1

Effects of the tsunami disaster on society,

economy and environment in Krabi

province with special emphasis on Phi Phi

Islands

Supervisor:

Prof. Florian Siegert

Students:

Jasmin Horn, Jenni Simkin, Ninni Saarinen, Liisi Koivisto, Maija Kaukonen, Nora

Sylvander, Klaus Dons, Andreas Langner

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Index INDEX ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................ 3

1 BACKGROUND OF THE INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI DISASTER..................................................................... 3

1.1 A TSUNAMI STRIKES.................................................................................................................................................. 3 1.2 WHAT IS A TSUNAMI?................................................................................................................................................ 3 1.3 INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI .......................................................................................................................................... 4

2 ROLE OF GIS AND REMOTE SENSING IN DISASTER MONITORING .......................................................... 4

2.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................................... 4

3 TSUNAMI EFFECTS IN KRABI PROVINCE.......................................................................................................... 7

3.1 ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS........................................................................................................................................ 7 3.2 EFFECTS ON FORESTS ................................................................................................................................................ 8

4 NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL RECONSTRUCTION ACTIONS...................................................................... 8

4.1 ENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 8 4.2 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RECONSTRUCTION ............................................................................................................... 9

4.2.1 Houses and schools .......................................................................................................................................... 9 4.2.2 Health care....................................................................................................................................................... 9 4.2.3 Fishermen supporting ...................................................................................................................................... 9 4.2.4 Unemployment supporting ............................................................................................................................... 9

4.3 WARNING SYSTEMS ................................................................................................................................................ 10 4.3.1 Warning System Center.................................................................................................................................. 10 4.3.2 New Tsunami Early Warning System (EWS).................................................................................................. 10

4.4 INTERNATIONAL ACTIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 11 4.4.1 Green Coast Project....................................................................................................................................... 11

5 TSUNAMI EFFECTS ON PHI PHI ISLANDS ........................................................................................................ 12

5.1 INTRODUCTION TO PHI PHI ISLANDS ....................................................................................................................... 12 5.2 TSUNAMI DESTRUCTION ON PHI PHI ISLANDS ......................................................................................................... 12

5.2.1 Effects on people ............................................................................................................................................ 12 5.2.2 Effects on property ......................................................................................................................................... 13

5.3 HELP INTERNATIONAL PHI PHI................................................................................................................................ 13 5.4 SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW ON PHI PHI ............................................................................................................. 14 5.5 REESTABLISHMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE ON PHI PHI ISLANDS............................................................................... 14 5.6 THE FUTURE OF PHI PHI ISLANDS ............................................................................................................................ 15

6 FUTURE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT....................................................................................................... 16

6.1 THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE ............................................................................................................................ 16 6.2 RESTORING SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS................................................................................................................. 16 6.3 THE GOVERNMENT’S REHABILITATION PLAN AND STRATEGY ................................................................................. 17

7 FUTURE LONG TERM PROJECTS NEEDED IN TSUNAMI AFFECTED AREAS........................................ 17

8 CONCLUSIONS.......................................................................................................................................................... 18

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................................... 18

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Introduction

Tsunami disaster on 26th

December 2004 caused 150 to 300 000 deaths. This report focuses on

effects of the tsunami disaster on the society, economy and environment in Krabi province with

special emphasis on Phi Phi Islands. It shows the results of studies on the following points:

- Overview of the tsunami disaster effects in Krabi province

- Role of GIS data

- Reconstruction and international actions

- Environmental and agricultural effects

- Future planning and the development

1 Background of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster

1.1 A tsunami strikes

In the early morning of December 26, 2004 an earthquake of 9.0 magnitude under the Indian Ocean,

near the west coast of Sumatra generated a tsunami. The waves reached the coastline of 11 Indian

Ocean countries within few hours from the quake killing estimated 150,000 – 300,000 people.

Tsunami of the December 26 was destructive especially on the surrounding Asian countries but the

wave travelled nearly 5,000 km to the African coast still with enough of force to kill people and

destroy properties. (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1227_041226_tsunami.html)

The Indian Ocean tsunami can be ranked as one of the most destructive natural disasters to have

afflicted the Asian and Pacific region in modern times. This disaster differs from the earlier ones

because of its global dimensions, as many countries around the world, especially in Europe – far

away from the disaster area – suffered from casualties in high numbers. Many of the people affected

by the tsunami were foreigners, mainly tourists from Europe, but most of them were local people

making their living from fishing and tourism, which are considered to be the industries that took an

immediate hit and need time to recover. (Proksch 2005)

1.2 What is a tsunami?

Tsunamis are fairly common in Japan and many thousands of Japanese have been killed by them in

recent centuries. The term tsunami comes from the Japanese language meaning harbour and wave.

(National Geographic News 2006)

Tsunami is a series of great sea waves caused by an underwater earthquake, landslide, or volcanic

eruption. An earthquake generates a tsunami if it is of sufficient force and there is a vertical and

heavy movement of the earth causing great and sudden displacement of a massive amount of the

overlying water. Tsunamis travel outwards from the epicentre of the earthquake and in all

directions.

