Search Results for: Tak
- Phuket News
Clinton, Bush Snr to tour tsunami damage
PHUKET: US former presidents George HW Bush and Bill Clinton will arrive in Phuket on Saturday as part of a US presidential delegation to inspect tsunami-affected areas throughout Asia.They will arrive at Phuket International Airport at 11:55 am, to be welcomed by Khunying Pojamarn Shinawatra, the wife of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and Foreign Affairs Minister Surakiart Sathirathai.The former heads…
- Phuket News
Swedish royals to visit Phuket, Phang Nga
PHUKET: Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia will arrive in Phuket on Friday for a tour of the island and Phang Nga.Their plane will arrive at 9:30 am at Phuket International Airport, and the royal couple will be received at Phuket Provincial Hall by Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura and representatives of the Thai government, before visiting the Bangkok Phuket…
- Phuket News
THAI defends decision to cut flights
PHUKET: National carrier Thai Airways International (THAI) has defended its decision to axe a number of flights to Phuket in the wake of the tsunami, including all direct international services.Kalayapha Panich, the Phuket-based District Sales Manager for Upper-Southern Thailand, told the Gazette that the company had decided it could not continue to operate routes at a loss.“So few passengers currently…
- Phuket News
Crime rate rising after tsunami
PHUKET CITY: Police are reporting a surge in crime brought about by the downturn in the tourism industry following the tsunami disaster, and are advising people to take extra precautions to protect themselves against opportunistic thieves.In a press release issued by the Phuket City Police, Superintendent Pol Col Paween Pongsirin said there has been an increase in home and office…
- Thailand News
Phone fury
PATTAYA: Four innocent bystanders were injured by ricocheting bullets when a bagman for a Pattaya loan shark opened fire on his mobile phone. Witnesses to the slaying of the mobile phone said the man, identified only as “Woot”, was seen at about 3 am yelling into his mobile phone on the ground floor of Niran Condo on Soi Arunothai. He…
- Phuket News
Tsunami volunteers warned: get work permits
PHUKET: Foreign volunteers assisting in tsunami-related charity work are required to hold work permits, regardless of whether they are being paid for their efforts or not. Sayan Chuaiyjan, head of the Phuket Provincial Employment Service Office [ESO], told the Gazette yesterday that there could be no exceptions and that his office would begin to enforce the regulations soon – possibly…
- Phuket News
Top Unicef official checks on progress
PHUKET: The Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), Carol Bellamy, has been to Phuket and Phang Nga to see what is being done to help children recover from the tsunami.Unicef officers were sent to Phang Nga and Phuket within a week of the tsunami, said Ms Bellamy, and since then, Unicef has supported Thai government efforts to…
- Phuket News
Linkin Park star visits Bang Tao
PHUKET: Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Californian band Linkin Park, visited Bang Tao beach today to see for himself the damage caused by the tsunami.Bennington was in Phuket to record material to be broadcast by MTV in the USA, as part of a global campaign to raise money for tsunami victims.After lunch at the Banyan Tree, Bennington and his…
- Phuket News
F1 powerboat race postponed to March 2006
PHUKET: The Formula One powerboat race scheduled to take place next month in Ao Makham has been postponed for a year.Kata Group Chairman Pamuke Archariyachai told the Gazette today that a combination of the tsunami and the Cabinet’s slowness in approving funds to support the event had forced the decision to postpone until March 2006.“We had only a short time…
- Phuket News
Stars Hingis and Keating aid Phuket
PHUKET: Former world No 1 women’s tennis player Martina Hingis will arrive in Phuket next Monday to help promote tourism to the area, just days after Irish pop star Ronan Keating recorded a music video on the island.Hingis, a five-times grand slam champion, is in Thailand to compete in the WTA Volvo Women’s Open in Pattaya, her first professional tournament…
- Phuket News
Entertainment licence fees in limbo
PHUKET CITY: Wisut Romin, Deputy Secretary of the Phuket Provincial Administration Office, has hinted that licence fees may be waived for entertainment businesses damaged by the tsunami.K. Wisut told the Gazette today that the office had yet to receive details of the new fees – originally due to be announced in December 2004 by the Department of Local Administration.He said,…
- Phuket News
We need B700m immediately – Pian
PHUKET CITY: Patong Mayor Pian Keesin has urged the government to approve immediately funding of 700 million baht to improve Patong Beach, in line with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)’s draft plan for reconstructing the resort.Mayor Pian told Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, during his recent visit to Phuket, that Patong was the worst-affected of all the tsunami-hit places on…
- Phuket News
3,000 Burmese “still missing’ in Phang Nga alone
PHUKET: One month after the tsunami, more than 3,000 Burmese workers in Phang Nga are still unaccounted for, a seminar was told yesterday.The meeting, arranged by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the international NGO, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), heard that many Burmese are still hiding atop hills and in rubber plantations in the province – often in bad conditions –…
- Phuket News
Suwat outlines tourism recovery plans
PHUKET CITY: Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop believes that marketing and rehabilitation of sites popular with tourists will be the keys to the recovery of the tourism industry along Thailand’s Andaman Sea coast.DPM Suwat, responsible for overseeing the recovery of the tourism industry in the Andaman region in the wake of the December 26 tsunami disaster, was reporting during a…
- Phuket News
Candle ceremony on Patong Beach tonight
PATONG: Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) is inviting everyone to join a “Light up Patong” event this evening, the aim being to place 100,000 candles along three kilometers of Patong Beach, in memory of the victims of the tsunami.OrBorJor President Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr said the OrBorJor intends to make the ceremony an annual event, partly as a memorial to the victims…
