Contestants ready for Thailand's tsunami memorial design competition

A total of 679 contestants from 49 countries registered for the Tsunami Memorial Design Competition, which Thailand had launched to gather conceptual designs for building on interactive memorial in south Thailand to commemorate the devastated tsunami in December 2004.

Plodprasob Suraswadi, Vice Minister for Natural Resources and Environment and Chairman of the Sub-Committee for Tsunami Memorial Project, said that the memorial will be built at Khao Lak-Lamru National Park in Phangnga Province, which was most seriously hit by tsunami in Thailand last year.

"At the closure of the registration process on Nov. 15, the organizing committee has received 679 registrants from 49 countries," Plodprasob said during a news conference here on Friday.

Among the 679 registrants, the United States topped the list, followed by Thailand, Japan and Germany. The Chinese mainland sent three registrants to attend the competition, with another 16 from China's Hong Kong.

The design competition is being held from September 2005 to May 2006 in two stages. Registration of contestants for stage 1, which is open to all, will last until Nov. 15 and submission of entries is due on Dec. 6. A jury of prominent design professionals from several countries will select five finalists, who will then be invited to further develop their concepts in Stage 2 of the competition.

A second jury will then review these designs and recommend a final design for submittal to the Government of Thailand in May 2006. Last month, the organizing committee announced the list of jury which comprises seven professionals from China, Sweden, Germany, the United States, Britain and Thailand.

Amnuay Jun-Ngern, Deputy Director-General, Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, Ministry of Culture, said the Tsunami Memorial is being built to commemorate the destruction and severe loss of life caused by the December 2004 tsunami.

According to the official figures, there are 4,225 people, including 1,926 foreigners, died in Phang-Nga during the tsunami last year, with another 5,597 injured and 1,680 still missing.

Source: Xinhua