Phuket honors victims on ninth anniversary of the tsunami

[Phuket Gazette Daily News]

PHUKET: The Phuket community yesterday morning honored those who died in the devastating tsunami that struck the island in 2004 with a ceremony at the Tsunami Memorial Wall in Mai Khao followed by the traditional “Light Up Phuket” candle-lighting ceremony on Patong Beach last night.

About 50 people turned out at the Tsunami Memorial Wall in Mai Khao, including a few foreigners. The service in Mai Khao began at 8:30am with Buddhist monks conducting a mass prayer, followed by a Muslim service and then a Christian service.

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[LivinLOS]

9 years passed..

[dawsey]

^ Doesn't seem anywhere near 9 yrs ago does it? I still remember Nicke posting his photo's on the spot.

Denver posted some nice pics on his FB page.

[Evilbaz]

I visited in May 2005 - the Super Star Virgo was the first cruise ship to return after the Tsunami.
It was the day Molly Malones re-opened and we were treated by the staff like Kings and Queens.

I was quite affected by the industrious Thais squatting laying bricks, clearing rubble, painting and getting on with it to re-open Beach Road and Bangla.
It seemed in contrast to other stricken areas who were waiting for foreign aid to arrive to fix things.
(Of course I now know those "Thais" were probably Burmese 55).

It was enough to vow to return which I did several times and then moved here early in 2008.
The irony here is my ex-wife paid for the cruise ...

[TLandHim]

Evilbaz, that is what we were amazed at too. Nothing happened for three days and then they just bulldozed along the beach road and started rebuilding
We came back in June and in Patong you had to know where to look to see much damage. Absolutely amazing, compare that with our Christchurch.

This is a photo I took of Sawatadirak Rd (parallel to Bangla Rd, one block north), looking towards the beach just after the first wave came in. We were standing knee deep in water in the middle of the street.
The second wave about 10 minutes after this photo, caused a lot more damage and made us realise just how fast we could run.