A sign on Phuket’s Kamala Beach warns it is in a tsunami-risk zone. Business has become brisker than before the island province was hit by giant waves two years ago.

"While remembering the disaster, we still have to make a living," said Pramoon Suksrirat, owner of a small booth selling leather products on Patong Beach.

The possibility of another disaster seems far from the minds of people in the tourism industry. A visitor to the island these days might not be able to imagine how badly it suffered from the tsunami. Only warning signs showing in which direction to flee remind you that giant waves could strike again.

The post-tsunami moonscape has been replaced by new hotels, resorts, restaurants and street markets. Patong, Kamala, Kata and Karon beaches, which were all devastated by the tsunami, are bustling once again with local and foreign tourists.

When The Nation visited Kamala Beach at this time last year, people were busy meeting representatives of the National Disaster Warning Centre, Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre and the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department to draw up a community-based evacuation plan. There was no talk of the plan this year.

"The last time I heard about it was during last year's commemoration," said a tourism operator who asked not to be named.

Not only does the evacuation plan seem to be forgotten, the beach zoning plan to enable people to escape from giant waves has also been washed from people's minds. The strip of beach extending 30 metres from the high-tide level that the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department ordered should be kept free from any obstacles is now filled with deck chairs, dining tables and booths selling souvenirs, food and drinks.

Asked what she would do if a tidal wave struck again, the young owner of a food stall said: "We will just run. This time we will not wait until the wave comes; if the sea runs out, we'll know it's time to run."

The sea receded to the horizon just before the tsunami struck in 2004, and many people lost their lives because they ran out to see this phenomenon. A few minutes later, the water came roaring back in a giant wave.

At Patong Beach, big new resorts and hotels have sprung up on the nearby hill. A giant dog created by a Japanese artist to commemorate the first anniversary of the tsunami has become part of a children's playground on the beach.

"We are not forgetting it [the tsunami], but we don't want to be forgotten by the world," said Anchalee Wanitch Theppabutr, president of Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation (PAO).

Anchalee said she had to accelerate the rebuilding of the province's tourism industry or else Phuket would have dropped off the world tourism map. She said if Phuket had not re-established itself as tourist destination this year, international tourism agencies would not have put the island in their packages and it would have taken another three years for the province to regain its reputation.

Anchalee said tourist numbers have reached 4.7 million this year, almost the same as in the pre-tsunami years. She attributed the successful recovery to a joint campaign by the province and the Tourism Authority of Thailand to find new tourist markets and to the authorities ensuring tourists' safety by setting up a tsunami-warning system and lifeguard stations.

She said the Phuket PAO had spent almost Bt10 million on building 11 warning stations to spread any alert issued by the National Disaster Warning Centre.

"We should turn a crisis to be an opportunity, not trap ourselves in the pain," she said.

Many photographic shops in Phuket seized an opportunity from the disaster by selling VCDs and pictures of the tragedy.

As an ordinary person whose livelihood depends on tourism, Pramoon said he was thrilled by the post-tsunami recovery. He doesn't think that anyone will forget the horror of the tsunami, which residents and tourists still talk about.

"I have to retell the nightmare to tourists who visit my booth and ask whether I was here that day," he said, adding that sharing his experience with tourists was much better than keeping the memories to himself.

Pennapa Hongthong

The Nation

PHUKET