Thousands mourn harrowing tragedy

Survivors, relatives of the victims and mourners will today visit beaches along six Andaman provinces for the second year of commemoration of those who lost their lives to the devastating tsunami two years ago.

Elsewhere across the disaster zone in Thailand, religious rites will be held in the morning while candles will be lit along the beaches at night and condolence poems read to mark the moment when the walls of waves hit.

"We hope this will be part of the healing process for those who lost loved ones," said Chamroen Tankasem, a government official in southern Thailand, a tropical paradise that was turned into a graveyard in a matter of minutes.

"It will also help us remember what happened, what we have learned since and what more needs to be done for the people affected."

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that ripped apart the ocean floor off Indonesia's Sumatra island on December 26, 2004, spawned giant walls of waves that fanned out across the Indian Ocean at jetliner speeds, killing an estimated 230,000 people in a dozen nations.

The walls of water swept entire villages out to sea in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, submerged luxury resorts and fishing communities in Thailand and destroyed thousands of homes in India. In Thailand, more than 5,000 lives were taken by the waves.

A cemetery for 406 unidentified victims will be opened today at Phang Nga's Bang Muang sub-district. Lt-General Ek Angsananond, head of the Royal Thai Police's Forensic Science Bureau, said the unidentified bodies might be Burmese workers.

Phang Nga Governor Vinai Buapradit said official commemorations will be held at Baan Nam Kem, Khao Lak's Bang Nieng Beach, Chong Faa Beach and Bang Maruan cemetery. Religious rites of Buddhist, Christian, Islam, Hindu and Sikh faiths will be held.

"The commemoration this year will not be as grand as last year's anniversary," he said.

Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya will attend the commemoration at Bang Nieng Beach, where her son Khun Poom Jensen lost his life.

In the small fishing community of Baan Talay Nork in Ranong's Suk Samran sub-district, a simple Islamic religious ritual will be held among members of the community.

"We lost our loved ones here, we will commemorate them here," said Rewut Harnjitr, the village headman. Baan Talay Nork lost 47 people, including eight children, to the tsunami.

In Phuket, a white wall with the names and national flags of the countries whose citizens died in the tsunami has been built at Mai Khao cemetery, which was used to keep and identify the bodies of victims.

Two years after the tragedy, survivors in small villages still live in fear of large waves. Villagers at Baan Talay Nork do not dare to spend time close to the sea, except when they go out fishing.

When strong winds and high waves hit the Andaman and Gulf of Thailand coastlines these days, villagers at Baan Pak Bang in Phuket are on alert the whole time. "I can't close my eyes and am afraid that the tsunami will come," said a villager.

People who were engaged in the tourism industry have started new lives. Along Patong and Kamala beaches in Phuket, no evidence of the destructive tidal wave has been left. The moonscape has gone and been replaced with big hotels and resorts.

The province's tourism industry has already got back to the stage before the tsunami, said Anchalee Wanitch Thepbutr, president of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation.

The second anniversary of the disaster is being held amidst a scandal surrounding money donated from abroad. The Royal Thai Police recently received a letter signed by diplomats of seven countries whose citizens gave money for police to use in identifying victims. The diplomats asked to have an internal audit investigating the use of Bt60 million in donations.

General Kowit Wattana, head of the Royal Thai Police, yesterday set up a fact-finding committee to investigate the allegations.

Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on an arc of fault lines, accounted for nearly two-thirds of those killed. It will mark today's anniversary by preparing for future deadly waves.

Ten thousand people are scheduled to take part in an evacuation drill on the resort island of Bali, which was unaffected by the 2004 tsunami. They will flee homes in four villages after authorities set off sirens.

A smaller drill will be held in the Sumatran town of Padang, which geologists warn could be hit by another massive tsunami within 30 years, and mourners in devastated Aceh province will visit Muslim mosques and mass graves.

In Sri Lanka, where the resurgence of a civil war has added to the misery of survivors, Hindu and Buddhist temples will ring bells to mark the time the first wave hit. Two minutes of silence will follow to remember the 35,000 killed there and interfaith ceremonies will be held in India, where another 18,000 are believed to have died.

The 2004 tsunami generated an unprecedented outpouring of generosity, with donor pledges reaching about US$13.6 billion (Bt494 billion), but many of the two million made homeless complain they still do not have adequate places to live.

Some survivors say they are stuck with poorly built structures that leak, are termite-infested or located in flood zones. Several aid agencies, meanwhile, have been forced to delay projects or rebuilding homes after contractors and suppliers ran off with the funds.