Journal of Natural Disaster Science, Volume 29, Number 1, 2007, pp3-12

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Recovery Process in Thailand after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
Monkonkorn SRIVICHAI1, Seree SUPHARATID2 and Fumihiko IMAMURA3, Thailand
Graduate Student, Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Rangsit University, Thailand
2
Natural Disaster Research Center, College of Engineering, Rangsit University, Thailand
3
Disaster Control Research Center, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Japan.
1(Received for 10 Jan., 2007 and in revised from 28 May, 2007)

ABSTRACTThe tsunami generated by the Sumatra earthquake on December 26, 2004 affected many countries around theIndian Ocean and Thailand also suffered severely from this event, i.e. 6 provinces along the Andaman coastline.
More than 8,000 people perished or went missing, 4,500 houses were totally destroyed, and economic losses were
estimated at more than 14 billion baht. Since it bore the brunt of the tidal wave at its peak, Phang Nga experienced
the largest number of fatalities or missing (more than 65%) as well as property damage (about 50%). The
Government was prominent in several short- and long-term measures following the disaster management cycle,
including the development of a tsunami resilient community. This paper discusses several measures implemented
by the government, private sectors, and international organizations.

1. INTRODUCTION
On the morning of December 26, 2004 a magnitude 9.3 earthquake struck off the Northwest coast of the Indonesian island of
Sumatra, due to a complex slip on 2 faults (Koshimura andTakashima, 2005), where the oceanic portion of the Indian Plate
slides under Sumatra, part of the Eurasian Plate. The earthquake
deformed the ocean floor, pushing the overlying water up into atsunami wave. The earthquake and resulting tsunami affectedmany countries in Southeast Asia and beyond, including Indonesia,
Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, the Maldives, Somalia, Myanmar,
Malaysia, the Seychelles and others (see Fig. 1). Records of fatalities and missing from the tsunami (UN, 2005) and the tsunami
wave height surveyed by several experts (Tsuji et al., 2005; Yasuda
et al., 2005; Harry Yeh, 2005; Matsutomi et al., 2004; Satake et al.,2005; Tsuji et al., 2006; Fujima et al., 2005 and NOAA, 2005) are
shown in Table 1. The tsunami height peaked at the western sideof Banda Ace, Indonesia, which thus explained the greatest numberof fatalities and missing occurring in that area. Hardest hit, meanwhile, were the countries of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, andThailand. The death toll up to the present has exceeded 300,000
people, representing a major disaster of monumental geographic
and human proportions. Overall, an estimated 1,5 to 5 million people were directly or indirectly affected, while damage and destruction of infrastructure destroyed people s livelihoods and left many
homeless without adequate water and healthcare facilities. In addition, the tsunami-affected communities can be categorized into
three regions: the nearfield area along the Sumatra coastline, which
accounts for approximately 73% of the total casualties, those at anintermediate distance (between 1,000-2,000 km) in Thailand,
Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, and those in the
KEY WORDS: Indian ocean Tsunami, recovery, warning, Thailand

farfield area, along the African coastline.
2. EFFECT ON THAILAND
Thailand suffered particularly serious effects from the 2004
Indian ocean Tsunami in 6 provinces along the Andaman coastline.
Immediately after the event, the Thai-Japanese tsunami expert

Fig. 1 Communities affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

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M. SRIVICHAI, S. SUPHARATID AND F. IMAMURA

Table 1. Fatalities & missing and actual heights of tsunami

Table 2.

Damage in case area and effect on people from the Indian Ocean tsunami

Fig. 2 Distribution of the tsunami height and result from simulation(Matsutomi et al., 2004; Satake et al., 2005; Tsuji et al., 2006
and Srivichai and Suphathid, 2007)

