THAILAND: A Year Later, 'It's Easy to Miss the Pain'

   By Shakuntala Perera*

PHUKET, Thailand (Asia Media Forum) - The sea breeze is calm. The beaches are swarming with the young and the old. A year since Dec. 26, 2004 seems to have done a lot to remove the pain and the destruction. Or has it really?

   Walking along the sandy beaches of the main Patong beach in the island of Phuket, Thailand, it is difficult to believe that over 5,000 people died along the coast here. It is easy to miss the pain here amid the sound of rock music, the festive mood of tourism and the lively nightlife that is back in full swing.

   A Thai saying praises the virtues of being hesitant in speaking one's mind. One is naturally reminded of this saying upon seeing the calm that lives behind the festive atmosphere. The locals are weary of talking about the pain of loss and the agony of destruction. They maintain they've moved on. And they want you to respect that - in the same way they will remember and respect the 7,000-odd people who died in Thailand in the tsunami one year ago.

   But unlike in many other tsunami-hit countries that will hold elaborate memorials, the Thais refuse to live on the dead and their memories. This, they believe, is the philosophy that helped them recover and move on, and most importantly overcome.

   Thailand, which incurred relatively lesser damage than Indonesia and Sri Lanka, has become a success story of sort on recovery. It has successfully run promotional programmes to bring the tourists back to the island, and a large percentage of victims have received housing. The psychological damage remains, but much has been done a year on. Among the contentious issues, however, a year onwards, are the plight of Burmese migrant workers and impact of land grabbing on the rights of those affected by the December 2004 disaster.

THE BURMESE QUESTION

The Burmese are a controversial issue that refused to get washed away with the killer waves. The deaths of a considerable number of Burmese migrant workers in the tsunami -- there are no exact figures - seem to have brought forward an issue that both Thai and Burmese authorities had wished to ignore.

   There was and still is a large population of at least 100,000 Burmese here, many of them undocumented workers who had provided cheap labour in building the hotels that line the beach front of the island. But they do not rate high when it comes to remembering the victims of the tsunami on the same beaches on Dec. 26.

   In an interview, one Burmese who wished to remain anonymous said he lost a brother and a cousin to the waves. He has little hope that the bodies will be ever be identified or released.

   "I don't think I will ever see those bodies. But I know they are inside the sea containers. We built these hotels, and now I help build them again after the tsunami. But they will not be remembered when they remember those foreigners on the 26th."

   He laments, "The government has invited all relatives of those who died in the tsunami to come for the memorial, and I hear many will be coming. But my mother who is across the border cries every night because she can't see the body of my brother."

   He is referring to the fact that because the Burmese government refuses to acknowledge the large number of its migrants who have made the Thai island their home for the past few years, it also refuses to acknowledge the dead - and many bodies remain in storage until now.

   The bodies of the Burmese migrant workers also remain in cold storage in Mai Khao and Baan Maruan beaches. Of some 900-odd bodies still remaining in sea containers, not more than 20 are believed to be of the Western tourists. The rest are all of the undocumented Burmese workers, sea gypsies and the poorer Thais.

   The talk among survivors is that at least 70 of the bodies in sea containers are of Burmese. Family members in Burma have come forward to say their kin were missing in Thailand after the tsunami.

   "There were more bodies of the Burmese than were revealed. It has been the worst affected community," says the International Labour Organisation (ILO) representative in Thailand, Christine Evans-Klock. "Even for the remaining, the fear factor (because of the lack of official papers) kept them from going to the authorities and getting the relief that were offered. It was realistic that they could not get part of the relief if they did not have a right to stay in the island," she adds.

   The deputy resident representative for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bangkok, Hakan Bjorkman, admits that although the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) has been working for the welfare of the Burmese in the relief camps, there has been no official intervention made with the Burmese authorities on their behalf.

   The issue of discrimination against the Burmese also raised its ugly head in the months following the tsunami. The identification, release and burial to the tourists who died in the hotels and the beaches were swift. They had the support of their own countries that not only released funds for the same, but also arranged for family members to visit the island to bury their dead. The Burmese have not had this support.

   Sadder still is the plight of the Burmese children who died in the tsunami. There are clearly no numbers on how many were victims, no documentation of their fate. The fact that children's dental records or fingerprints are unavailable has made the situation worse.

   For the children who survived, non-government groups like World Vision continue with maintaining camps and programmes to help them cope with life after the disaster, regardless of whether they are Thai, Muslim, Buddhist or Burmese.

   World Vision communications officer for the Thai Tsunami Response Programme, Pam Sitko, believes that the weekly psychosocial activities, like dancing, for the children in Laem Tuk-Kae, Phuket, a sea gypsy village, are helping them immensely.

   "The children in Laem Tuk-Kae traditionally speak their own language, but have learned to speak Thai in their village school. Then again, who needs to speak the same language to dance?" Sitko asked.

   At 5 p.m., children start pouring out of the library to gather under the pavilion next door. As soon as staffer Parichart Phondee plugs in the stereo, hips start swaying and arms start flying. Boys and girls spin mad circles around the floor, shaking every body part they know how to shake. Their favourite songs are in English and Thai, upbeat and dynamic.

   "We want the children to stay active for one hour," Parichart says, "we kick things off with dancing, and move into games with balls, skipping rope and anything else we can find to keep it interesting". Some of the kids have choreographed a routine, while others are happy to groove along freely.

   World Vision is helping to construct 190 permanent houses, skills training centres, learning centres, libraries for three schools in Khao Lak and a school in Koh Lanta, Krabi, provide clean water resources for permanent use in seven to eight locations, community health care and a mobile clinic.