- Phuket News
We’re doing our best to help – Thaksin
PHUKET CITY: PM Thaksin arrived in Phuket yesterday morning to hear complaints by Phuket residents about the government’s handling of the tsunami disaster.The meeting, held at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, was attended by some 500 people, including Cabinet ministers and scores of other government officials. The Cabinet ministers reported on the progress of the various relief programs assigned to…
- Phuket News
Tsunami bodies arrive in Mai Khao
TAH CHAT CHAI: Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula and Phuket Governor Udomsak Usawarangkura today visited Mai Khao Cemetery, to which the bodies of foreigners who died in the December 26 tsunami are being moved for identification and repatriation.The mass transfer of tsunami victim corpses from Phang Nga to Mai Khao Cemetery, at the north end of the island, began yesterday with…
- Phuket News
THAI slashes Phuket flights
PHUKET: Thai Airways – whose website ironically announces “THAI’s Full Support On Tsunami Aftermath” – confirmed today that it is making drastic cuts to both domestic and international routes serving Phuket, with effect from February 1.However, the airline’s District Sales Manager for Upper-Southern Thailand, Kalayapha Panich, told the Gazette today that although the carrier would suspend all international flights serving…
- Phuket News
Tsunami dead moved to Phuket
PHUKET: Work began today to move the bodies of more than a thousand non-Asian victims of the tsunami from Phang Nga to the Mai Khao Cemetery in Phuket.The cemetery is close to Phuket international Airport, and the move is intended to make it easier for bodies, once identified, to be repatriated by air.Bodies believed to be Asian will remain in…
- Phuket News
Speedboat sinks, 7 dead, others missing
KOH SAMUI: Seven people have drowned and another six or seven are still missing after a speedboat returning to Koh Samui after a full moon party on Koh Pha-ngan abruptly capsized and sank early this morningSpeaking with the Gazette at midday today, Pol Col Arkom Saisamai, Superintendent of Samui Police Station, told the Gazette that about 35 passengers were aboard…
- Phuket News
90 firms to exhibit at Home Show Asia
PHUKET CITY: More than 90 of Thailand’s top homeware, interior design and décor specialists are due to take part in the first Home Show Asia, to be held in Phuket from March 25 to 27. The show, at the Royal Phuket City Hotel, will feature the latest in contemporary Asian living, ranging from soft furnishings to high-end furniture to state-of-the-art…
- Phuket News
Govt help needed fast – tourism bodies
KARON: “We’re trying to help ourselves, but we can’t do it on our own.” That was the message sent out to the government by representatives of the six tsunami-hit provinces of Thailand after they met in Phuket.Delegates from tourist associations in all six provinces told the Andaman Tourism Restoration Committee meeting at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort & Spa how…
- Phuket News
Prison governor dies in road accident
KRABI: The man appointed Chief of Phuket Prison just two months ago has been killed in a road accident.Saree Udom died when his car collided with a motorcycle then hit a tree, on Kho-Tor Rd in Krabi on January 22.K. Saree was on his way from Phuket to his house in Surat Thani. It is thought he died instantly, although…
- Phuket News
Search for missing Austrian child
PHUKET: The International Victim Coordination Center (IVCC) has appealed for help in tracing a three-year-old girl from Austria who is believed to have surivived the tsunami but been mistaken for a Thai child.MR Supinda Chakraband, of the IVCC, told the Gazette, “It is thought the little girl, who calls herself “Anita” and “Alexandra”, survived the tsunami but she is now…
- Phuket News
Meeting to organize long-term aid
PHUKET: A meeting is to be held on Thursday evening (January 20) in an attempt to bring together the dozens – if not hundreds – of volunteer groups currently providing aid to tsunami victims. The convener of the meeting, Mark Weingard, explained that the meeting will focus on long-term help for the victims, with all parties working together “to ensure…
- Phuket News
Call for skilled volunteers
BANGKOK (The Nation): Officials in charge of the tsunami disaster clean-up in Khao Lak are seeking volunteers to handle duties seen as part of the next step, as the region moves beyond basic search-and-rescue operations.They said it is now the turn of web designers, translators, typists, community assistance officers, radio disc jockeys and call center staff.More than 100 such people…
- Phuket News
Confusion over tsunami corpses
PHUKET CITY: Within two weeks, corpses of all tsunami victims currently being stored at Wat Yan Yao and Wat Bang Muang in Takua Pa will be transferred to the Sea Gypsy cemetery in Mai Khao, where they will be kept in cold storage containers pending identification by relatives, Phuket Police said yesterday.Speaking at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday, Phuket Provincial Police…
- Phuket News
Central bank ready to launch soft loans
PHUKET: The Bank of Thailand (BoT) – the country’s central bank – decided yeterday to establish a system allowing tsunami-affected businesses to get soft loans at interest rates of no more than 2% a year. These loans would be channeled through the country’s commercial banks, which would repay the BoT at a rate of just 0.01% a year, Prasuksup Puangsokorn,…
- Phuket News
Dogs helping people helping dogs
PHUKET: The Rotary Club of Phuket has teamed up with the Raksatt Small Animal Hospital & Pet Shop and the Chaipak Dog Training Center to form a group to help both pets and people suffering from post-tsunami stress.The coordinator of the Helping Tsunami Victims Through Dogs project, Anupan Boonchuen, noted that dogs can help relieve the suffering of tsunami victims…
- Phuket News
Residents ‘will resist’ Kamala plan
PHUKET: A 331 million-baht plan for the post-tsunami rebuilding of Kamala has set local residents against Phuket governor Udomsak Usawarangkura.Under the plan – drawn up after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called for damaged areas to be reconstructed in a way that would make them “beautiful and safe” – residents would be prohibited from returning to homes near the beach, and…