A tsunami is not a single wave but a series of waves, which also is known as a wave train. The first

wave in a tsunami is not necessarily the most destructive and the waves can come hours apart.

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A tsunami may be less than 30 centimeters in height on the surface of the open ocean, which is why

they are not noticed by sailors. But the powerful shock wave of energy travels fast through the

ocean at an approximate speed of 700 km/h (200 m/s), depending on the depth of the water.

Tsunami is controlled by water depth – when the wave reaches the shallow water near the coast it

starts to slow down. The top of the wave moves faster than the bottom, which causes the sea to rise

dramatically. The longer and more gradual the shallowing of the water is the more higher the

tsunami wave is. This is because it gives more time for the wave to interact with its surroundings

and cause extensive damage to lowland areas.

1.3 Indian Ocean Tsunami

The earthquake near Sumatra was the result of the sliding of the India plate under the Burma plate.

The process has been going on for thousands of years, one plate pushing against the other until

something has to give in. The result on December 26 was a rupture that was more than 1,000

kilometers (estimated by USGS) long, displacing the seafloor above the rupture by estimated 10

meters horizontally and several meters vertically. The moving of the trillions of tons of rock caused

the Earth to move with the largest magnitude earthquake in 40 years. It has been reported that the

earthquake caused waves as high as 10 meters in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia was the most damaged country of the ones affected with more than 120,000 dead and

another 100,000 missing (http://w3.whosea.org/LinkFiles/Reports_Tsunami_and_after-

indonesia.pdf).

In Thailand 6 provinces were affected by the tsunami. Most severely hit provinces were Phang Nga,

Krabi and Phuket in Southeast Thailand by the Andaman sea. In Krabi some 23,000 people were

affected by the tsunami in some way. Approximately 1,400 people, of which some 700 were local,

died or are missing in Krabi. Most severely damaged area in Krabi province was the Phi Phi islands

where some 700 people died.

2 Role of GIS and Remote Sensing in disaster monitoring

2.1 Introduction

Due to the fact that such catastrophies affect wide areas it is absolutely necessary to use Geographic

Information Systems (GIS) technology and Remote Sensing (RS) to be able to assess such numbers

as mentioned before. Geographic Information Systems use different kind of layers which can be

superimposed, combined and used for any kind of calculation. It is even possible to do data mining

by combining information form different sources as optical and radar satellite imageries, airborne

sensors, elevation data and all kind of georeferenced ground measurements. With the help of GIS

these informations can be processed to obtain further informations revealing any kind of

relationships between them. Remote Sensing helps to obtain any kind of image data and it is the act

of getting information without directly touching the object. Images showing the extent of such a

disaster can originate from space borne and air borne sensors as satellites and planes. There is a

huge variety of different sensor types ranging from spatially high to low resolution systems being

sensitive to different spectral ranges. Remote Sensing in the sense of obtaining real pictures of

objects from a different point of view started long time ago as the first cameras were developed.

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Figure 1 Figure 2

Balloons and pigeons (Figure 1 and 2) were used to carry cameras to receive pictures form above.

Later on cameras were fixed on planes and even later satellites were used for this purpose. Landsat

1, which was launched in 1972 by the NASA, was the first of up to now seven satellites carrying a

sensor which was built for environmental monitoring. These sensors had comparable spectral

properties so that it is possible to compare images acquired 30 years apart. Beside many military

satellite systems there is also a wide variety of satallites providing non military informations. One

can distinguish between active and passive sensing systems. Active sensors are able to emmit

energy by themselves as radar systems. They are not dependent on radiation coming from the sun

as the passive sensors are. Nowadays computers are used to handle these huge amounts of data and

do image-processing in automatic or at least semi-automatic way.

Sensing the surface of the earth by satellite sensors has many advantages. One is ability to cover

huge areas with single images. These areas are very often so remote and inaccessible on the ground

that the only possible way to get any data is the use of remote sensing devices. But there are also

different kinds of disadvantages. For optical satellite sensor systems the radiance of the sun has to

penetrate the atmosphere twice before reaching the sensor which results in a high sensitivity to

atmospheric disturbances as for example clouds, haze and all kinds of reflectance effects. This is

especially disturbing in areas of the humid tropics where clouds are very abundant and it is often

not possible to receive an image of a certain area in a special time because of frequent cloud

coverage.

For the tsunami disaster which took place in the Indian Ocean Remote Sensing and GIS technology

was used for different purposes.

The very first goal is to get some kind of damage maps. By using RS and GIS it was able to obtain

an overview of the area which was affected by the tsunami. Visual classifications of destroyed areas

up to semi- and full-automatic change detection techniques were applied to know which areas were

destroyed in which extent. This data is necessary to coordinate the help activities and to know what

kind of help is needed and where. All kind of international and national governmental and non-

governmental organisations providing any kind of help had to be organised to be sure that the food,

water and other donations are evenly distributed. It is important to know if the infrastructure is still

intact to be able to reach the areas which really need the help. Roads and railways might have been

destroyed by the tsunami and this would make it necessary to use helicopters instead of lorries to

come to areas which are not accessible by car. Ancillary datasets as information about demographic

figures can be used to get an idea about the number of people affected in different areas. This can

help to predict what kind of problems might occur in the very near future e.g. problems in fresh

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water and nutrition supply. So it is possible to undertake the necessary steps to prevent such

situations. By the use of GIS and RS it is furthermore possible to identify areas of higher risk for

spread of diseases by combining information about the number of affected inhabitants and the

situation of the waste water management which might be out of order due to the disaster.

