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TSUNAMI IMPACT: For Phuket Vendors, It’s an Uphill Struggle to Restart

Kalinga Seneviratne

PHUKET, Thailand, Feb 23 2005 (IPS) - With the identification of the dead almost complete and most of the bodies of foreign tourists repatriated to their respective countries, reconstruction, now, is moving at a frantic phase on the beachfronts of tsunami-hit Phuket island in southern Thailand. But many of the locals here are unhappy.

The rumble in Phuket reflects the struggle tsunami survivors face in trying to restart their businesses and lives, often from scratch, amid profoundly changed circumstances after Dec. 26 – when the Asian tsunami swept away thousands at this tourist destination.

The west coast of southern Thailand was severely hit when killer waves – spawned by a huge undersea quake just off the northern tip of Indonesia’s Sumatra island – lashed Phuket and several outlying islands. At least 5,300 are confirmed dead and among those killed are more than 1,700 foreigners from a total of 36 countries.

Local authorities in Phuket have estimated the provincial damage bill from the disaster at around 7.5 billion baht (187.5 million U.S. dollars).

Under a six billion baht (15.5 million dollars) tourism rehabilitation package for Phuket up for discussion in cabinet this week, only 55 million baht (1.4 million dollars) is earmarked for soft loans for business, while 950 million baht (23.7 million dollars) has been allocated for the rehabilitation of physical infrastructure on the main Patong and Kamala beaches.

A Muslim shopkeeper at Patong, who only wanted to be identified as Fatima, said that she had two shops selling clothes and most of her stock was washed out to sea when the tsunami hit. She has just reopened one shop but most of the time she sits there staring blankly at the sea – there are hardly any tourists to buy her wares.

”My insurance company said that I was not covered for disasters like tidal waves and the government told me to go to the bank for a loan. But I have asked for money from the government. And they just ask me to wait,” complained Fatima.

”I had to sell off my car because I could not repay the previous loan I took to set up the two shops. I have to pay rent here, coupled with insurance and my daughter’s school fees. I’m broke now,” she added raising her arms to the sky.

About 15 kilometers north along the coast is Kamala beach.

Here, Wanda – a Thai woman in her 40s – is trying hard to rebuild her life. She owned a restaurant right on the beachfront. But when the killer waves struck the day after Christmas, she not only lost her business but also her 76-year-old mother and 12 relatives.

Nonetheless, Wanda has decided to get her life back. She’s managed to partially rebuild her restaurant out of the two standing walls that withstood the tsunami. In between the walls, she’s erected a tent-like canopy and beneath them placed plastic tables and stools.

While serving coffee to two elderly tourists from Europe, she related her story to IPS.

”I only got 55,000 baht (1,425 dollars) from the government. Luckily friends in Switzerland sent me money to rebuild this business,” she said. ”I cannot get any compensation for the property damage because I have no papers for the land.”

”Now the government says I can’t build 20 metres from the sea, so I’ve lost one-third of my restaurant space,” said Wanda frustratingly.

Further up the road, another businesswoman who said her name was Noi complained that government officials were more of a hindrance in the reconstruction efforts, rather than a help.

Her restaurant on the beachfront was completely washed away by the tsunami waves and her house down the road was badly damaged. Three of her relatives also disappeared in the waves.

”The government offered only 30,000 baht (778 dollars),” she complained. ”It will cost me at least 600,000 baht (15,570 dollars) to rebuild my two bedroom house with one living room. Even a bag of sand costs 1,200 baht (30 dollars),” said Noi.

But she’s undeterred and through the kindness of her foreign friends, Noi managed to partially open her Thai-European restaurant on the front veranda of her damaged house.

”I had money sent to me by my European tourist friends who used to visit my restaurant frequently,” she said. ”One friend sent me 21,000 baht (445 dollars) to buy a fridge and another 5,000 baht (130 dollars) to buy furniture.”

Like Wanda, the government, too, has told Noi, that she won’t be able to rebuild her restaurant on the beachfront, which used to be 20 meters from the sea.

And to add to her woes, local officials have said she would have to sign lease papers for the land where her partially destroyed home stands on now.

”My family has lived here for two generations. How could they do this to me,” lamented Noi.

”The tsunami has not only taken away my relatives and my business, but also my land. They say I don’t own it anymore. I have become a tenant on my own land and I could be evicted at the end of the year,” she complained bitterly.

In a conciliatory gesture to people like Noi and Wanda, the Phuket Provincial Administration offered this week to rent government land to those who have occupied it at nominal yearly rates of between 20 to 1,000 baht (50 cents to 25 dollars) per plot.

Under Thai law, the initial leases for those renting government land is one year. After a year, the lease is extended for a further period of five years. The maximum lease period is 20 years and after that it is at the discretion of the provincial governor.

Phuket Tourist Association’s Tsunami Recovery Centre manager Oraual Paethong criticised the government’s policies towards Thais trying to restart their businesses after the tsunami.

”The psychology behind the government policy is based on the idea that if you do business you can look after yourself,” said Oraual.