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OrBorJor warning system in the works
PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) is planning to establish and operate its own 8.8-million-baht emergency radio network and warning system in order to help prevent a repeat of the December 26 disaster.The idea is the brainchild of OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr, who said her own efforts to coordinate an emergency response to the tsunami failed when mobile telephone…
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US, Australia, ease travel advisories
PHUKET: Two Western governments that persisted in describing Phuket as being severely damaged by the tsunami finally amended their advisories yesterday to paint more accurate pictures of the situation The US State Department amended the travel advisory on its website to read: “A series of tsunami waves caused by a severe earthquake struck southwestern coastal areas of Thailand on December…
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Rooms tax break for island hotels
PHUKET CITY: In order to help soften the blow to Phuket’s tourism industry caused the tsunami, the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) is exempting all hotels from the controversial 1% rooms tax for the first nine months of 2005.Explaining why the exemption was being applied to all hotels, and not just those with structural damage, OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr said,…
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Governments begin relaxing travel advisories
PHUKET: Foreign governments have been relaxing their warnings against travelling to Phuket, although the change is by no means universal, and all government websites visited by the Gazette are still recommending that their nationals avoid Phi Phi and Khao Lak. The French government was one of the first to take Phuket off the pariah list. On Friday last week, the…
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Ricky Martin to tour Phuket
PHUKET CITY: Latin American pop singer Ricky Martin will arrive in Thailand tomorrow to tour tsunami-hit areas and assist orphaned survivors, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said. The tour is being conducted through the People for Children project, which Martin heads though his Puerto Rico-based Ricky Martin Foundation. The group fights against sexual exploitation of children, but in Thailand…
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Call for govt to sponsor F1 powerboat race
PHUKET: Phuket Chamber of Commerce Chairman Pamuke Archariyachai has called for the government to commit 50 million baht in sponsorship for the F1 powerboat race in Phuket, as a way to attract tourists back to the island.K. Pamuke called for the support at a meeting, at Phuket Royal City Hotel, held to discuss ways to revive the tourism industry in…
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German Foreign Minister visits Phuket
PHUKET: German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer toured Phuket and Phang Nga at the weekend to assess the damage caused by the December 26 tsunami.Mr Fischer said a top priority should be identifying the bodies of people still classified as “missing”. Some two weeks after the waves hit shorelines around the Indian Ocean, 60 Germans were confirmed dead, while 700 more…
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Appeal for relief supplies for second Khao Lak convoy
PHUKET: The organizers of a convoy filled with relief supplies sent to stricken areas of Phang Nga on January 7 say they have “barely scratched the surface” and are planning to send another convoy on Friday.The team, which sent of four six-wheeled trucks, two four-wheeled trucks and about six pickup trucks and cars full of supplies in the first convoy,…
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British Embassy office moves
PHUKET: The British Embassy has announced that its office in Phuket, established to deal with the aftermath of the tsuanmi disaster, was today moved to the Royal Phuket City Hotel on Phang Nga Rd inPhuket City.The office may be reached 24 hours a day at Tel: 076-264473, 076-264474 or 076-264484 (Fax: 076-263993) and will be keep official office hours daily…
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Candidates register for general election
PHUKET: Tsunami or no, the four parliamentary candidates from the two big political parties turned up this morning to register their candidacies for the upcoming general election.With the Democrat Party candidates in blue, their Thai Rak Thai (TRT) opponents in red, all wearing yellow garlands and cheered on by enthusiastic supporters, the atmosphere was reminiscent of the final minutes before…
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FantaSea closes temporarily
KAMALA: The Phuket FantaSea tourist attraction will be closed until January 18, because of the tsunami.Managing Director Pin Kewkacha said the Kamala-based attraction had sustained damage totaling 60 to 70 million baht, and that, in addition, it had lost between 150 million and 200 million baht in revenue because of the slump in the number of visitors.As a result, the…
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Patong “clear of tsunami wreckage’
PATONG: Wreckage caused by the tsunami has now been cleared from the streets of Patong and dumped in a disused tinmine, Phunsak Naksena, Chief Administration officer of Patong Municipality told the Gazette today.“We have dumped all construction debris into a privately-owned tin mine,” said K. Phunsak. “Most car owners have already contacted their insurance companies to handle the disposal of…
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Play equipment offered cheap to schools
PHUKET: A play-equipment manufacturer is offering a 50% discount on items bought to be donated to schools, nurseries and kindergartens to replace equipment lost to the tsunami. Wichana Praditpolkarn, Managing Director of Genius Kids, told the Gazette, “We feel that play equipment is important to the children since we heard that children feel sad and do not want to go…
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Gay Festival postponed until April
PATONG: The Phuket Gay Festival, originally scheduled to take place in February, has been postponed because of the tsunami. The event will now be run from April 7 to 10. Festival organizers have announced that although most gay venues escaped direct damage from the tsunami, two were hit, with one member of staff killed. An announcement on the organizer’s website…
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France revises travel advisory
PHUKET: The French Government has revised its travel warning on Thailand, pointing out that damage from the December 26 tsunami was localized and advising its citizens that travel to many places is safe. The advisory reads (Gazette translation): “The tidal wave of December 26 caused considerable destruction along the southwestern coast of Thailand (the provinces of Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga,…
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Bizarre twists in UK travel advisory