A lot of information can be obtained by analysing the impact of the tsunami in combination with all

kind of spatial patterns of the environment it affected. Another big issue is the identification of

spatial patterns in the damaged regions and the severity of the damage. By analysing these factors

while taking into account some ancillary data as digital elevation or terrain models, land cover

classifications showing different forest classes and data about the topology of the sea floor it is

possible to obtain information about the facts that are mainly involved in the severity of the tsunami

damage. The results show that low slopes in the bathymetry in shallow waters help to build up

waves having the highest impact compared to other underwater topologies. On the other hand if the

seafloor is deep and the shoreline is very steep there is no possibility for a wave to build up and the

tsunami will just result in a rising sea level and will have no impact on the land. Another effect for

the severity of the damages is the elevation and slope of the land surface. Areas close to the sea with

an altitude of less than 20 meters in combination with a very low slope are very prone to tsunami

disasters because the water is very easy to go land inward. Beside these it is also important to check

the shape of the shoreline for any funnel effects which can cause the wave to gain in height. And

one of the most important facts having great impact on the severity of a tsunami is the distance from

the epicentre. The closer the epicentre to the shoreline and the closer it takes place to highly

populated places the more dangerous is the damage caused by higher tsunami waves. By this

analysis it became clear that areas showing some kind of natural protection like mangrove, swamp

or beach forest were much less affected than similar ones without. The reason for this is that the

wave of the tsunami was able to disturb several meters of these forests but was then absorbed

somehow and caused just a rising water level. A similar kind of protection was offered by coral

reefs situated in front of the shoreline where the tsunami wave lost a lot of its energy.

The third very important information which can be extracted by the role of GIS and RS are future

risk maps. It is absolutely necessary to know about areas which can be hit by a future tsunami to be

able to undertake actions to prevent from possible future disasters or at least try to have the impact

as less as possible. Areas prone to such disasters have to have rescue roads and rescue areas to save

people’s lives. These areas must be situated on higher elevation to prevent being affected by the

water. For that purpose elevation data derived form radar devices can be analysed to derive such

higher altitude areas. For future planning it can be very helpful to avoid building new houses in high

risk areas. The same is true for new hotel complexes and any kind of new built infrastructure. Not

just avoiding areas prone to the impact of future tsunamis but using natural protection areas as

vegetation barriers such as mangrove forests and coral reefs will help to make future life close to

the shoreline more secure. By simulating different impacts of possible tsunami events it is feasible

to identify areas of different risk values. Such kind of tables may also be used in an economic point

of view helping to access the price of ground or the height of special insurances. Using this kind of

information also helps to identify areas where such kind of natural barriers should be

(re)established, e.g. planting new mangrove trees.

In our study we tried to establish such a kind of risk map showing areas with an elevation lower

than 20 meters and which are close to the shoreline. The first intermediate result was a map

showing all areas in red colour which are situated lower than 20 meters sea level (figure 3). In the

second step we buffered this region with a 500 meter buffer from the shore line towards the inland

to skip regions which are too remote to be affected by any tsunami (figure 4).

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figure 3 figure 4

Due to the little amount of time and the problem of getting access to any kind of seafloor topology

data it was not possible to take this data into account. Furthermore, it would be very interesting to

use a land cover map showing all different kinds of costal vegetation as well coral maps to be

included to this risk map. This would be very necessary to predict the impact of approaching

tsunami waves but due to lack of time this work was not feasible. So we decided just to

superimpose the risk map on the Landsat ETM+ image (figure 5) and the land cover classification

(figure 6).

figure 5 figure 6

The very last important point of processing such a risk map should be the act of validation. To do so

it is important to collect a sufficient amount of ground truth data using a GPS device.

3 Tsunami effects in Krabi province

3.1 Environmental effects

Tsunami did not affect heavily the environment in Krabi Province, although corals and forests were

damaged in some places (Governmental Office of Krabi). Especially in shallow waters the corals

had severe damages in some cases but little affect in water depth of 5 meter and deeper. (Wetlands

International-Thailand Office, Friday 7th

January 2005). Some corals were thrown into the beach

8

because of the power from Tsunami (personal discussion on Phi Phi Islands). Also5 percent of the

sea grasses were affected by the Tsunami. Water quality became little bit better in some places

because the water was mixed up and dirt was washed away. The effect on rare species was minimal

(Panel discussion in Krabi, 12.01.2006).

3.2 Effects on forests

There have been some changes in forestry department in Thailand in last three years. Royal Forestry

Department was divided into three different departments. Even though there are now three

departments there is only one law which rules all the actions related to forests. That is why

responsibilities between these departments are unclear. Because of that, it was difficult to get a

whole picture of the damages of the forest areas.

