"I'm still scared" - Thai resident recalls tsunami that killed 230,000 along Andaman Sea
Record ID:
1450289
"I'm still scared" - Thai resident recalls tsunami that killed 230,000 along Andaman Sea
- Title: "I'm still scared" - Thai resident recalls tsunami that killed 230,000 along Andaman Sea
- Date: 26th December 2019
- Summary: PANG-NGA PROVINCE, THAILAND (DECEMBER 26, 2019) (REUTERS) THAI OFFICIALS QUEUING TO PAY RESPECTS TO PORTRAIT OF BHUMI JENSEN, KING VAJIRALONGKORN'S NEPHEW WHO DIED NEAR BAN NAM KHEM VILLAGE VARIOUS OFFICIALS LAYING FLOWERS AT BHUMI'S PORTRAIT RELIGIOUS CEREMONY FOR VICTIMS OF TSUNAMI VARIOUS PASTORS AND CHRISTIANS VARIOUS RELATIVES SITTING AND LISTENING OFFICIALS PRAYING AND LIGHTING CANDLE IN FRONT OF VICTIMS' PORTRAITS VARIOUS BUDDHIST MONKS CHANTING PRAYERS BESIDE VICTIMS' PORTRAITS VARIOUS RELATIVES CHANTING PRAYERS VARIOUS BAN NAM KHEM VILLAGE RESIDENT AND RELATIVE OF TSUNAMI VICTIMS, SUWANNEE MALIWAN, AND HER NIECE WALKING IN TSUNAMI MEMORIAL PARK (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) BAN NAM KHEM VILLAGE RESIDENT, SUWANNEE MALIWAN, 28, SAYING: "I am still scared, very scared. I want to go to live somewhere else, but it's not possible because I was born here, grew up here, my father and mother also died here. So I must remain and live here." PEOPLE LAYING FLOWERS AT WALL AT MEMORIAL PARK (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) BAN NAM KHEM VILLAGE RESIDENT, SUWANNEE MALIWAN, 28, SAYING: "Sometimes I dream that a wave is coming. I'm still scared. It's an image that still haunts me when the wave was coming, I could still remember it." THAI FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST WHO WORKED ON IDENTIFYING TSUNAMI VICTIMS, KHUNYING PORNTHIP ROJANASUNAND, BEING INTERVIEWED ON BEACH (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) THAI FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST, KHUNYING PORNTHIP ROJANASUNAND, SAYING: "If we encounter it (natural disaster) again, I am not confident if we can handle it. Anyhow, Thais are always ready when it comes to volunteering in the crises." VARIOUS FOREIGNERS LAYING FLOWERS ON WALL IN MEMORIAL PARK
- Embargoed: 9th January 2020 09:06
- Keywords: Thailand anniversary ceremony deaths religious tsunami victims
- Location: PHANG-NGA, THAILAND
- City: PHANG-NGA, THAILAND
- Country: Thailand
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunami
- Reuters ID: LVA001BBM2153
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Thailand held an interfaith religious ceremony on Thursday (December 26) to pay tribute to the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.
More than 230,000 people along the coasts of countries on the Indian Ocean were killed 15 years ago on the morning after Christmas Day when a 9.1 magnitude quake off northern Sumatra island triggered a tsunami with waves as high as 17.4 meters (57 feet).
In the fishing village of Ban Nam Khem, officials held a memorial ceremony and called for more awareness and preparedness for disasters. At least 1,400 people were killed when waves struck the village. Officials also laid wreaths at a memorial center in Phang Nga province to pay tribute to King Maha Vajiralongkorn's nephew, Bhumi Jensen, who was last seen jet-skiing off the coast when the tsunami hit.
Ban Nam Khem resident, Suwannee Maliwan, 28, who lost both parents and five other relatives when the tsunami hit the Thai province of Phang Nga, said the image still haunts her even after all these years. More than 5,300 people were killed in Thailand, including tourists visiting resort islands in the Andaman Sea. More than a dozen countries were affected by the calamity.
(Production: Prapan Chankaew, Juarawee Kittisilpa) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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