Andaman tsunami memorial wall gets clean up

26 Dec 2011

A team of volunteers has cleaned up the Phuket memorial wall commemorating people who died in the Andaman Sea tsunami. In the southern Thai Andaman provinces of Krabi, Phuket and Phang Nga an estimated 5,500 people died and another 3,000 were washed away in the 2004 Boxing Day catastrophe.

The Wall of Remembrance at Mai Khao on Phuket was erected in memory of those who perished in the disaster. Since it was put up, local residents and foreign visitors say that regional authorities have neglected to maintain it.

Ahead of this year’s memorial rites, Phuket Municipality officials invited volunteer workers to spruce up the wall themselves. On Saturday a team replaced the wall’s flags and gave it a lick of paint. The 45 flags on the wall represent the different nationalities of tsunami victims who were killed in Thailand.

The volunteer team comprised sailors from visiting US navy destroyer, the USS Pinckney; Phuket US Navy League members and other interested parties. Navy League chief Brad Kenny said he believed no budget had been allocated for the upkeep of the wall as most of the flags were just shreds of cloth blowing in the wind.

Religious services for different sects will be held at the wall today. There will also be a candlelight ceremony on the beach at Patong and rites at Phang Nga’s Bang Muang Cemetery.

The 2004 tsunami was generated by a massive 9.3 magnitude earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. A total of 230,000 people from 14 nations around the Indian Ocean were killed in the resulting tidal waves.

Tags: tsunami memorial clean up