The most sever effects related to forests of the tsunami appear in Phi Phi Islands. Coconut

plantations suffered the most from the tsunami because they did not have appropriate root system

due to transportation from other sites. Total number of damaged coconut plantations is 69 rai in

which 27 rai of coconut trees were totally damaged and 42 rai were partially damaged.

Some of the beach forests in Krabi province were also damaged similarly as the coconut trees and

most of these trees were in Phi Phi Islands, ca. 75 rai. All the damages in beach forests occurred in

second layer of Casuarina sp. That is because the salinity concentration in the soil rose after

tsunami and the trees could not survive from that. Although Casuarina species have been in

Thailand for decades they are not indigenous tree species, they originally come from Australia.

The tsunami did not really effect the inland forests in Krabi province which are under the

responsibility of Provincial Forest Office according to the head of the office Mr. Pichai

Srisuuksomvong and his assistants. Despite that fact, there have been some reforestation actions in

Hong Island according to the Chief of Governor Office (CGO) Mr. Nattapong Sirichana.

Reforestation, to some extent, is also going on under National Parks in Krabi province.

Provincial Forest Office has provided altogether 8000 seedlings to people to replace their fallen

trees. Those seedlings include 5000 seedlings of mangrove species and 3000 inland species, for

example Casuarina, Ficus and Terminalia. Some of these seedlings have also been delivered to Phi

Phi Island.

4 National and provincial reconstruction actions

4.1 Environmental reconstruction

All environmental reconstruction actions have been completed except of reforestation. Some

planting of trees is still in progress. Local people have been involved in all reconstruction actions.

They have been collecting rubbish from the ocean and from the land. Beaches were the first areas to

be cleaned after thousand of tons of rubbish had been thrown on to the beach. The corals had been

damaged seriously in some places and less in others. Lots of rubbish had been collected to clear

corals. Environmental reconstruction actions were coordinated by the Ministry of Natural Resources

and Environment (Governmental Office of Krabi).

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4.2 Social and economic reconstruction

Totally 23,060 people were affected by tsunami on different ways and 2,632 families were

supported with a total worth of 58.23 million baht. An amount of 23.43 million baht were given to

1,307 people. The Province of Krabi distributed 58,403 goods and supplies and out of these 8,585

packages came from Krabi Red Cross (Governmental Office of Krabi).

4.2.1 Houses and schools

The tsunami left 119 orphans. The orphans were mostly students and they have received a support

of worth of 81.98 million baht. Totally three schools were damaged in Krabi Province. Two are

already rebuilt and one is still under renovation on Phi Phi Islands (Governmental Office of Krabi).

The tsunami damaged 924 houses of which 662 were completely damaged and 262 partially

damaged. The reconstruction plan is made for 382 permanent houses of which 149 are already

finished and 233 houses are under reconstruction. Basic support to rebuild houses came from Krabi

Red Cross worth 2.55 million baht. From 40 cases of Property Insurance 39 cases received money

worth 608.98 million baht (Governmental Office of Krabi).

4.2.2 Health care

Many people got injured by the tsunami in Krabi Province. 4,571 people got treatments worth of

17.4 million baht. Counselling therapy was given to 15,841 people and 2,759 families worth 1.97

million baht. After tsunami there was a disease control programme, which was worth 3.21 million

baht. Physical and mental rehabilitation is continuously given to the tsunami victims in several

districts (Governmental Office of Krabi).

4.2.3 Fishermen support

Already 5,000 fishermen have been supported with worth of 103.25 million baht. Still 237

fishermen are asking for additional financial support. They got already 9.36 million baht. Also

1,280 fishermen are waiting for the approval from the Department of Fisheries for financial support

(Governmental Office of Krabi). Totally 200 boats have to be built of which 84 are already finished

and given to people in Kao Thong. Thai Red Cross donated 22.8 million baht to build the boats

(Government Office of Krabi). Boats are still under reconstruction. Because of the logging ban of

Thailand’s forests, wood from Shorea tree has to be imported from Malaysia. Wood for one boat

costs 80,000 baht and the whole boat with engine costs 200,000 baht. It takes 8 days to build one

boat (Personal communication in Khao Lak).

4.2.4 Unemployment support

The Ministry of Labour gave urgent budget to help unemployed. This action took place in two

phases. First phase was worth 31.72 million baht and the second was 2.11 million baht. Local

Government Department helped 1,237 people by donating 24.74 million baht (Governmental Office

of Krabi).

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4.3 Warning systems

4.3.1 Warning System Centre

After the tsunami the government has established a nationwide warning system, which is linked to

the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. The Thailand-Centre Station

is located in Bangkok which communicates with the twelve nationwide units. One unit is also

located in Krabi.

After an earthquake seismographic information is transmitted over satellite signals to the Centre

Station, which forwards it to the headquarters in Hawaii and Chiang Mai. There the signals are

analyzed and it is determined if the earthquake has generated a tsunami. In case of a tsunami the

result is sent back to Bangkok, from where the information is given to the units.

