Published on January 18, 2005

Civil groups in Thailand’s six tsunami-ravaged provinces called on the government to adopt more community-oriented policies for assisting victims.

Participants made the demand during the first meeting of tsunami victims and groups representing afflicted areas in Phang Nga town. The meeting was organised by a network of civil groups from and near Bangkok and joined by local activists and academics from Mahidol and Prince of Songkhla universities.

“Assistance is being distributed in too centralised a manner and handled rather inefficiently by government agencies in a top-down approach without asking what people on the ground actually want,” Professor Anuchart Puangsamlee from Mahidol University said. “The locals are now getting hit by a second tidal wave which we might call the “Tsunami of Mercy.”

Although an outpouring of help is flooding the tsunami-afflicted areas, miles of bureaucratic red tape means that only a fraction of the more than 50,000 badly affected locals are able to enjoy the real benefits of assistance, local participants said. “Donated items are piling up at Provincial Hall while officials are busying themselves filling in forms and whatnot. ,” a delegate from Satun province said. “Government officials must urgently revise their approach,” said another delegate, from Phuket. “The focus of aid should be villagers, not high-ranking people who are capitalising on the situation.”

Sombat Boonngarm-anong, a representative of the Chiang Rai-based Krajok Ngao group, which assists in relief activities in Khao Lak, conceded that the surplus of assistance did cause some headaches to his staff. “One day we had 800 earthen stoves piling up in front of our centre, almost blocking the entire street,” he explained. “We are thankful for all donations, but often supplies do not respond to actual needs.”

Participants recommended that residents in each affected province pull together and work out what kind of help they need, when and how, and petition the government with concrete proposals.

Kamol Sukin

The Nation

Phang Nga

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