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January 3
What's in the newspapers
While the foreign press has innocent photos of elephants dragging
palm fronds around, Dailynews (left above) has an elephant
carrying a corpse with its tusks. On the left side are the amazing
series of photos we linked to on December 28.
Khao Sod has a story about the identities of the people
photographed running from the waves.
The photo essay of Phuket after tsunami: Manager Daily
- good
photos of erosion and coral damage |
Translations from Thai-language newspapers: Manager Daily and
ThaiRath - January 3, 2005
Wisarut reports on news items in the local press:
The latest bodycount at 8:00am of January 3, 2005:
Dead: 5,046 (2,287 Thai, 2,459 foreigners, 300 unclassified)
Injured: 8,457
Missing: 3,810 (after cutting redundant entries out of the list)
However, the Swedish government told the Thai Ambassador
in Stockholm that there are at least 3500 Swedes missing in Thailand
even though the Thai government said they just recovered 60 dead
Swedes.
Search dogs have recovered at least 10 buried corpses
at Bang Muang village of Phangnga.
Two elephants from Ayutthaya are coming to clear
debris where the machines cannot go as well as to recover the buried
corpses at Bang Niang (Khuekkhak district of Phangnga). Another
four elephants from Ayutthaya will follow soon.
There are 40 starving deer along with floating corpses
at Phra Thong and nearby islands (at least 30 floating corpses at
Tachai Island and Ball Island).
Ten monks of 20 at Wat Yanyao (Wat Nikornwararam)
have to leave the temple to live at other temples since they cannot
stand the stinking and rotting corpses piling up in the temple area.
Even other monks who still live in Wat Yanyao have to sleep outside
the temple area. They have lots of work to chant for funerals and
perform cremation ceremonies.
Minister Suwit said there will be an anonymous cemetery
for unidentified corpses at Khao Lak.
Soldiers, sailors and rescue officer said they can
recover only about 1 in 3 of the more than 4000 floating, buried
and rotting corpses at Phi Phi Island while the vultures are flying
around Phi Phi and Phangnga.
French rescue officers have come to recover corpses
at Sofitel in Khao Lak and the nearby area. So far the French rescue
officers have recovered 30 corpses including 10 dead French.
Now the land subsidence has spread from Satun to
Trang and the Nopphitam district of Nakhon Srithammarat.
The Ministry of Public Health is asking for donations
of rubber gloves, giant boots, mosquito repellent, no. 95 masks,
and black garbage bags.
Even though Patong Beach has been quickly recovered
and restored, Premier Thaksin has asked officers to catch those
the mafia who run rampant to extract extortion from poor local enterprises
along Patong Beach.
Channel 7 has reported that underground water has
seeped into paddy fields in the La Ngoo district of Satun due to
the tsunami while there are 2-3 dolphins swimming inside the abandoned
tin mines since they have brought to the mainland by the tsunami.
BMA Governor Aphirak has had a 1-minute silence
for those who perished.
January 2
The disaster: Eyewitness
account from Phangnga - January 1, 2004
Translations from Thai-language newspapers: Manager
Daily - January 2, 2005
Wisarut reports on news items in Manager Daily:
There are at 800 victims of the tsunami with psychological depression
and 300 of 800 the depressed victims have severe depression and
are suicidal so more psychologists are in demands (link).
Updated bodycount data: Jan 2, 2005 at noon
Death: 4,985 (2,252 Thai, 2,457 Foreigners, 276 Unidentified)
Injured: 10,350 ( 6,031 Thailanders, 2,248 Foreigners, 2,071 Unidentified)
Missing: 6,424 (link)
It is quite a miracle that only 5% of coral
(both shallow water and deep sea) is damaged. No digging for artesian
wells is allowed for the time being while and traveling into the
capes around the provinces along Andaman Sea is strictly prohibited
for safety reasons.
Khon Poo (Phognsit Khamphee), the song-for-life composer, is following
Ad Carabao by coming up with his own song for the victims of the
tsunami. The song was just premiered (link).
A copy of the song is here.
What is being reported on Thai-language TV - January 2, 2005
Wisarut reports on what is on Thai-language TV: Channel 11 has
reported that there are several cases where the Tambon Administration
Organizations refuse to release donated food, clothes, and other
necessities to those who suffer from the tsunami calamity so that
they can sell those donated items at high prices. Furthermore, vote
canvassers are blocking donations so as to prevent both rival political
parties from reaping votes even though the donations come from other
places. They also bully both local people who suffer from calamities
and rescue officers who come to help clear the debris.
Dr Khunying Pornthip and her co-workers are asking for more dentists
around the country to help them identify rotten corpses at Wat Yan
Yao (Phangnga) from dental records as well as DNA from dental nerves
in the extracted teeth. The dentists from Prince Songkla University
are already stretched to the limit so more dentists from Chulalongkorn
University, Khon Kaen University, Chang Mai University, Mahidol
University are in demand.