People are then warned through warning towers, which give the warning in 5 languages (English,

German, French, Japanese and Thai). The warning is also given via the radio and to boats. Krabi

Province has 32 warning towers, 2 of them are located on Phi Phi Islands. The whole process after

detecting signals from earthquake to the given warning takes 45 minutes (Warning System Centre

in Krabi). False alarms can not be excluded.

Evacuation plan is established on Phi Phi Island, which includes information about the fastest way

to one of several collecting points. Tourists get this plan after check in from their hotel. Most of the

tourists who are now on Phi Phi feel safe and are not afraid of a tsunami, but in some cases there is

a wrong opinion, that a new tsunami after 2004 is not expected (personal communication with

tourists on Phi Phi Island).

4.3.2 New Tsunami Early Warning System (EWS)

The National Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam/Germany has developed a new Early

Warning System, which is based on measurements of water pressure after an earthquake. This is

more effective, because it can better determine, whether an earthquake causes a tsunami or not, so

that there is likelihood of false alarm occurrence. But the most important advantage of this new

system is that the people can be warned much faster.

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The warning centre in Krabi informed that it is not yet decided whether the new system will be

established because of the high costs for the system (1 million USD per unit). In contradiction to

this information the UN published in a press release on September 26th

2005 that a trust fund for

EWS is being launched with 10 million USD contribution by the government of Thailand.

4.4 International actions

The main international help came from UNICEF, France, British embassy and different NGOs.

Thailand’s government did not accept any money from international aid. They only accepted the

volunteering help and material support. UNICEF donated 40.68 million baht and was responsible

for the renovation of 5 nurseries at Nua-Klong District. International donations were distributed

directly to people by NGOs and this caused confusion among people. Help from government and

NGOs was overlapping. Government would have wanted people to work on their reconstructions

sites from start to end. When NGOs came for example to rebuild houses, they often stayed just a

short time and after that they left people on their own. This caused misunderstanding among people

and government. There is no official information available from donations of NGOs (Governmental

Office of Krabi).

4.4.1 Green Coast Project

Four international organisations (Wetlands International, WWF, Both ENDS and IUCN

Netherlands Committee) have established a project for the restoration of the coastal areas in Asia.

The goal is to rehabilitate those ecosystems and to guarantee the local population income from

natural resources and a save living environment. The four organisations have received 4,000,000

Euros to implement the project. The first phase of the Green Coast Project runs to December 2006,

the aim is to obtain international financing for the continuation of the project (press release

Wetlands International, December 15th

2005).

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5 Tsunami effects on Phi Phi Islands

5.1 Introduction to Phi Phi Islands

The Phi Phi Islands are located in the Andaman Sea in Krabi province. The largest island of the Phi

Phi archipelago is Koh Phi Phi Don, which is the only island with permanent inhabitants. Before the

tsunami, there lived approximately 3,000 people on Koh Phi Phi Don. After the tsunami, many

people moved away and the population is currently unknown. Phi Phi Don was initially populated

by Muslim fishermen during the late 1940s, and later parts of it were planted with coconut trees.

Still, more than 80% of the Thai population of Phi Phi Don remains Muslim (Wikipedia 2005).

The island is largely made of limestone. It is almost split into two islands, connected with just a

narrow strip of sandy beach. This strand used to be the main tourism centre of the island. Being

easily accessible by boat from Phuket and mainland Krabi, Phi Phi Don became very popular, first

among young backpackers and later also among families and especially Japanese and Korean group

tourists. Over the past ten years, tourism has been the main source of livelihood for the inhabitants

of the island. Even though much of the island belongs to the national park, the inhabited areas are

owned by private people. Due to the rapid growth of tourism industry with high demands for

facilities and accommodation, there have been negative impacts on the environment.

The second largest island, Koh Phi Phi Leh is uninhabited being part of national park and essential

habitat for birds, the nests of which are harvested for the needs of bird nest soup industry. The

island consists of a ring of steep limestone hills surrounding a shallow Maya Bay. The other islands

of Phi Phi national park include Bida Nok, Bida Noi and Bamboo Island (Wikipedia 2005).

5.2 Tsunami destruction on Phi Phi Islands

Much of the Phi Phi Don Island was devastated by the Indian Ocean Tsunami on 26 December

2004. The main village of the island, Ton Sai, is mainly built on a sandy strip less than two meters

above sea level between the island's two limestone ridges.

Before the tsunami hit at 10.37 a.m., the water receded from both Loh Dalum and Ton Sai Bays.

Although the 6.5 meter-high wave came towards Loh Dalum Bay, the water level also on the Ton

Sai Bay side rose up to three meters. The water masses collided in the middle of the strip, washing

over hundreds of people. The force of the tsunami wave pushed people, boats, debris and garbage

south-westwards into Ton Sai Bay (Wikipedia 2005; Lexberg 2006 personal comm.).

The worst damage on the island occurred in areas surrounded by shallow water and low mainland

areas. In addition to Ton Sai and Lo Dalum Bays, also La Na Bay, Bakhao Bay, and Laem Thong

village experienced severe destructions. Coastline with high water depth experienced only rising of

the water level instead of a powerful wave. Thus, these areas were not seriously or at all affected by

the tsunami.