Fig. 3 Tidal record at Tapao Noi, Phuket

RECOVERY PROCESS IN THAILAND AFTER THE 2004 INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI

group made a detailed survey on tsunami behavior (Matsutomi etal., 2004; Satake et al., 2005 and Tsuji et al., 2006). The tsunami
heights are shown in Fig. 2. Unfortunately, because the tsunami
arrived at high tide, it rode on top of the elevated tidal level(Hydrographic Department Royal Thai Navy, 2006) in Fig. 3 causing more severity. Due to the offshore bathymetry, the tsunami
height varied by a factor of almost 3-4 times, with a maximum
height of 19.6 m at Ban Tung Dap in Prathong island, 15 m at the
popular Khao Lak resort area, and 5-6 m at the Patong beach in
Phuket. Comparisons were also made with the numerical results,
using non-linear shallow water equations (Srivichai andSupharatid, 2007) in the same figure, although this method was noteffective for predicting the maximum wave height. One of themain contributions is the accuracy of bathymetric data near the
shoreline (462.5 m. x 462.5 m.) The damaged areas, number ofdeaths or missing and property damage are summarized by the
DDPM (Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, 2005),
DPT (Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning,2005) and the TEC (Tsunami Evaluation Coalition, 2005) inTables 2, 3 and 4. As expected, many resorts in Kho Lak area,with its low-lying coastal plane, were severely damaged while several buildings with sliding glass door or windows facing the sea

suffered little structural damage. This is because the tsunami force
broke through all the openings. In addition, most of the engineering-designs used for reinforced concrete buildings with good foundations could withstand the wave attack. Because the wave heightpeaked at Phang Nga, this area experienced the largest number offatalities or missing (more than 65%) as well as property damage(about 50%). A report from the Ministry of Public Health(Department of Mental Health, 2006) revealed that many people
experienced very high strain after the tsunami attack and nearly
20,000 people visited clinics in the 2 year period after the event(see Table 5).
3. SHORT AND LONG TEEM RESPONSES
3.1 TSUNAMI PREPAREDNESSThe goal of tsunami preparedness is to plan for a response andseveral actions have been implemented by the Government and private sectors, with sixteen earthquake observation stations installed
or improved nationwide by the TMD (Thai Meteorological
Department) since 2005. This can improve the capability of theearthquake analysis and nationwide warning capability. At theTable 3. Number of deaths, injured and missing

Table 4.

5

Property damage

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M. SRIVICHAI, S. SUPHARATID AND F. IMAMURA

same time, two tidal stations (in Koh Miang, Phuket) were upgraded thanks to donations from USAID through the ADPC (Asian
Disaster Preparedness Center). This will assure notification of thearrival of a tsunami 15 minutes before it attacks the main land
coastline.
In term of community participation activities, a hazard map
depicting some typically risk-prone areas, such as the Kamala
beach (Fig. 4) and Khao Lak (Fig. 5) was developed, which will
help enhance awareness among the people. Meanwhile, preparedness and evacuation plans were also made by the DDPM and one
important event, the evacuation drill, was practised in several areas(see Fig. 6). In addition, the Government has constructed several
siren towers within several coastal communities (see Fig. 7).
3.2 TSUNAMI PREVENTION AND MITIGATION
The goal of tsunami prevention and mitigation is to minimize

Fig. 4the effects of a disaster. Land use planning has been proposed to
the government for the popular Phi Phi island and Patong beach.
However, this measure could not be implemented due to strong
protest from many local people. One success project was thedeveloping of tsunami resistant community. This was done as apilot project at Ban Bang Niang (Khao Lak) by the collaboration
among Government and private sectors. Three main actions weremade:1) Evacuation system: The evacuation plan was developed for
emergency situation by the DDPM and Tumbon Administrative
Office. The evacuation route map was also constructed asshown in Fig. 8. There is 1 tsunami shelter (see Fig. 9) constructed in this area by friends in need (of PA ) Volunteer
Foundation. The construction budget was supported by the
Catholic Cardinal Council of Thailand. The local people canuse this building for multi-purpose activities. In ordinary situation, it is used for recreation, local administrative office meeting,Hazard map at the Kamala beachFig. 5a) Patong beach

Hazard map at the Kamala beachb) Khao Lak
Fig. 6

Evacuation drills

RECOVERY PROCESS IN THAILAND AFTER THE 2004 INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI

and Buddhism events while in the time of disasters, it is intended to reserve for temporary evacuators. Several basic needs forlivelihood (food, medicine, clothes, etc.) are stocked in thisbuilding. Two evacuation drills are proposed to do each year.
However, due to limited space of the building and also theremote location from the beach (1-2 km.), it is recommended
that resorts & hotels (near the beach) should reserve the 3rd
floor space for emergency evacuation.
2) Warning system : In this area, a dissemination tower (Fig. 10)
was installed to receive warning information from the NDWC
(National Disaster Warning Center, 2006). NDWC will receive
the earthquake data from the Thai Meteorological Department(TMD) and International Networks for preliminary analysis andestimate the tsunami arrival time. NDWC will also receive

