Published on January 13, 2005

How do we survive? That is the question being asked by Jitlada and Malee Sorn-in, Phang Nga natives and founders of a family resort and retail complex in Khao Lak that was worth Bt50 million before being destroyed by last month’s tsunami.

The tsunami also claimed a senior family member.

“We don’t want to talk about our losses. We just want to survive and get back on our feet,” said Jitlada.

As do other Khao Lak investors who lost their businesses when the waves hit on Boxing Day.

Jitlada and Malee reopened their small Nang Thong retail shop last Thursday. But Jitlada, 32, speaking three days later, said there were far fewer customers than before.

“Now there’s no foreign tourists, only locals and rescue volunteers,” she said.

The Sorn-in family owns 100 rai of land at Khao Lak. They constructed their small resort 10 years ago, before the Khao Lak tourist boom.

Jitlada said she had no idea how long she could survive, because Phang Nga suffered an enormous amount of damage, even compared with the other five provinces. She is undecided about rebuilding the resort.

“If we rebuild, and the tourists don’t return, the money will have been wasted. We’ll wait a year or two to decide,” she said.

Khao Lak’s boom began five years ago, with large numbers of European tourists coming to see the area’s abundance of nature and its long, beautiful beach.

The tourists continued arriving in droves, prompting the Sorn-in family to spend Bt50 million last year on renovations, borrowing half of the funds from Bangkok Bank.

“We believed the business would prosper, and we could repay the loan within three years, but now we don’t know when we will be able to repay it. But we’ll try to find a way, especially now that the bank has agreed to reschedule the repayments,” said Jitlada.

Parn Kunakort, 49, owner of Khao Lak Seafood Restaurant, which reopened last Saturday, faces a similar problem.

“We had to lay off all 12 of our staff once business dropped after the tsunami,” said Parn.

Normally, Khao Lak Seafood would generate daily revenues of up to Bt20,000 in the high season from December to February, but now Parn is lucky to bring in Bt2,000 a day.

And people are avoiding seafood, out of fear of the fish may have fed on human remains.

“We don’t know how long it’ll take to get back to normal. If never, then we might have to return to our original vocations of rubber planting or fishing,” she added.

Somluck Srimalee

The Nation

Khao Lak

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