5.2.1 Effects on people

As the tsunami occurred during the high season, on Boxing Day, there were approximately 9,000-

10,000 people on the island, most of them tourists. The tsunami wave killed altogether 692 people

on Phi Phi Island. In addition, 500-1,200 people are missing; the number varies largely, depending

on the source. Many victims will remain missing because in the first few weeks many bodies had

been removed along with the rubble which was dumped in basins of old shrimp farms (Mureau

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2005). Most of the deaths were caused by different kinds of sharp and heavy objects (e.g. tree

trunks, pieces of buildings and boats) that the wave had ripped off. The tsunami on the Phi Phi

Islands left behind 104 orphans, who fortunately were taken in by their relatives (Sirichana 2006;

Wikipedia 2005; Mureau 2005).

After the tsunami, the island was closed and declared uninhabitable by The Thai authorities

(Marshall 2005). Hundreds of people left the island due to unemployment, fear and traumas. Many

of those who lost their homes moved to Nong Kok and Khlong Hin refugee camps in Krabi town.

Difficult conditions in the camps and unemployment have caused boredom, alcoholism and

violence. There has also occurred disappointment among the people affected in the tsunami, as the

government support has not been sufficient either economically or mentally (Mureau 2005).

After one year, some have been able to return, while others are still in the camps waiting for

Government’s permission to rebuild their houses. Many survivors do not even want to move back to

the island ever again. Local people have strong belief in ghosts, which makes the return impossible

(Mureau 2005).

Among the damaged areas was also Laem Tong village, where local sea-nomads make their living

of fishing and taking tourists around the island. Nobody in the village was killed but all their boats

were destroyed and the fishing nets were heavily damaged. Lots of aid was given to the sea-nomads

but the key factor has been to get their livelihood back. Strong fear of a new tsunami is still present

every day (Mureau 2005).

5.2.2 Effects on property

Most of the buildings, including large resorts like Phi Phi Charlie Beach Resort and Phi Phi

Princess, between Ton Sai and Lo Dalum Bays were destroyed because of the huge power of the

Tsunami wave. Also the Phi Phi school, reopened on 1.11.2005, and hospital were among the

severely damaged buildings. The tsunami left behind 70 000 tons of garbage on the land and 350

000 tons in the sea, 3 000 tons of which still remain. Most of the garbage was burnt, while the

bigger items were shipped away (Lexberg 2006 personal communication; Srisuuksomvong 2006;

Marshall 2005).

The tsunami destroyed about 42 rai of coconut plantations. Newly planted trunks were lifted up due

to lack of properly developed root system, causing numerous deaths. Thus, the restoration of

damaged areas has been made with native tree species (Srisuuksomvong 2006).

5.3 Help International Phi Phi

After the tsunami the aid Phi Phi Island received was largely based on actions of Help International

Phi Phi (Hi Phi Phi), which is a community-based initiative of local Koh Phi Phi residents and

foreigners. Hi Phi Phi was created by a Dutch dive instructor Emiel Kok and his partner Ralph Toll

together with a few other foreign volunteers. Over the past year, more than 3 000 people from

several different countries have participated in the recovery work (Marshall 2005; Hart 2005; Hi Phi

Phi 2006).

Hi Phi Phi’s first priority was to feed and house hundreds of inhabitants of Phi Phi, who had lost

their homes and moved to makeshift camps near the Krabi town. The group also spread leaflets,

hoping for more volunteers to come and clean up the island. Hi Phi Phi hired local Thai refugees

14

who started the emotionally and physically extremely difficult work. Together with other aid

organizations, they collected garbage and debris, repaired houses and replanted palm trees

(Marshall 2005; Hart 2005, Hi Phi Phi 2006).

5.4 Semi-structured interview on Phi Phi

The manager of Princess Divers, Pontus Lexberg had reopened his shop on December 26th

2005,

exactly one year after the tsunami. Due to 90 per cent fall in number of tourists on Phi Phi island

after the disaster, he has focused on his other dive shop on Koh Mok island. Once part of the

luxurious, now totally destroyed, Phi Phi Princess resort, his shop is now located in the former staff

building surrounded by nothing but dust and sand. The resort lost 55 staff members and 17 children

were left orphans. Altogether, 120 people, including staff and tourists, lost their lives in Phi Phi

Princess. Also one of Lexberg’s close diver colleagues did not survive. However, Lexberg is now

looking forward to getting back to business.

According to Lexberg, diving waters on Phi Phi area are now better than ever. The tsunami cleared

waters and, apart from the destroyed corals, the reefs had a chance to rest due to low number of

divers.

Already, the amount of tourists is rising again and there is not enough of accommodation in Ton Sai

village. Lexberg says that Mr. Charlie, the Thai owner of the land and destroyed Phi Phi Charlie and

Phi Phi Princess hotels, including 240 bungalows, is waiting for the decision concerning the

rebuilding on Phi Phi Island. Lexberg has already heard some plans related to three evacuation

routes, two shopping trails and upgrading the level of accommodation. However, final decisions

have not been made and Lexberg does not know when the actions are going to take place. Still,

Lexberg hopes that the business will be fully operational on by the beginning of next high season in

November 2006.