Fig. 7tsunami information bulletin from the Pacific Tsunami Warning
Center (PTWC) as well as the Japan Meteorological Agency(JMA). After careful judgment, the warning message will besent to the related central government department, local government and the people via short messages, television, radio andfax. A direct communication line was also connected to many
hotels and resorts (Fig. 11), which will allow each hotel or resort
to disseminate the message to its guest and operate an emergency plan. Some hotels or resorts have reserved high-floor
areas for evacuation. However, due to the lack of a tsunami
evaluation system, many false alarms may occur. Therefore, the
NDWC is very concerned about this and plans to install the 1st
deep sea buoy (DART) near Nicobar island by the end of 2006.
3) Education and awareness : Tsunami materials were distributed
to the local people, schoolteachers, students, and tourists. These
include a book (Department of Disaster Prevention and
Mitigation, 2005a) (Fig. 12), VCD (Department of Disaster
Prevention and Mitigation, 2005b) (Fig. 13). In addition, atsunami brochure (Friends in need (of PA ) Volunteer
Foundation, 2005) was also distributed to tourists in both Thaiand English languages (Fig. 14). There are also several seminars in the affected area to educate local people, including local
government officials, about the tsunami. These are under the
responsibility of the DDPM.

Siren tower at the Patong beachFig. 8 Evacuation route map at Khao Lak
Fig. 10

Fig. 9Evacuation shelter at Khao Lak

7Fig. 11

Dissemination tower at Ban Bang Niang

Direct communication lines to hotels and resorts

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M. SRIVICHAI, S. SUPHARATID AND F. IMAMURA

Fig. 12 Tsunami materials (Book)

Table 5.

Fig. 13

Tsunami materials (VCD)

Number of people using mental health clinics

3.3 EMERGENCY RESPONSE
The goal of the tsunami response involves striving to minimize the hazards created by disasters. A search and rescue teamwas established by the DDPM with assistance from Japan andmany temporary homes were constructed by several private sector
bodies (see Figs. 15-16). This includes aid for medicine (First aid
treatment), clothes, food and water, including initial repairs todamaged infrastructure by the military and private agencies.
Moreover many volunteers (Both Thais and foreigners) entered thedamaged areas to work alongside the government officers. This
includes the monitoring of secondary disasters such as polluted
water, epidemic, etc.
3.4 TSUNAMI RECOVERYThe goal of tsunami recovery involves returning the community toward a normal situation. The tsunami affected hundreds offishing villages along the Andaman coast. It also destroyed thelivelihood of more than 13,000 households, who were dependanton fisheries, and destroyed or seriously damaged over 4,500 fishingboats. The tsunami also seriously impacted on the natural environment, i.e. marine and national parks, coral reefs, and agriculturallands through salt-water intrusion. These impacts will have serious
long-term consequences for tourism and fisheries, as well as the
livelihood of many thousands of people. The government allocateda recovery budget for the damaged facilities according to sectors(Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, 2005) asshown in Table 5. From Table 6, the largest amount is budget figure No. 04 (Loan from the Finance Ministry). This budget was
reserved for supporting affected entrepreneurs and will be returned

