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Published on December 27, 2007

They came, despite the fear of what painful memories it would awaken.

"I don't want to think about the tidal waves. I don't want to talk about it," Aed Jasai, 56, said as she attended a tsunami commemoration event.

Aed had lived in Ban Nam Khem in Phang Nga's Takua Pa district for decades until the tsunami killed 17 of her family members.

"Only my husband and I survived. We have not returned to Ban Nam Khem again, except on December 26 every year because we want to make merit in dedication to our deceased relatives," she said.

The grief-struck grandmother wept as she recalled how the strong current took her three-month-old grandson from her embrace. "He was taken by the wave," she said tearfully.

Aed said the government did not give her any help except for funeral assistance and some free PVC pipes for the construction of a well.

"We only received support and assistance from non-government organisations and foreign agencies," she said.

Another survivor said he lost five family members in the tsunami. "Had my children survived, they would have been teenagers today," he said as he laid flowers in memory of his beloved.

"I hope no one else will suffer such loss," he said quietly.

Ban Nam Khem was one of the worst-hit spots when the tsunami devastated Thailand's Andaman coast in 2004.

The Culture Ministry held a ceremony yesterday to mark the start of construction of an early-warning tower and an outdoor museum at Ban Nam Khem. The ministry's inspector-general Soamsuda Leeyawanich, Phang Nga Governor Wichai Praisangob and some 200 people and students attended the ceremony.

In Ranong, another province hit by the tsunami, a ceremony to commemorate the tsunami went ahead - although no survivors showed up.

Samarn, who declined to give his surname, said all the survivors including him wanted to forget and decided not to attend the ceremony.

According to a senior official in the Mental Health Department, more than 100 tsunami survivors still needed continuous mental treatment.

Meanwhile, Niti Sornsong-kram, manager of Ban Bang Maruan Disaster Victim Identification Centre, said they still had 42 bodies, which had been identified but relatives had yet to collect them.

"There are 381 other bodies that we have yet to identify. We want to collect DNA information from relatives," Niti said.

Wallapa Hongkhao, a tsunami survivor, said five of her relatives went missing in the tsunami and were feared dead.

"I can't accept what happened as long as I can't find the body of my 10-year-old daughter," the 31-year-old mother said.

Kruanit Thongnit, 50, also showed up at the centre to check whether her niece's body had been found.

"I pray to sacred beings to let me find her," she said.