Former Thai paradise island is now paradise lost

Former Thai paradise island is now paradise lost

Agencies,
Phi Phi Island, Khao Lak, Thailand

Thailand's one-time paradise island of Phi Phi is now paradise
lost.

Two days after a wall of water smashed into the holiday island
from both sides, rescuers on Tuesday were still retrieving
bloated corpses from the lagoon or from the wreckage of shattered
buildings.

Every building on the 28 square kilometers main island, apart
from two luxury resorts, was destroyed or badly damaged when
tidal waves battered Thailand's southwest coast on Sunday.

One rescuer, Wirat Mansa-ad, has estimated that more than 300
people were killed on the island. No updated figure was available
on Tuesday but officials say it was the second worst hit area in
the south.

Thais who worked to develop the island made famous by the
Hollywood movie "The Beach" were mourning both the loss of loved
ones and their businesses.

"My wife and son and daughter are safe but I'm still looking
for my father, sister and two nieces. I think they're all dead,"
said Dud Sama-ae, 51.

Apart from his personal tragedy, the entrepreneur's businesses
are also gone. "I have nothing left, my business is gone with the
water." he told AFP.

"I just finished renovating my restaurant last month,
preparing for high season."

When the first wave hit, Dud had no time to warn his family.

"I saw the wave smother the island so I had to climb up a
coconut tree and when I looked back to where my restaurant had
been there was nothing there."

All 40 bungalows operated jointly with his brother and sister
are also gone, he said, estimating that he and his family lost 10
million baht (US$256,400) from the disaster.

"I have no idea what we'll do," he said, his voice quivering
with shock.

"Phi Phi is dead. It will decades to bring it back to life, to
the level it was before the earthquake."

Thakengsak Diswath, 53, came to Phi Phi 16 years ago when its
tourist business was just starting. He has lost his bakery and
has nothing left.

"The richest and the poorest on Phi Phi are now one and the
same. Everybody must start from zero," he said.

His house was not destroyed but moved 200 metres off its
foundations.

Bodies were still being taken off the island as troops joined
the search for remaining corpses. Some 38 bodies were taken off
on Monday and 15 as of early afternoon on Tuesday.

The last of about 5,000 tourists who survived the disaster
left the island on Tuesday and fewer than 100 remain. Many locals
have also left.

But Samart Srinuan, 45, whose 15 bungalows were severely
damaged, was still on the island to try to find his daughter.

"I haven't found her and I cannot go anywhere until I do," he
said.

Meanwhile, miles of tsunami-shattered beach hotels on the Thai
mainland north of Phuket island began yielding up their dead on
Tuesday, bloated bodies, bodies gashed and mangled.

At least 770 corpses, of both Thais and foreign tourists, had
been recovered by 0800 GMT (3 p.m in Jakarta) in the area around
Khao Lak beach, a magnet for Scandinavians and Germans escaping
the long, dark winters at home.

That made it the worst hit place in Thailand and there were
fears the final toll would be higher in an area which drew
tourists for scuba diving and snorkeling among the coral reefs of
the Andaman Sea as well as its golden sands and sunshine.

Local hotel owner Yanyong Korpetch said he believed half the
estimated 5,000 foreign tourists staying at Khao Lak were killed
when the wall of water struck on Sunday. The bodies of more than
100 of his 300 guests had been recovered, he said.

Chantima Saengli, owner of the Blue Village Pagarang hotel,
told a Bangkok radio station she knew about 60 of her
Scandinavian guests were safe.

She feared the other 340 were dead, their bodies swept into
the lush rain forest covering the hills behind the beach.

Thailand's official death toll was 1,516 with 1,400 missing,
many of them Thais working in the tourist trade. Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra ordered three days of national mourning.