Hi All,
Great to see everyone getting so involved and helping out!!!
A couple of the guys that work with us and at the casinos were there at the time and have some sad stories to tell.
Here is one from an analyst of ours’ father who currently lives in Phuket.(it is long but thought it might interest you to know what it is like on the ground there)
Let me know if you want to hear more from others in our office that were there:
Just to let you know that I was unaffected by the Tsunami that lashed south Asia causing massive destruction and death. Relative to the rest of south
Asia the island of Phuket suffered minimal damage. Two possible reasons are the scattering of smaller islands, many uninhabited, that lie off the west coast
of Phuket and broke some of the force of the Tsunami, and the other is the soundly constructed beachfront hotels which bore the brunt of the force of the Tsunami and protected smaller buildings in the streets behind. But nevertheless the impact on the lives of people here has been enormous. Fortunately I was not at the beach that day, in fact I had just arrived at
church when the Tsunami hit the island. And the area hit was the west coast of Phuket and my house is on the east coast which was unaffected. I did feel the undersea earthquake off Aceh which caused the Tsunami. But this was no more than being woken up with the feeling of someone shaking my bed. This was about and hour and a half before the Tsunami hit Phuket giving
an idea of the speed of the Tsunami to cover about 1000 km in that time. Over and above the grief of the local people for their friends and families who died the suffering is increased by the total destruction of beach and beach front businesses. In addition to the severely damaged hotels, which are now closed causing loss of tourist income and loss of jobs, almost all the small beach and beachfront businesses were owned by Thai people who are now without any source of income. Some of them had taken years to establish and
build up their businesses, for example the people who rent out beach chairs and umbrellas and who had, over a period of years, enlarged their number of chairs and umbrellas. Now, in one swift moment, they are either dead or all that they had is gone. As have also gone all the small beach fast food operations and small restaurants which were all flimsily constructed and unable to withstand the force of the Tsunami. And the owners of jet skis, other boats for para-sailing and waterski-ing also lost everything. Long-tail boats and the small taxis (Tuk Tuks) were also destroyed and owners of small pubs and restaurants in the Patong beach area, particularly Bangla Road, although protected from the force of the Tusnami by the large beachfront buildings, had their businesses completely flooded losing everything. At Karon beach there was a type of flea market on the edge of the beach with about 70 stalls selling curios, clothing, shoes, trinket jewellery, souvenirs etc. Now there is nothing to show it even existed. It is necessary to understand that these people do not have insurance. Because there has never been anything like this before or even any similar major catastrophe one can understand that insurance is something they do not even think about. The force of the Tsunami is best illustrated by the fact that it was able to pick up large tourist busses and drop them onto the roofs of buildings. Most of the deaths in Phuket have been of foreign tourists who were on or near the beach, or at beach hotel swimming pools which are usually in front of the hotel on the edge of the beach. Those who survived but suffered injury were mostly helped by local hospitals and clinics. Some were transported to Bangkok but local hospitals provided most of the care. And the Thai people opened their hearts to the foreigners with all kinds of assistance, including clothing and accomodation for the tourists who lost everything they had with them here. The Thai government provided travel documents for those who lost their passports, and, for those who wanted to leave, free flights to Bangkok and in many cases onwards to home countries although countries like Australia and Germany also helped with flights. It will take time for everything here to recover to where it was before. But the Thai people are a resilient people and I am sure that they will have things up and running again, even if only on a smaller scale, within months. Of course financial help will play a big role and in addition to foreign aid that has been pledged, Thai individuals and businesses are contributing to a fund to assist those people who lost everything. So, if you are thinking of coming here on holiday, have no fears – Phuket will be back in the swing of things before you know it. And as far as the Tsunami is concerned who knows if there will be another one? But with nothing like this ever happening here before the chances of another one are extremely small. In fact areas of Asia where there have been Tsunamis in the past it has been hundreds of years before there has been another one and some have yet to even have another one. The one thing that could have saved a lot of people is that if they were aware of the prior warning signs they could have escaped. People saw the sea suddenly moving out from the beach but did not realise what this meant. If they had known this was the warning of the approach of the Tsunami they would have had time to flee to higher ground. Now I am sure there will be warning signs on the beaches. That’s all for my Tsunami report, I am fit and well and still enjoying life on this island that will very soon again be a beautiful island everywhere. In fact the beach cleanup has been progressing quickly with most of the rubbish cleared away already and everything appearing normal other than that there are no people, chairs and umbrellas and beach restaurants on the beaches. But with the east coast beaches unaffected everything there is still operating normally. Bye for now, Peter P.S. The King of Thailand’s grandson was one of those who died on Phi Phi island. The Thai people revere their king and all new year’s eve parties and celebrations have been cancelled.