When Khun Ying Photjamarn (the wife of the Prime Minister) came
to see Dr. Khunying Pornthip at Wat Yarn Yao, she was stunned by
the amount of forensic work Khunying Pornthip and coworkers have
to handle. Initially, Khunying Photjamarn wanted to remove the surgical
mask, but she had to put the mask back on a few seconds later due
to the smell from corpses piled up like bundles of firewood. So
Khunying Phoitjamarn is going to ask Premier Thaksin to provide
more dry ice, plastic body bags, refrigerated containers so set
up the makeshift morgues along with the white boards and chemical
pens for recording the identified corpse as well as digital cameras,
memory sticks, laptops, CD-ROMs, CD burners,etc.
Her Majesty Queen Sirikit also asks cadet students from Chulachomklao
Royal Military Academy, Naval Academy, Air Force Academy and Police
Academy to help the locals rebuild their houses.
There are already 11 holes from the land subsidence in Satun.
During the tsunami, the hotsprings in Ranong dried up.
The local people of Phi Phi Island are complaining that the bureaucrats
refuse to release the donated items by claming that they did not
bring the records to the Provincial Office. Many have suspected
that those bureaucrats are going to keep the donated stuff for themselves
and then they will sell on the black markets.
Satellite Photo
of Khao Lak - Before and After Tsunami
Insurance
firms digging in heels - The Nation,
January 2, 2005
...Simply put, [several insurance companies] do not consider
themselves liable to pay compensation, saying the damage was caused
by flooding, not by an earthquake [as specified in the policy]...
January 1
Translations from Thai-language newspapers: Matichon
- December 31, 2004
* HM The King cancels his New Year greeting card of 2005. He works
very hard to help victims in the south and is so happy that Thai
people unite to help each other. Meanwhile, Prime Minister sets
up Mr. Samit to set up a disaster
warning system. It is sad that 90 dead body were stuck in a mine
pit. The Department of Underground Resources warn people in three
provinces (Satun, Trang and Krabi) may face the problem of the
land sinking or caving in.
* Mr. Sujin Hwangli, the president of the Disaster Insurance Association
gave an interview on December 30. He said victims may get around
10,000 million baht for the disaster compensation. For the damaged
car, if they can prove that the damage was caused from the tsunami,
the owners can get compensation immediately.
* Foreigners admire Thai peoples sympathy--little
money, but big heart--that helps victims who suffer from
the tsunami disaster. The AFP reporter collected photos of the
"Thai sympathy impression" to show around the world.
This shows that although Thai people also lose lives and assets,
they help and take care of lots of foreign tourists victims.
Translations from Thai-language newspapers: Thairath
- December 31, 2004
* The lottery draw on December 30 was very popular with many people
trying to be lucky. The government got 525 million baht profit.
Lots of people buy the number of New Era 548 [this year is 2548]
and some people buy the date of the tsunami event which is 026.
* Mrs. Orapin Milintasutra, a 38-year-old victim, disappeared
from Takuapa, Phangnga. Her relatives will give 100,000 baht if
someone finds her dead body. This makes people very interested.
Interesting
comparison of newspaper headlines about relief: Is relief
"pouring" in? "Trickling" in? Bound up in
"red tape"? Is it a "tidal wave" of assistance?
Is it "building"? Do survivors "fight for aid amid
corpses"? Do "delays hinder relief"? Is this aid
"ramping up"? Is it arriving "slowly"? "Expanding"?
"Moving ahead"?
NOAA
AND THE INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI
The Pacific Ocean area got an update on the Sumatran quake minutes
after it happened: Dec. 29, 2004 NOAA scientists at
the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii went to work within
minutes of getting a seismic signal that an earthquake occurred
off the west coast of Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. NOAA issued
a bulletin indicating no threat of a tsunami to Hawaii, the West
Coast of North America or to other coasts in the Pacific Basinthe
area served by the existing tsunami warning system established
by the Pacific rim countries and operated by NOAA in Hawaii...
Above: UBC cable
TV is running an announcement from the US Embassy for nationals
to report they are ok.
Above:
The Nation's January 1 edition leads with an unusual comment
as the front page headline.
No risk of tsunami from new quake - January 1, 2005
A series of descending quotes in the article:
the AP says USGS says NOAA says...
6.5
Magnitude Aftershock Hits Indonesia - AP, January 1, 2005
A 6.5-magnitude aftershock to last weekend's killer earthquake
hit off the coast of Sumatra on Saturday, sending frightened residents
running into the streets. No injuries were reported...
Saturday,
January 01, 2005 at 06:25:44 UTC - Magnitude 6.5 OFF W COAST OF
NORTHERN SUMATRA
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