At the moment, Lexberg feels as if the island had gone back in time to the days when he started his

business seven years ago. There are mainly only young backpackers wandering around the empty

paths of Ton Sai village. Anyhow, large tourist groups are likely to return within a few years.

(Interview made on Phi Phi Don Island, 15.1.2006)

5.5 Reestablishment of infrastructure on Phi Phi Islands

The CGO stated that 80% of the damaged infrastructure in Krabi province has been re-established

and Phi Phi islands make up the most of the remaining 20 %. The re-establishment on Phi Phi

islands is going to last at least 3 years, but at that time the facilities will be better than pre-tsunami

conditions.

The disaster destroyed a number of water supply units and damaged the local private power plant

business. As a result the people on the island now experience lack of tap water during the dry

season. Furthermore most of the present business sectors are using their own generators to provide

sufficient electricity for the tourists and themselves. This pollutes the environment e.g. by noise and

has increased the cost of living on the island.

Two projects for reestablishment of permanent water have been suggested. (Krabi provincial

information centre)

- A pipeline installation from Ao Nang to Phi Phi – budget: 776 mill. baht

15

- A reverse osmosis system – budget: 126 mill. baht

One project has been suggested for permanent electricity supply

- Under-marine electricity cable from Ao Nang to Phi Phi – budget: 620 mill. Baht

Ramkamhaeng university has been contracted to make EIAs on the projects to secure the right for

mitigation of effects on the environment.

Besides this a new special regulation for Phi Phi is still under negotiation between the authorities

and the local inhabitants. The regulation including a detailed city plan is expected to be finished in

July if the negotiations proceed as planned. A draft of the city plan has already been effectuated on

Phi Phi which means that:

• No reestablishment of bungalows is allowed so far.

• Totally destroyed houses cannot be rebuilt without proper land titles.

• No buildings are allowed within 30 m from coastline

• Only low buildings with open rooftops are allowed 30-200 m from coastline. (Sirichana

2006)

5.6 The future of Phi Phi islands

Short after the disaster in December 2004 it looked as if tourism had disappeared from Phi Phi for a

long time. An assessment of the effects of the tsunami and possibilities for future tourism showed

the opposite. The methods carried out on and around the island were:

- Transect walks trough the damaged areas

- Semi- structured interviews with hotel managers, diving instructors and tourists

- Analysis of satellite images

- Under water assessments of tsunami-effected and non-tsunami effected coral reefs

- Personal observation of damages along the north- western coast from the water side.

The results from the assessments were positive. As earlier described the coral reefs only suffered

temporary damages and there are enough intact coral reefs for present diving. Some hotels have

been rebuilt and many more are planned for construction as soon as the City Plan is published.

There were tourists on the island even though the place was not yet cleared after the tsunami strike.

Some tourists were even interested in seeing the tsunami affected sites and postcards have been

made with before and after photos of the damaged areas. This indicates that a new tourist attraction

is being formed – “Tsunami Tourism”. It should also be considered that Phi Phi islands are now

known world- wide thanks to the effect of International Television. As soon as tourists gain faith in

the national warning system it is likely that they wish to see the place of the actions they have seen

on TV.

Both tourists and managers stated that improved alarm systems and escape routes should be the

main priority of the authorities in the future. Many actions have already been taken to warn and

protect visitors. However, most of the hotels are still placed near the beach, but this was found to be

positive since most of the tourists still prefer the hotels here. Hotel managers feel also that there will

be plenty of tourists but the problem is where to get enough employees. Some of the previous staff

members are afraid to come back to Phi Phi Island but in general the atmosphere is good in the

island.

16

This information together with the knowledge of the improved infrastructure and the city plan

indicates that Phi Phi Island might regain their tourism industry in the future.

6 Future planning and development

6.1 The coordinating committee

Initially the authorities did not make a specific long term strategy because the national election was

held in February 2005. However, a committee was formed in order to coordinate the efforts of

supporting agencies. The Joint Sub-Committee on post Tsunami Rehabilitation contains

representatives from international organisations, donors, GOs and NGOs. The committee

formulated three Task forces. Task force III coordinates development to post tsunami community

livelihoods, for land subsidence and saline intrusion. (FAO 2005)

6.2 Restoring sustainable livelihoods

The Chief of Governor Office (CGO) Mr. Nattapong Sirichana stated that the most important task

in Krabi province at the moment was reconstruction of fishing boats and piers. This task has been

delayed due to a lack of timber supply. According to the CGO, communities depending on forest

resources or agriculture are not significantly affected by the tsunami. This statement was supported

by the FAO report stating that damaged crop land in Krabi province only made up approximately 5

% of the total damaged area in the 6 provinces (Table 6.1). Furthermore the number of dead and

missing animals is low compared to other provinces (Table 6.2). The worst damage was on Phi Phi

island, where the contribution of agriculture to peoples livelihoods is considered small compared to

tourism.

Table 6.1: Damaged cropland

Province Number of

affected

farmers

Affected

cropping

areas*(rai)

Krabi 13 60

Total 1 157 12 646

Table6. 2: Loss of animals

Source: Department of Livestock Development, 4 February 2005.

