Tsunami In Khao Lak

Khao Lak was severely effected by the tsunami Boxing Day 2004. On our first few days of arrival there we wanted to see how well it had recovered and the effect it had had on the town.

2 years on Khao Lak is still developing heavily and building work is everywhere. big hotels are being built. There are beach bungalows all the way along the beach already. The locals however have small shanty houses built close to the hotels. They are made from corogated iron and are extremely basic.

There is now a Tsunami Warning system in place. There are loud speakers and there are signs everywhere that you are entering Tsunami area and there are directions for escape routes to safe areas.

The town is doing well and tourism is busy.

On the beach there are trees covered in Photographs with poems of loved ones that were lost. Most photos and memorials were for tourists that had lost their lives and not the locals. Further out of town we found a large ship 1 1/2 km from the sea. It had many flowers placed by it.We also found another ship that had stopped just feet in front of knocking down a community centre. It remains there as a reminder of the events that happend. We went to the Tsunami museum that was mainly geographical information about how they form. It did not contain personal info about the effect on Khao Lak.

We went to the cemetary and to the memorial for the Tsunami. Really it is amazing to see how quick a recover people and business had made. The people there are still lovely, sweet and super friendly.

The Tsunami has also had an affect on the sea. We dived a wreck called The Boonsung. It used to be fully intact but is now broken up into many pieces.

The Memorial site.