Tsunami lessons must live on

Museum key in remembering 2004 disaster, writes Jitsiree Thongnoi in Phangnga

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Twenty-one years after the 2004 tsunami almost wiped out Ban Nam Khem, the small fishing village is coping with changing geological, demographic and employment woes while struggling to keep its way of life and passing on lessons of survival to future generations.

Being a tsunami survivor, 59-year-old Amphan Petchnoi has learned the most important lesson: human lives matter more than any possessions. As a result, Ms Amphan, who is now retired, is always ready for any future disasters, including tsunamis.

"I now have an emergency bag where I put land deeds, documents, ATM cards, some money and some clothes. Every time I hear the tsunami rehearsal alarm, I just take this bag and run," she said.

Since she was 18, she has settled and built a family in Ban Nam Khem, a fishing village on the Andaman Sea in Phangnga province. She and her former husband owned a grocery store, selling supplies for hundreds of fishing vessels that were based here. Business was good, and Ban Nam Khem was thriving, with people moving in from other parts of Thailand to work in the fishing industry.

For the past two decades, the once unheard fishing village of Ban Nam Khem has been etched in the national collective memory. A total of 824 people perished here during the 2004 tsunami, while Phangnga as a whole saw the highest death toll in the country, with over 4,200. More than 5,300 people in Thailand died.

Today, Ban Nam Khem is a site of contemplation and remembrance, even though the community is only half of what it once was, according to Maitree Jongkraijug, manager of Chumchonthai Foundation, which supports vulnerable communities.