Effects of the tsunami disaster on society, economy and environment in Krabi province with special emphasis on Phi Phi Islands Supervisor: Prof. Florian Siegert Students: Jasmin Horn, Jenni Simkin, Ninni Saarinen, Liisi Koivisto, Maija Kaukonen, Nora Sylvander, Klaus Dons, Andreas Langner 1 Index INDEX ...............................................................................................................................................................................2 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................3 1 BACKGROUND OF THE INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI DISASTER.....................................................................3 1.1 A TSUNAMI STRIKES ..................................................................................................................................................3 1.2 WHAT IS A TSUNAMI ?................................................................................................................................................3 1.3 INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI ..........................................................................................................................................4 2 ROLE OF GIS AND REMOTE SENSING IN DISASTER MONITORING ..........................................................4 2.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................................... 4 3 TSUNAMI EFFECTS IN KRABI PROVINCE..........................................................................................................7 3.1 ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS ........................................................................................................................................7 3.2 EFFECTS ON FORESTS ................................................................................................................................................8 4 NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL RECONSTRUCTION ACTIONS......................................................................8 4.1 ENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION ........................................................................................................................8 4.2 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RECONSTRUCTION ............................................................................................................... 9 4.2.1 Houses and schools.......................................................................................................................................... 9 4.2.2 Health care.......................................................................................................................................................9 4.2.3 Fishermen supporting ...................................................................................................................................... 9 4.2.4 Unemployment supporting ............................................................................................................................... 9 4.3 WARNING SYSTEMS ................................................................................................................................................ 10 4.3.1 Warning System Center.................................................................................................................................. 10 4.3.2 New Tsunami Early Warning System (EWS).................................................................................................. 10 4.4 INTERNATIONAL ACTIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 11 4.4.1 Green Coast Project....................................................................................................................................... 11 5 TSUNAMI EFFECTS ON PHI PHI ISLANDS ........................................................................................................ 12 5.1 INTRODUCTION TO PHI PHI ISLANDS ....................................................................................................................... 12 5.2 TSUNAMI DESTRUCTION ON PHI PHI ISLANDS ......................................................................................................... 12 5.2.1 Effects on people ............................................................................................................................................ 12 5.2.2 Effects on property ......................................................................................................................................... 13 5.3 HELP INTERNATIONAL PHI PHI ................................................................................................................................ 13 5.4 SEMI -STRUCTURED INTERVIEW ON PHI PHI ............................................................................................................. 14 5.5 REESTABLISHMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE ON PHI PHI ISLANDS ............................................................................... 14 5.6 THE FUTURE OF PHI PHI ISLANDS ............................................................................................................................ 15 6 FUTURE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT....................................................................................................... 16 6.1 THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE ............................................................................................................................ 16 6.2 RESTORING SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS ................................................................................................................. 16 6.3 THE GOVERNMENT ’S REHABILITATION PLAN AND STRATEGY ................................................................................. 17 7 FUTURE LONG TERM PROJECTS NEEDED IN TSUNAMI AFFECTED AREAS........................................17 8 CONCLUSIONS.......................................................................................................................................................... 18 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................................... 18 2 Introduction Tsunami disaster on 26 th December 2004 caused 150 to 300 000 deaths. This report focuses on effects of the tsunami disaster on the society, economy and environment in Krabi province with special emphasis on Phi Phi Islands. It shows the results of studies on the following points: - Overview of the tsunami disaster effects in Krabi province - Role of GIS data - Reconstruction and international actions - Environmental and agricultural effects - Future planning and the development 1 Background of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster 1.1 A tsunami strikes In the early morning of December 26, 2004 an earthquake of 9.0 magnitude under the Indian Ocean, near the west coast of Sumatra generated a tsunami. The waves reached the coastline of 11 Indian Ocean countries within few hours from the quake killing estimated 150,000 – 300,000 people. Tsunami of the December 26 was destructive especially on the surrounding Asian countries but the wave travelled nearly 5,000 km to the African coast still with enough of force to kill people and destroy properties. ( http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1227_041226_tsunami.html ) The Indian Ocean tsunami can be ranked as one of the most destructive natural disasters to have afflicted the Asian and Pacific region in modern times. This disaster differs from the earlier ones because of its global dimensions, as many countries around the world, especially in Europe – far away from the disaster area – suffered from casualties in high numbers. Many of the people affected by the tsunami were foreigners, mainly tourists from Europe, but most of them were local people making their living from fishing and tourism, which are considered to be the industries that took an immediate hit and need time to recover. (Proksch 2005) 1.2 What is a tsunami? Tsunamis are fairly common in Japan and many thousands of Japanese have been killed by them in recent centuries. The term tsunami comes from the Japanese language meaning harbour and wave. (National Geographic News 2006) Tsunami is a series of great sea waves caused by an underwater earthquake, landslide, or volcanic eruption. An earthquake generates a tsunami if it is of sufficient force and there is a vertical and heavy movement of the earth causing great and sudden displacement of a massive amount of the overlying water. Tsunamis travel outwards from the epicentre of the earthquake and in all directions. A tsunami is not a single wave but a series of waves, which also is known as a wave train. The first wave in a tsunami is not necessarily the most destructive and the waves can come hours apart. 3 A tsunami may be less than 30 centimeters in height on the surface of the open ocean, which is why they are not noticed by sailors. But the powerful shock wave of energy travels fast through the ocean at an approximate speed of 700 km/h (200 m/s), depending on the depth of the water. Tsunami is controlled by water depth – when the wave reaches the shallow water near the coast it starts to slow down. The top of the wave moves faster than the bottom, which causes the sea to rise dramatically. The longer and more gradual the shallowing of the water is the more higher the tsunami wave