There was no wind on that day. Everything was so still. The fish didn’t take the bait, begins Songkram Pha-opas. The 75-year-old is sitting close to the shoreline of Ban Nam Khem, a small fishing village in Thailand adjacent to the sparkling Andaman Sea.
Today, it is quiet. The sea is gentle and boats pass leisurely with modest catches. Most days are like this. Fifteen years ago though, things were very different.
On December 26, 2004, an Indian Ocean tsunami triggered by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake caused widespread destruction in coastal areas of Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka, killing about 230,000 people. In Thailand’s Phang Nga province, entire communities were swept away, claiming more than 5,300 lives. Ban Nam Khem bore much of the sea’s fury.
There is still pain attached to the memory of this day, for Songkram and everyone who survived, whether they remain in the village or not. Each anniversary is an emotional trigger for those who wish to forget but know they cannot.
There was barely any wave moving under our boat. But when we looked out, we could see giant waves that were as high as these trees. They came very fast. We headed out to the sea. If we didn’t leave, we wouldn’t have survived, the retired fisherman continued.
When we came back, everything was gone, swept away. It was very dark. There used to be a lot of restaurants at this spot. All gone. My house wasn’t there anymore. Nothing was there. I was shocked because we had nothing left.
I also saw bodies. Many of them. They were people I knew. They were lying around. That’s one of the most depressing sights I have ever seen. I feel very sorry for them. My daughter-in-law and her baby died. It took us months to find her and we never found the baby.
Ban Nam Khem is home to a memorial that holds the names and photos of many of the victims, locals and foreigners alike. Many name plaques are empty and only a handful are adorned with flowers. It is a symptom of the time passed and the souls still missing.
At the nearby tsunami cemetery, the gates are locked and guard posts unoccupied. Locals say there are very few visitors to the spot these days. Hundreds of headstones are marked only by a number – the names are still unknown. Thailand’s Disaster Victim Identification unit successfully identified thousands of victims, but these ones are destined for perpetual anonymity as those operations wound down, years ago.
For some people, it triggers the sadness in their hearts, said local fisherman Yutthapong Saetang. He was 17 when the tsunami struck. Some of them are alone and lost everyone. I think when you have lost a loved one, you will always remember it.”
But locals like Yutthapong are adamant that forgetting – moving on – would be counterproductive to the lessons learned from those despairing times. If we don’t talk about it or tell the story, other people won’t know about it. If we don’t talk about it and it really happens again, they won’t know what to do.
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