THE ASIAN TSUNAMI - DIVING AFTER THE TIDAL WAVE
PHUKET TSUNAMI NEWS
UPDATES BY SUNRISE DIVERS - KARON BEACH, PHUKET
PHUKET AFTER THE TSUNAMI
100% Back to Normal
The tsunami now seem like a long time ago. Hard to believe. The wave that hit many countries in Asia on December 26th was a terrible event. Here in Phuket, as well as other affected areas, the local people are trying to get things together as fast as possible and hope not to lose their incomes. In Phuket right now, there is hardly any sign of damage. Hard to believe anything happened. The clean up has been incredibly fast at the beaches and underwater. Indeed, Phuket is cleaner than it ever was and the diving is as good as it ever was at places like the Similan Islands and Hin Daeng.
Photo of Kata and Karon beaches taken on 30th December
Click here for more photos of Phuket and Phi Phi after the Tsunami
Underwater clean ups continue. Sunrise Divers staff assisted with a Patong Bay underwater clean up on the 26th February and more are planned at various beaches before the high season starts. The island got busier after February - many liveaboard boats were full in March and April. The diving has been excellent, especially in the Similan Islands and at Hin Daeng. Marine life is as good as ever, maybe even better. We are currently running a wide selection of day trips around Phuket and Phi Phi. Liveaboards start again in October.
June 14th 2005 - Phi Phi After the Tsunami - Report and Photos
June 13th 2005. Yesterday, I (Jamie) went to Kamala Beach. This was probably the worst affected beach area in Phuket. I was last there with family and friends on December 25th and have spent the last 5 months being very thankful we were not there one day later. There is now a lot of rebuilding going on, and the beach looks very nice. It is still quite emotional to think that my son may not have been born. He was born on 11th January. I picked up a few shells from the beach, from where I was sitting the day before the wave came.
4Kali - Volunteer and Donations
We only found out a couple of months after the tsunami, that a girl named Kali Breisch had been a victim in Khao Lak. The Breisch family had been booked on a liveaboard trip from the 22nd - 26th December, but had to cancel when another one of their kids had a car accident. They came to Thailand anyway and some of them were out diving on the 26th. When they returned to Khao Lak after their diving, one can only imagine what they saw. Hotel gone, and 2 of their kids gone. Later they found their son, but Kali did not make it. Our thoughts are with them.
They started a charity foundation to help the people of the Khao Lak area. These are good caring people who despite their loss have given so much to help others.
Their web site : www.4Kali.org - please have a look.
KhaoLak.de - Updated Hotel Status in Khao Lak
See the BBC for the latest world news
There are earthquakes in the world every day.
You might wish to look at the USGS website :
US Geological Survey Earthquake Web Site
February Update : Charter flights from Europe starting again and I have seen a buses full of tourists arriving at hotels close to our shop. The beach umbrellas are back, but are all clean and new. The beaches look very clean. Most dive trips are back to normal, many did not change schedules at all. Some had to change due to lack of customers. The diving has been great for the last few weeks, especially due to lack of other boats in the water. The dive liveaboards have had the Similan Islands to themselves. The people here in Phuket and other resort areas (Krabi, Koh Lanta etc.) hope that the next few months will see a return to normality. This is a great time to visit, and we hope you will travel to Thailand soon.
As far as diving goes, there were no problems with any dive boats, and all our customers who were out at sea came back safely. In Karon Beach you can't really tell much has happened. Our office is only about 200m from Karon beach, but the water came nowhere near us. Patong looked worse, with shops on the beach front being hit, many cars and boats damaged, but the clean up is complete already. Rebuilding will take some time though, and the Patong City mayor is trying to use the opportunity to rebuild a cleaner, neater Patong beach road. (More on this at www.phuketgazette.net). By the end of February, the beach road in Patong is starting to show signs of rebuilding. You'll be glad to know Starbucks is up and running!
Phi Phi NEWS - February 2005
After an inspection trip, the Greta day trip boat started to run Phi Phi Overnight Diving trips again on 4th-5th February. The hotel (Phi Phi Bayview) is fully operational and we wish to show our support for Phi Phi by running these trips again. The dive sites are unaffected, and in Ton Sai village, the clean up is well underway, but quite slow - rebuilding will take longer, but Phi Phi is ready to receive some visitors.
Latest Phi Phi Tsunami Updates at www.hiphiphi.com
The Thai people hope that if you are feeling sad about what you are seeing, please don't abandon plans to come here and then give them a financial problem on top of what has happened. If tourists and divers cancel plans to come, it's only the local people who will suffer.
How To Help and Make Donations
Want to Volunteer? - See www.tsunamivolunteer.net
It is quite safe to come here. Jamie is living here with his wife and 3 year old daughter, and my baby boy was born here in Phuket at Bangkok Phuket Hospital on January 11th. If it were unsafe in any way, you can bet I would not let my family stay here. Phuket is a large, modern island with very good infrastructure. There has been no loss of water and electric supply, roads are all open and on 99.9% of the island you can see no damage. There are no health risks.
The dive sites - we have now heard back from many many divers and boats that the Similan Islands area and Richelieu Rock are fine. Visibility and fish life as good as ever. Damage limited to a few dive sites, most are barely touched. Trips in the last 6 months have been very good. Dive sites that have been damaged are not being dived. Some "post tsunami" videos and links below:
Some Useful Links - Post Tsunami trips January 2005
VIDEO - East of Eden dive site (Similan Islands) 4th January
This video copyright www.bubblevision.com
VIDEO - Similan Islands 10 - 13 January (Large 35MB File)
Copyright Mark Allen, Tour Leader Colona VI liveaboard
A Similan Islands trip report, January 6 - 8 (from Scubaboard.com)
Link to Videos from the Le Mahe liveaboard trips in January by Sven Seifert
A trip report from Colona VI liveaboard (from Scubaboard.com)
(Note : Best if you have broadband connection for the videos)
Most of the dive boats ran liveaboard cruises and day trips almost completely as normal after the new year. It is not the intention of the dive community here to be heartless, we are very aware of what has happened, but every company wishes to continue with diving and our customers wanted to dive. Once we got back positive reports from the dive sites in early January, and the first few trips after the wave came back with smiling faces, we were relieved that the diving was still great and could start promoting trips, as there were initially quite a lot of cancellations. Without our reefs we are nothing!
THE OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE FROM THE DOCT (Dive Operators Club of Thailand)
Our thoughts are still with those who did not survive all over Asia, especially in Sumatra, Sri Lanka and SE India, which were hit far harder and do not have the same resources as Thailand to rebuild quickly.
Best Wishes
Jamie and Gilbert
Sunrise Divers
Photos below : Kata and Karon Beaches 30th December 2004
(Just a few days after the tsunami hit Phuket!)
 
Click on the photos to enlarge
More Photos of Phuket after the Tsunami - click here
Links to The Latest News in Phuket
The Phuket Gazette Online - Phuket's English Language Paper
Phuket.com - Leading Phuket Web Site
Phuket Hotel status after the wave
Latest Photos from Phuket.com - Hundreds of photos showing the clean up
Phuket Map
Phuket Tourist and Travel Information
Tsunami Links
Data relating to the December 26th tsunami (NOAA)
USGS Information on the earthquake on December 26th
USGS Tsunami Links and Information
BBC In Depth reports of the Asian tsunami
Bangkok Post Tsunami Pages
Thailand tsunami relief information
Want to Volunteer in Thailand? Tsunami Volunteer Information
Latest from Khao Lak - news from the WWF
Tsunami Links - Google Tsunami relief page
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