- Title: THAILAND: TOURISTS RETURN TO PHUKET RESORT AFTER TUSNAMI
- Date: 30th December 2004
- Summary: (U4) PHUKET, THAILAND (DECEMBER 30, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF SKYLINE OF PHUKET 0.04 2. VARIOUS OF BULLDOZER CLEARING DEBRIS / CLEAN-UP OPERATION IN PATONG BEACH/ HOTEL IN THE BACKGROUND 0.08 3. VARIOUS OF WORKERS ON THE BEACH CLEARING DEBRIS 0.18 4. WIDE OF STREET SCENE/ WITH CRANE LIFTING DEBRIS INTO TRUCK 0.25 5. VARIOUS OF WORKER CLEARING SAND IN FRONT OF BAR 0.37 6. WIDE OF PEOPLE CLEARING MARKET 0.45 7. WIDE OF TOURISTS RELAXING ON BEACH WITH HOTELS IN THE BACKGROUND 0.54 8. VARIOUS OF TOURISTS RELAXING ON THE BEACH 1.08 9. WIDE OF BOY AND FATHER PLAYING FOOTBALL ON BEACH 1.15 10. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) GERMAN TOURIST JUERGEN KROH SAYING: "When my own time has come, I die, that's it. So don't be scared. Of course, all the pictures you can see on television around the world, they are terrible, it's a disaster. But what can we do?" 1.30 11. CLOSE OF BOY MAKING SANDCASTLES ON THE BEACH 1.34 12. SLV CHILDREN PLAYING ON THE BEACH 1.45 13. WIDE OF ADULTS WITH CHILDREN ON BEACH 1.50 14. SLV WOMEN IN BIKINI'S ON BEACH 1.57 15. WIDE OF PEOPLE SUNBATHING /SWIMMING IN SEA 2.03 16. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) RUSSIAN TOURIST KSENIA KAPUSTINA SAYING: "Yes, I am very afraid, because my father asked a man who lives here in Patai and he told [said] the second wave will come." 2.16 17. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN TOURIST EVGENIA TENZINA SAYING: "We Russians are used to it because we have forever lived on a powder keg." 2.22 18. SLV PEOPLE TALKING ON BEACH 2.27 19. WIDE OF YACHT IN THE SEA 2.33 20. WIDE OF BEACH WITH HOTEL ON THE HILLSIDE 2.41 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 14th January 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PHUKET, THAILAND
- Country: Thailand
- Reuters ID: LVA1ANJNZBDTBWG1TJWKAHVKCIIU
- Story Text: A trickle of determined tourists jet into the
devastated Thai resort paradise of Phuket to the bewilderment of survivors.
Four days after a series of powerful tidal waves
devastated the western coastline of Thailand, locals
continued the massive clean up effort on Thursday (December
30, 2004).
Hundreds of business owners and council workers
laboured from the early morning to restore a semblence of
normality to their destroyed shop houses and restaurants,
many of which were crushed beyond recognition on Sunday
(December 26).
Despite the deaths of hundreds of people and the scenes
of mangled streets, a trickle of determined tourists have
jetted into the devastated Thai resort paradise of Phuket.
Arriving in almost-empty planes to the bewilderment of
hundreds of survivors fleeing the tsunami disaster,
European tourists in particular flocked to the popular
holiday destination despite continuing efforts to clear
concrete rubble stretching for kilometers.
Hundreds of bereaved holiday-makers are still streaming
out of Phuket, three days after the most powerful quake in
40 years unleashed waves that have killed nearly 80,000
people around the Indian Ocean rim.
Along Thailand's battered southern beaches, more than
1,600 people have been killed with corpses decomposing
where tourists once sunned themselves.
In Khao Lak province, which is north of Phuket, almost
every big hotel has been badly damaged.
But travellers say they are determined to continue
their much awaited vacation.
"When my own time has come, I die - that's it. So
don't be scared. Of course, all the pictures you can see on
television around the world, they are terrible, it's a
disaster. But what can we do?" said Jurgen Kroh from
Germany.
Thailand is a favourite holiday destination for
travellers around the world who are eager to escape the
Christmas winter in their own countries for the tropical
beaches of southeast Asia.
Russian tourists in particular have refused to leave with the
thousands of foreigners being repatriated to their
countries in the aftermath of the disaster, despite threats
of more earthquakes and tidal waves.
"Yes, I am very afraid, because my father asked a man
who lives here in Patai and he told [said] the second wave
will come," said tourist Ksenia Kapustina from Russia.
"We Russians are used to it because we have forever
lived on a powder keg," said another Russian tourist,
Evgenia Tenzina.
Emergency rescue teams from dozens of foreign countries
have been airlifted into Phuket and its neighbouring
provinces to help Thai authorities identify bodies and
locate thousands of people who have been reported missing.
But at least some tourists seem reluctant to abandon
their holidays, providing a much needed source of income
for locals hit hard by the disaster.
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