The wave

John Keeble
The final preparations were being made on Thailand's Andaman coast today (24th) for big commemoration ceremonies on the 10th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami. The tsunami struck coastlines on Decemeber 26th 2004, killing about 250,000 people in coastal area from Indonesia to Africa.

Survivors, relatives of the dead and foreign volunteers who helped after the tsunami struck Thailand were arriving here to join local people to remember the tragedy. Phuket, the smaller islands, and the Krabe coastline were also hit by the waves but the death toll was lower than the Khao Lak-Bang Niang coast and the fishing village of Ban Nam Khem. The victims included the King's grandson.

In Thai fashion, the commemoration will have many physical and emotional levels: the Prime Minister and top politicians will attend the ceremony at Bang Niang, where more than 2,000 tourists and local people died, and many senior figures will be at another ceremony at Ban Nam Khem, where a similar number of Thai and Burmese people were killed. But, in contrast to the ceremonies, the events will have markets, leisure areas and even amusements for the children. Local rumours doubt that anyone except invited guests will get in but I shall try.

Today, I joined the emergency and building services getting ready the Bang Niang memorial -- I lived nearly opposite the site for five years but recetly it has been concreted over and extended with elaborate structures.

When I look at it, I remember the police boat that was swept more than a kilometre inland as it had been for years ... surrounded by grass, just in front of a rubber plantation.

And I think of the people, the stories, I heard when I came to Bang Niang two years after the tsunami: the wife of a man who became a friend was washed from the beach to almost her home behind where the police boat came to rest; the woman who owned the struggling resort where I first stayed told of her sister having her young daughter wrenched from her arms by the water; the tailor who suddenly told me that he had not be able to save his baby who drowned in the shop where they still lived ... there were so many stories then.

Here are some of the images from today: The memorial area in Bang Niang and the memorial park at Ban Nam Khem (where foreign volunteers held an event to talk about their experiences).