Between trauma and new beginnings 20 years after the deadly tsunami, Thais live with fear
Destroyed places have been rebuilt, tourists are back. 20 years after the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean, everything looks good on the affected Thai coast - at least at first glance.
26.12.2024, 18:58
26.12.2024, 19:07
dpa
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- 20 years ago, a devastating tsunami hit large parts of Southeast Asia.
- Neungduangjai Sritrakarn, a 20-year-old Thai woman at the time, remembers the disaster.
- Today she lives by the sea again - although the memories are still omnipresent.
Neungduangjai Sritrakarn, then 20 years old, was still fast asleep that morning in her family home on the Andaman Sea in southern Thailand when her mother noticed something unusual. She woke her daughter and told her that they had to leave immediately, as quickly as possible.
It was December 26, 2004, the day a deadly Indian Ocean tsunami hit South and Southeast Asia, following a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. A day that is forever etched in the memory of the young student at the time and other survivors. It was one of the worst natural disasters in modern history.
Neungduangjai's mother had seen a strange pattern of whitecaps on the sea, just as a relative returning from a fishing trip came to warn them. They grabbed important family documents and jumped on motorcycles - Neungduangjai, her parents, brother and sister. Within minutes, they sped off, trying to get as far away from their village of Ban Nam Khem as possible.
Tsunami claims 230,000 lives
As Neungduangjai looked back over her shoulder, she saw a swelling wall of water in the distance - higher than her house - rolling towards the coast. She had never seen anything like it before.
The family was about three kilometers away when the mass of water hit the coast of Phang Nga province and then caught up with them, throwing them off their motorcycles. The water was dark, carrying all sorts of objects - natural and man-made - with it. Neungduangjai stood up, but could barely stay on her feet in the forward-pushing floodwaters. The water almost reached her knees.
She didn't know at the time that the tsunami had hit a dozen countries, leaving around 230,000 dead, about a third of them in Indonesia. Around 1.7 million people were displaced, most of them in the worst-hit countries: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. According to government figures, at least 5,400 people died on Thailand's Andaman coast and around 3,000 are still missing today.
The smell of death
The shrimp farm where Neungduangjai's family had worked and lived was destroyed. In its place today is a bustling restaurant and bar, the fruits of Neungduangjai's reconstruction efforts. From the veranda, there is a beautiful view of the sea - which, she says, only exists because the tsunami destroyed parts of the coast. Life is flourishing again in Phang Nga, the tourists are back - outwardly, all is well.
Neungduangjai, who was studying in Bangkok at the time and had come home for the New Year vacations, says that her immediate family survived, but she lost five relatives - including her grandparents. One of her uncles was never found. She stayed with relatives in nearby Ranong province for a week after the tsunami, then returned.
She remembers the smell of death as if it had happened yesterday and that nothing seemed to be in its original place. "There were dead bodies everywhere," she says. "When I returned to the village, I couldn't recognize a single thing. Everything was different."
Trauma is still present
Tourists may not realize it, but reminders of the tragedy still abound in Phang Nga today - signs marking the evacuation route, tsunami shelters near beach areas, monuments and museums displaying debris and using photos to tell the story of that day.
Sanya Kongma, assistant to the village head of Ban Nam Khem, says that reconstruction and development have come a long way and the quality of life in the village is good compared to 20 years ago. But the memories and trauma of the experience are still present, he says - and the fear is never far away. "Even now...When there is an announcement from the government on TV, or whatever, that there has been an earthquake in Sumatra, everyone gets scared."
Once a year, the sirens wail as part of an evacuation drill. But what is meant to give residents a sense of security, the knowledge that they are now much better prepared, can rekindle the terror in some survivors.
"I am still afraid"
Somneuk Chuaykerd lost one of her young sons to the tsunami while she was out at sea fishing with her husband. The 50-year-old still lives in the same place, with the sea practically bordering her back garden. During evacuation drills, she learned to always have an emergency bag packed with all her important documents. She keeps it in her bedroom - as well as a photo of the little boy she lost.
But the siren makes her freeze with fear every time, her heart starts to race. She is helpless in that moment, she explains, "It's so scary." But she is not thinking of moving away from this place. "I live by the sea. This is my life. There is nowhere else I could go," she says.
Neungduangjai, for her part, suffered panic attacks for years after the tsunami whenever she looked at the sea. A thunderous noise of waves haunted her sleep. Nevertheless, she decided to return after her studies to build a new life by the sea and earn a living there. "I'm still scared," she says, "but I have to live with it because it's my home."