depending on the loan period. The 2nd largest budget amount wasallocated to the Committee for Relief of the 6 Southern Tsunami
Affected Provinces, who provided assistance through 13 groups of
subcommittees (see Table 7). On average, 66% of the stated budgets have been used and the data is valid through September 30,
2005. It emerged that the largest budget (28%) was allocated forassistance to the 10 damaged government offices.
Apart from the budgets from the Government, recovery budgets from international organizations (Foreign countries, INGOs,
CBOs, Community Associations, Charity groups) totaled approximately 3.2 billion Baht, with New Zealand making the largest
donation through the UN families (UNDP). In addition, the top
donations also came from the UN Children s Fund. USAID(USAID, 2005) also made a contribution to the Post-Tsunami
Sustainable Coastal Livelihood Program, which was implemented
in 5 villages of the Suk Samran district, Ranong province. The
specific objectives of the program are to establish a set of principles & a coordinated approach to rehabilitation, to restart livelihoods with healthy coastal resources, to redesign damaged infrastructure, to establish capacity for planning and decision-making
within the coastal zone, and to promote learning and share experience in the region.
It can be concluded that the assistance from the Government
and international organizations can be grouped into primary (shortterm) and permanent (long-term) assistance. Primary assistancecovers the supply of food, medicine, clothes (Figs. 17-18), searchand rescue operations, damaged infrastructure reparation, and disaster victim identification (DVI), etc. For long-term assistance,
this includes the construction of permanent houses and infrastruc-RECOVERY PROCESS IN THAILAND AFTER THE 2004 INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI

Table 6.

Total budgets supplied by the Thai Governmenta) Front pageb) Back pageFig. 14 Tsunami brochure910

M. SRIVICHAI, S. SUPHARATID AND F. IMAMURA

Table 7.

Budgets for the subcommittees of the Committee for Relief of the 6 Southern Tsunami Affected Provinces* This budget was not controlled by the committee for the Relief of the 6 Southern Tsunami Affected Provinces

Fig. 16

Fig. 15 Temporary house at Ban Ayokyu

Fig. 17 Donated material warehouse

Temporary house at Khao Lak (Ban Bang Niang)

Fig. 18

Distribution of donated goods

RECOVERY PROCESS IN THAILAND AFTER THE 2004 INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI

Fig. 21 Fishing boat construction

Fig. 19 Construction of permanent houses (Ban Taleanok)

Fig. 20

Construction of school at Ban Nam Kemtures (Figs. 19-20), livelihood recovery of occupations and tourism
business (Figs. 21-22), legal and services for poor and vulnerable
people, the management of coral reefs and ecosystem, and environmental rehabilitation.
4. CONCLUSIONSThe sudden vertical displacement of the sea floor associatedwith a massive fault rupture and initiating a complex series ofwaves propagated across the entire Indian Ocean, resulting in thedevastating tsunami of December 26, 2004. This was a world
record tsunami in term of fatalities and the number of affected people. In Thailand, the tsunami affected residents and foreign touristsin 6 provinces along the Andaman coast (Phuket, Phang Nga,
Ranong, Krabi, Trang, and Stun), with Phang Nga hardest hit due
to the wave height peaking in that area. The situation was more
severe, both because the waves arrived at high tide and the fact thatthe affected area was located in a relatively low-lying coastal
plane, resulting in the serious destruction of many resorts.
However, there were still many well-designed reinforced concretebuildings with good foundations capable of withstanding the wave
attack. It also emerged that the non-linear shallow water equation
underestimated the maximum wave height, which was a factor of
the accuracy of the surrounding bathymetric data.
In term of short- and long-term responses, the Government
was prominent in several measures following to the disaster management cycle including the developing of a tsunami resilience
community. These include the tsunami preparedness (Installationof earthquake and tsunami monitoring instruments, construction of

11

Fig. 22

Handmade Basket and Bags of affected families

hazard maps, developing of preparedness and evacuation plans,conducting evacuation drills, and the construction of several siren
towers in tsunami-risk prone communities), tsunami prevention
and mitigation (Construction of evacuation route maps, evacuation
shelters, and warning siren towers, bringing out tsunami books andVCDs), tsunami emergency response (Setting up the search andrescue team, construction of temporary homes, reparation of damaged infrastructure), and tsunami recovery (Construction of permanent homes, rehabilitating the environment, restarting healthy
livelihoods, livelihood recovery of occupations and the tourism
business.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to the Department of Disaster Prevention and
Mitigation, Department of Mineral Resources, Ministry of Social
Development and Human Security, Ministry of Public Health, andother government agencies for all the information supplied.
Thanks also to the staff in the Disaster Control Research Center,
Tohoku University for their suggestions and help.
This paper is supported by the Thailand Research Fundthrough the Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. Program.
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