TSUNAMI ANNIVERSARY

Prayers for last unidentified

Mourners flock to Phuket, Phang-Nga for memorial services

Tearful mourners gathered at beaches and villages in Phuket and Phang-Nga yesterday, where commemoration ceremonies were held to mark the tsunami that pounded the Andaman coast two years ago.

At a cemetery in Phang-Nga's Takua Pa district, Burmese workers could not hold back their tears during a religious ritual for 406 unidentified tsunami victims.

The Thai police's Forensic Science Bureau said the anonymous victims were probably Burmese workers who had slipped over the border to find employment during the peak tourist season prior to the Boxing Day disaster.

Buddhist monks, Muslim clerics and Christian priests took turns blessing the anonymous victims in Phang-Nga, as their individual religions also were unknown.

Police cadets paraded past the cemetery in honour of the victims during the ceremony. The national flags of countries that helped finance the Royal Thai Police's identification of victims were raised to the top of poles at the cemetery.

"We must never forget the victims," said Vinai Buapradit, the governor of Phang-Nga. "So many are still missing. For some of them, our memories are all we have. It is a very profound thing."

Giant walls of seawater swept away entire villages in six Andaman provinces in southern Thailand - and many other Indian Ocean nations on December 26, 2004. An estimated 230,000 people died in a dozen nations. A total of 5,395 locals and foreigners are officially listed as having been lost in Thailand.

The ceremony in Takua Pa was one of many low-key religious events held by local communities and the government. The ceremonies were generally less traumatic than last year's, but for some the pain remained sharp.

In Khao Lak, about 300 Thai and foreign survivors joined a ceremony to pay tribute to the victims, observing a minute of silence while Thai police laid flowers and incense on a boat that was washed ashore by the massive waves.

Some people laid white roses on the beach to pay tribute to the victims, some wept as they looked out across the placid sea that brought shocking death and destruction two years ago.

This is a time to remember those people we lost," said Dorothy Wilkinson, who attended a morning memorial service in Khao Lak and laid flowers on the beach where her fiance died.

"I'm still sad. I don't want to spend Christmas at home. It is too lonely."

Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya attended a night ceremony at Bang Nieng Beach where her son, Khun Poom Jensen, lost his life. Candles were lit and poems of condolence were read by victims' relatives and survivors.

At Baan Nam Khem, a fishing village listed as the community hardest hit by the waves, a ceremony was chaired by Khunying Dhipavadee Meksawan of the Prime Minister's Office. The villagers lodged complaints with the minister, claiming that they had been ignored by the government.

Though busy with tourists, Patong Beach in Phuket also held a tribute to the victims. More than 700 mourners, both Thai and foreign, joined local dignitaries for a memorial ceremony in which 99 monks chanted for the victims and dozens of relatives laid flowers in the sand. A sign laid down on the beach read simply: "Remembering our friends, December 26, 2004."

The officials also used the ceremony to reassure survivors they were putting measures in place, including a tsunami warning system, to prevent future disasters.

"The Thai government will try to do everything it can to prevent the loss of lives and any serious damage as we experienced two years ago," Sakthip Krairerk, a senior official from the Tourism and Sports Ministry, told the crowd.

Though two years have passed, the recovery process has been difficult for many Thai survivors. Aside from grieving for loved ones, many have had to rebuild homes, shops or businesses that were washed away in the disaster.

"If I could die in their place, I would do it," said Beehong Nawalong, a 76-year-old food vendor who brought photographs to the Khao Lak ceremony of her daughter and four grandchildren who died in the tsunami. She also lost her home to the waves.

"I still can't come to terms with it. I cry almost every night," she said, adding that the body of one granddaughter remains missing.

The Nation

Thai and foreign volunteers release balloon lanterns during a ceremony yesterday to mark the second anniversary of the Asian tsunami on a beach in Phang Nga province. About half of the 5,400 people killed in Thailand were foreign holidaymakers.

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