Reuters )
The lake took my daughter, I say.
Urai Sirisuk, who lost her 4-year-old girl, was among the thousands visiting the Tsunami Wall to pay their respects to lost loved ones.
” I felt that the waves took my daughter aside, 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.
A two-day educational platform for local and international researchers from the public, private, and civil society businesses also took place on Thursday at the Khao Lak Marriott Beach Resort &, Spa to strengthen participation and exchange information.
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.