Feature: Long way to go to restore lives in tsunami-battered southern Thailand

Forty-three year old Soi sat idly on a wooden bench in a southern Thailand neighborhood. Nearby, three kids were frolicking around on their bare feet.

It was the scene of a quiet afternoon in Khao Lak district of Thailand's southern Phangnga province, where last year's tsunami has branded itself into everyone's consciousness.

Since April, Soi and her family have been living in this double- story makeshift wooden building, one of a total of 70 houses sheltering 280 villagers along this seaside community.

Erected at the entrance of the community was a green iron board reading "Thank you for the UBS Tsunami Relief Fund and The Human Development Foundation for working with us to rebuild the village. "

Inside the family's living room upstairs, several rugs were scattered on the pricky ground, serving as simple "beds" for resting. Cartons were piled up at one corner of the 20-square meter room, packed with daily necessaries and sundries.

"The international fund and donors helped us build these new houses, since our homes were completely washed away by tsunami," Soi said, pointing to the direction of a tract about 20 meters away where her house used to stand before the disaster.

"My family lived here for over 40 years, and we never saw such horrible waves before," she said.

Soi and her sons survived by rushing onto a hill as the tidal waves rolled over the bank and engulfed all buildings in sight.

Her husband Deng was crashed onto the ground by roaring tides and injured in the leg while working inside a seaside resort on the day.

"Now we have a donated fishing boat but can't go to the sea because it has no engines," said the 41-year-old former fisherman.

The family of five, with the youngest son being only 20 months old, still live on aids from the government and humanitarian assistance organizations.

Soi said she don't know what they can do to make a living once the relief projects end.

Despite her bitterness, Soi is by no means the most unfortunate villager in Prangnga, the worst hit province along the western coast of the Andaman sea.

In Ban Namkhem, a small fishing village lying 60 km north of Phuket, several hundred people were still homeless.

The village was nearly wiped out of the map during last year's calamity, in which more than 3,000 people out of the total 5,000-6, 000 population has been killed in giant waves. The only building left was a school, which occupied a shallow depression behind the beach.

With the help of the government and international fund, some 1, 000 houses have gradually been built up in the neighborhood, and 100 more were still under construction.

"Some elderly survivors moved out of the village and don't want to go back for they fear the tsunami might strike again," a worker named Thainee told Xinhua while cleaning and painting a two-deck fishing boat wrecked and swept ashore on Dec. 26, 2004.

Thainee lost three relatives in last year's disaster. His wife abandoned him and went away with a taxi driver.

"The restoration process drags on very slowly. I see around here many people having no jobs," the 35-year-old man uttered the words with choked voice.

Thainee had been able to earn 30,000-40,000 baht (720-952 US dollars) per month at an advertising company in Hat Yai but now only one meal by doing whole day's cleaning work.

He said what the villagers need most is an environment for working so that people can do businesses to support themselves.

A total of 40 fishing boats have been distributed around the area via various channels. But due to the lack of engines, fishing net and life-saving vests, villagers here still can not go out fishing.

Heavily reliant on fishing and tourism, the economy in the southern province of Prangnga neighboring Phuket crippled after killer waves smashed its pillar industries.

No remarkable results have been yielded so far although Thai government has initiated specific programs in efforts to revive its economy.

Thainee said tourists now came here to mourn the dead or look for relics from the disaster, not for spending holidays as they used to do a year ago.

He hoped the government could adopt more measures to restore tourism in the province, especially in Khao Lak, where hundreds of European tourists were killed last December.

In the idyllic Bangsak, 15 minutes' ride south of Ban Namkhem, a small restaurant is serving a dozen of guests in gentle seaside breeze. Its owner Soravit saved himself after swimming 1 km in the giant tidal waves, so he named this newly opened restaurant "Khon Tongsu," meaning striving to lead a life.

Soravit said he built the restaurant with a three-year bank loan, and the business is getting better as people began to shrug off shadows of past tragedy.

On the side of the sea opposite to the restaurant, ladders were hanging down along trunks from the crown of big trees. Also swinging under the branches was a radio broadcasting news. "It is my own early-warning system. I can learn about the danger through the radio and save my life by climbing onto the tree," Soravit said with a smile.

Source: Xinhua