PHUKET: In a bizarre twist possibly sparked more by politics than reality, Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) yesterday took Phuket off its list of places for British travelers to avoid, and then, within hours, put it back on.On its website, the FCO had advised, since the tsunami struck, against “all but essential travel to affected resorts and towns along…
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Japanese rescuers leave for home
PHUKET: In another sign that the island is moving into the recovery-and-rebuilding phase, 49 members of a Japanese rescue team flew back to Tokyo yesterday afternoon after briefing Rear Admiral Tana Bunnag, Commander of the Third Naval Area Command Based at Cape Panwa on what they had achieved. Team leader Toshimizu Ichigure said that 60 Japanese took part in the…
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Woman rescued after tsunami “now missing’
KHAO LAK: A German woman injured when the tsunami struck Khao Lak appears to have gone missing – after receiving hospital treatment for minor injuries. The family of Barbara Kuehne believe she may have been so traumatized by what she experienced during the tsunami that she has been unable to contact family, friends or consular representatives. Mrs Kuehne was separated…
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Call for donations to rebuild schools
PHUKET: Those interested in making donations for rebuilding Baan Kamala and Baan Kalim schools, both of which were badly damaged in the tsunami, can do so using the bank account information below. All proceeds will go toward reconstruction and providing scholarships to students who lost their parents in the tsunami. The first account, the Phuket Educational Area Relief Fund, will…
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Swedish boy “missing, not kidnapped’
PHUKET: A 12-year-old Swedish tsunami victim feared abducted from a Phang Nga hospital was not kidnapped, but is instead still missing, police said last night.Pol Lt Col Virit Kamolrat of Phuket Tourist Police told a press conference last night that a boy taken from Tai Muang Hospital by an older German man was not Kristian Walker of Sweden, but another…
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Labor Minister hands out B26m in aid
PHUKET: Labor Minister Uraiwan Thienthong visited six Phuket hospitals yesterday, distributing more than 26 million baht to help the facilities cope with the financial burden of treating victims of the December 26 tsunami. Together with Labor Ministry Civil Service Inspector Nakorn Silpa-archa and Phuket Vice Governor Winai Buapradit, K. Uraiwan handed over checks in the following amounts:Government hospitals: Wachira Phuket…
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Misleading reports about missing toddler
PHUKET: A number of misleading emails and media reports are circulating about Hannes Bergstrom, the 20-month-old Swedish toddler who was taken to Phuket International Hospital after the tsunami, and could not at first be identified. Hannes was, however, indentified and reunited with family members after his plight was featured in the Gazette Online on December 27, 2004 (see story here).…
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Appeal for more items for Khao Lak
PHUKET: The organizers of a convoy of relief supplies for 700 homeless families in the Khao Lak area and for others further north have appealed for donations of more items to fill the vehicle, which leaves tomorrow.What follows is a list of items requested by the Khuk Khak Tambon Administration Organization and the Takua Pa District Office, with the approximate…
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B75m budget for homeless victims
PHUKET: The central government has budgeted 75 million baht to construct new homes for some 4,000 families left homeless in the six provinces affected by the December 26 tsunami. Speaking at a press conference at the Governor’s Office this afternoon, Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula said the aid will come from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Finance Ministry and private donations.K.…
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Now everyone can drive
PHUKET: AirAsia (motto “Now everyone can fly”) has announced that it is terminating its direct Phuket-Singapore flights effective today, due to lack of demand following the tsunami disaster of December 26.Public Relations Executive Jacqueline Mercader told the Gazette today that the number of passengers in recent days had fallen to as few as three per flight, and that the company…
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US pledges support for tsunami warning system
PHUKET: Gen Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, today pledged US support for the development of a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean.Speaking at Phuket Provincial Hall this afternoon, Gen Powell said, “Tsunamis of the kind we saw [on December 26] are not that common in this part of the world, so perhaps enough attention hasn’t been given…
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Embassy staff contact numbers
PHUKET: Following is a list of embassy staff from 41 countries responsible for looking after their nationals in the aftermath of the tsunami in the six Andaman coast provinces of Thailand:Australia:Robin Hamilton: 01-8165709Ms Sudamani: 01-8366131Austria:Edwin Ferner: 01-8145965Belgium:Ronny Elaut: 01-8339986Canada:Diego Tremblay: 01-8438275Sukanya Racharit: 01-8352690China:Pan Guangxie: 01-6555884Mo Yaohing: 01-8214771Hua Jinzhou: 01-9903858Li Tuzong: 09-8766052Denmark:Ulrik Helwek-Jarsen: 01-8558159France:Michel Frebourg: 09-8101084Finland:Heikki Tuunanen, Jussi Koskela, Khaikhae Louwithawas:…
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Early warning center “by end of January’
PHUKET: A disaster warning center aimed at reducing the death and injury rate in any future tsunami may be established as early as the end of this month, the Gazette has learned.Smith Dharmasaroja, newly assigned to the office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for examining what can be learned from the events of December 26, told a press conference…
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Call for info on missing persons
BANGKOK: Nordic embassies in Bangkok, representing Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, have called for all people with information about possible missing nationals to contact them.In a press release sent to the Gazette, the embassies pointed out that people seriously injured or too young to report themselves may be listed as still missing.Anyone with information of such people should notify…
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TAT pushing hard to help recovery
PHUKET CITY: Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Governor Juthamas Siriwan said today that any delay in recovering from the December 26 tsunami will cost the country 10 billion baht a month in lost tourism revenue.As a result, she said, “We are in a hurry to let people abroad know that [any danger from] the tsunami has already passed, and many…
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