   They are also keeping an eye on helping communities and families prevent situations of child abuse that may arise from stressful situations such as the tsunami and its aftermath.

   A combination of factors brought about directly or indirectly by the tsunami, such as the close proximity of bodies in confined, comparatively smaller living spaces than before the disaster, as well as having to share common facilities and utilities, can put more stress on parents and children, says World Vision psychosocial specialist Tony Culnane.

   "The loss of livelihood and the fact that more women perished than men, are stress-causing factors, forcing families to re-adjust traditional familial may dynamics in order to meet individual needs. Making staff aware of these factors will enable World Vision to identify and prevent the various forms of child abuse that can occur," Culnane explains.

   In the village of Nai Rai, this is clearly evident. The women who until the tsunami had been confined to their homes cooking, cleaning and looking after the children, have found that their lives are worth more. Following training sessions in batik painting, sewing and other activities, these women now turn out a regular consignment of goods that are in high demand. The money they make is a source of pride and inspiration for these women, who had not even drawn a picture before.

   Expert say these activities help those likely to be suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. Earlier estimates suggested that as much as 30 percent of the people in the relief camps would suffer from this syndrome. Reports say that in the coastal towns of the island itself, one in five in the camps had such depression.

   Miek Bankalam, learning and working in a World Vision-sponsored bakery, is really an unsung hero of the community.

   She courageously dragged her partially disabled husband to safety when the tsunami hit, refusing to listen to his pleas for her to leave him and run for safety. Husband Anit's legs have been stiff since his fell sick five years ago; he can barely walk.

   "I lifted him out of the boat and told him we had to run," recalls Miek. "He pleaded with me to leave him behind and run. I told him to forget it. I wasn't going anywhere without him."

   The couple has been fishing together since a very young age. Living in a village with mud roads and polluted water wells, Miek and her husband Anit have always depended on their fishing boat to earn a living. Life became more difficult as his sight started to deteriorate gradually, leaving her to do everything for him.

   Their longtail boat is 10 metres long from tip to tail. Miek has had to adjust to the heaviness of the propeller, building her strength to drive and manage the boat, a position very few Muslim women traditionally take on.††

   These days, Miek and Anit have doubts about going out to sea. "The sea used to bring us both peace of mind, I would fish and Anit would talk to me. There is mistrust now, a realisation that we might not be lucky enough to escape death a second time.

   "But I won't give up on him, I won't let my family fall apart, even if another tsunami were to reach this village again," says Miek.

LOST LAND RIGHTS

A year onwards, some of the victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami find themselves coping with a double tragedy - apart from the horrors of the disaster, the struggle for land it has also led to.

   Many of those who were living in unauthorised structures now have no legal claim to those lands and have no means of receiving assistance from the government to rebuild. The government cannot give funds for rebuilding unless there is proof of ownership of land.

   The government has given land for these people to move to, but many residents have refused to go there. Landgrabbing (of private lands) is also an issue that awaits some kind of resolution.

   Officials believe that as much as 80 percent of those affected by the tsunami are facing issues of land, be it cases of grabbing land or simply losing it outright. "This is especially a problem to the sea gypsy communities, because they lived in some of the most prime locations," adds the UNDP's Bjorkman. Many of these prime locations have now been ‘grabbed' by hoteliers and other developers who saw opportunity when it came.

   The relief programme director of World Vision, Richard Ramsey, adds that poor and illegal settlers often have little choice, or clout, in dealing with property developers and other tourism-oriented people. "The government sees this as a good economic opportunity," he adds.

   The land titles held by many families in Phuket, for decades a tin mining centre of Thailand, were of a father-to-son nature and not of the more ‘official' kind. "These titles go back to the times of tin mining. There was bound to be trouble in clearing these titles, and there is now," Ramsey adds.

   He admits to the delays in effecting ‘full recovery' on the time planned. Bjorkman stresses that recovery has been hampered by the top-down approach in distributing relief, or in housing or releasing boats. "The uncoordinated efforts of the relief organisations have also overpowered the communities, helping little," he added.

   Ramsey agrees that given the large sums of funds that flowed into the island after the tsunami, the rivalries among relief organisations have been high. "The tsunami has in fact highlighted the NGO market at work!"

   "When so many organisations come in to the same target group with no collaboration there is bound to be direct competition. Such a push for funds and accountability is hard. It is harder to collaborate when funds are available than when they are scarce. This has been the predicament with a lot of NGOs," he maintains.

   Recovery in some parts have been difficult because of lack of coordination and overlapping of priorities, and tussles between what is good for the victims and what is good for the non-government organisations.

   Yet Thailand, with its immense economic prowess and strong government structure, proves to have succeeded where many other tsunami-hit countries have failed. Despite the many problems, a large number of the affected have received housing, children have relatively settled into the schools and life after as well. This is especially so in comparison to that of countries like Sri Lanka, still struggling to deal with red tape in the release of funds. The Thai government has, in comparison, laid much of the standards in place be it in rebuilding or distribution of funds.

   In the face of the catastrophe that struck, Thais have much to be thankful for. For one thing, their plight has not become one where politics takes precedence over humanitarian needs -- like what has happened with Sri Lanka.

   But as one Burmese mother said: "What good are all the houses, boats and clothes in the world, when you have lost a loved one, and will never see him again?" (END/AMF/IPSAP/SP/JS/2112/05)

(*Shakuntala Perera of the Daily Mirror in Sri Lanka produced this piece for the special series on a year after the tsunami on a travel assignment supported by the Asia Media Forum.)