Dead/Missing animals Province No. of Farmers

Cattle Buffaloes Pigs, Sheep, Goats Poultry

Krabi 36 7 107 203

Total 4 898 429 2 574 7 727

Source: Department of

Agriculture Extension, 26

January 2005

* Affected area: The area

where the agricultural land

was flooded with sea water

17

According to FAO (2005) compensation for crop loss was based on area of specific crops. Animal

losses were based on type and numbers of dead or missing animals and weak animals was supported

with food and medicine. The CGO stated that affected agricultural enterprises, shrimp farms and

fish farms have been supported and no further actions will be taken in these sectors or in agriculture

in the future.

On a broader scale FAO (2005) suggest a set of general focus areas for further development of the

damaged communities. These include poverty alleviation through provision of new technologies for

marginalized groups and incentives for building up economic activities. It is also recommended to

take a broader approach when planning development strategies for affected communities e.g.

exploring new income opportunities and taking surrounding ecosystems into account. This

livelihood diversification helps to secure sustainable livelihoods in case of new natural or human

induced disasters. Finally it is strongly recommended to consider social inequality especially to

secure women’s access to natural resources.

6.3 The government’s rehabilitation plan and strategy

More specifically the government has made rehabilitation plan that includes long term capacity

building. In practice this is divided into local level and institutional level. Here again the main

emphasis is placed on fisher communities who suffered the worst damages during the strike.

Village level – training for fishers

- Training in natural disasters and safety, early warning system and escape patterns

- Training in boat building and repair

- Capacity building and micro- credit.

- Alternative marine based livelihoods (sea farming).

Institutional level

- Training for the trainers

- Mitigation plans – e.g. restoration of fish habitats

- Enhance the capacity for marine research, especially monitoring and rehabilitation.

7 Future long term projects needed in Tsunami affected areas

The FAO report proposes a number of future projects that are necessary in tsunami affected areas.

These subjects could be of interest for the participants in this Asia-link project who are planning to

do their masters in Thailand since there is a sound argument for collecting funding for the following

studies.

The proposed studies are:

- Study on the long-term impact of the tsunami on economically important species of marine

animals

- Reclamation of salt affected soils after the tsunami

- Policy advice and institutional settings to establish a buffer zone along the coastal areas with

tree planting

18

- Responsive assistance on the rehabilitation of natural resources and environmental damages

in the affected areas

- Community-based livelihoods rehabilitation and natural resource management in coastal

fishing communities

- Promotion of vegetable cultivation in the tsunami-affected areas

8 Conclusions Remote Sensing and GIS provide great tools that enable to get an overview of the overall impact of

the tsunami event by calculating damage maps, spatial and temporal analysis of the tsunami impact

and finally risk maps.

Local people have done a great amount of work with international help to reconstruct material

losses and to rehabilitate social aspect.

The present nation wide warning system can give warning to people 45 minutes after an earthquake.

A new developed warning system could give faster warning and may exclude false alarms. The

financial effort for the new system will be very high.

With the new and improved infrastructure in Phi Phi Island together with the coming City Plan

there is a good chance that Phi Phi will again be an attractive tourist site.

It was made clear that fisheries and aquaculture businesses suffered the worst from the tsunami

whereas agriculture and forestry sectors were only slightly affected. Future focus on

reestablishment of sustainable livelihoods will be placed on the fisheries sector.

References FAO 2005: Report of Joint FAO/MOAC Detailed Technical, Damages and Needs Assessment

Mission, in Fisheries and Agriculture Sectors in Tsunami Affected, Six Provinces in Thailand

11-24 January 2005

Hart, A. 2005. The future of Ko Phi Phi Don is in question. Article on Lonely Planet website.

[Read on 17.1.2006.] <URL:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel_ticker/tsunami/thailand/thailand_reconstructing.cfm>

Hi Phi Phi Website. [Read on 17.1.2006.] <URL: http://www.hiphiphi.com/>

Interview with Pontus Lexberg, manager of Princess Divers. 15.1.2006. Phi Phi Don Island.

Krabi Provincial information centre

Marc Proksch, 2005: Global and Regional Mechanisms for Promoting Trade and

Investment in Tsunami-Affected Countries. Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Review Vol. 1, No.

1, April 2005

Marshall, A. 2005. Help International Phi Phi. Paradise resurrected. Article in Time Asia

magazine, posted on 3.10.2005. [Read on 17.1.2006.] <URL:

19

http://www.time.com/time/asia/2005/heroes/hi_phi_phi.html>

Mureau, C. 2005. Back to Koh Phi Phi. Surviving after Tsunami. Published on behalf of

Foundation Help Koh Phi Phi Thailand. Van Ierland Uitgeverij. The Netherlands.

Phi Phi Islands. 6.12.2005. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [Read on 16.1.2006.] <URL:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_Phi_Islands>

Sirichana, N. 2006: Personal communication. The Chief of Governor Office (CGO), 16th

of

January 2006

Srisuuksomvong, P. (2006): Personal communication. Head of Provincial Forest Office

Tsunamis: Facts About Killer Waves. 2006. National Geographic News. [Read on 16.01.2006.]

<URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/>