**Gone, but not forgotten
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/271205_new02.jpg
** **Six-year-old Pipatpong Sukjoy, left, and his brother, Itthipol, 5, join the candle-light vigil at Bang Niang beach in Phangnga as thousands of floating lanterns dot the sky.—SAROT MEKSOPHAWANNAKUL *****Emotional scenes as thousands attend commemorative ceremonies on Andaman coast ***
**POST REPORTERS **
Bangkok Post (dd. 27 december 2005)
Thais and foreigners mingled, tears flowed, and many embraced to console each other yesterday along the Andaman coast as the country’s most devastating disaster that struck on the day after Christmas last year was remembered. Thousands of Thais and foreigners who are tsunami survivors or relatives of the dead congregated on the beaches of Phangnga, Phuket and Phi Phi island to pay tribute to the dead in a ceremony marking the disaster’s first anniversary.
Over 10,000 participants packed the sandy beach of Bang Niang in Phangnga province shortly before sunset to share their remembrance for the victims in the commemorative event highlighting the government’s One Year in Memory of Tsunami Ceremony.
There were also morning memorial services at seven locations in these provinces, and a ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the official tsunami memorial at Khao Lak-Lamru national park held during the day.
Interfaith memorial services were performed by Buddhist, Christian, and Islamic leaders before two young tsunami survivors, Thai boy Patiwat Komkla and British girl Tilly Smith read poems to commemorate the event.
``It wasn’t devastation or death that won the day. It was Humanity that triumphed, the shining victory of Generosity, Courage, Love,‘’ Tilly recited the poem written by noted Thai writer Khunying Chumnongsri Hanjaneluck Rutnin.
Addressing the crowd, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said that after the disaster, people had learned another side of truth.
``It was hospitality that we had shared with one another. As long as we have it, our shattered lives one day will return to normal. The incident has made us learn better about the value of our lives, and human’s faith,‘’ he said.
Survivors from foreign countries, families of foreign victims, and VIPs attending a memorial service earlier in the day on Bang Niang beach praised the government for organising the moving service.
The tsunami killed almost 5,400 people in Thailand, about 2,245 of whom were foreigners. And 2,800 are still listed as missing.
Invited guests lined up in the scorching sun to lay flowers and photos of their loved ones and signed a book of condolences. Many burst into tears and embraced as they consoled each other, while hundreds of local people watched from a distance.
Several foreign nationals, such as those from Sweden, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany and Japan, also held private memorial services at the sites where their compatriots died.
About 500 Swedish people attended a private memorial service in Phangnga, chaired by the Swedish ambassador to Thailand. More than 540 Swedes died in the catastrophe.
Sally Jean Nelson, from the United States, who lost her 15-year-old daughter, Kali, thanked the Thai government for having organised this emotional event.
``After going back to the States in January, our family have felt alienated to the others because the tsunami has changed our thought. So, we want to come back here and be with people who’ve had similar experience and feeling. This is a great healing opportunity for us,‘’ she said.
Lord David Triesman, minister of the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, thanked the Thai government for cooperating with metropolitan police force from London in the search operation and body identification, even though many were still missing.
Japanese Senator Kiyohiko Toyaman, who headed the Japanese delegates to the memorial service, said : ``The ceremony is an important event to mark the turning point of the calamity, from mourning for the victims into a stage of new development of the Andaman coastal provinces.
Thousands of foreigners, including some 200 relatives of the dead and survivors, attended a memorial service on Phi Phi island.
Emma Lacey Williams, 22, a British volunteer who had spent five months on the island helping with rehabilitation work, said that as soon as she heard the news about Thailand’s plans for a memorial service, she knew she had to come back.
Christ Patterson, 52, a British man who was plucked out of the sea by some islanders, said he returned because he wished to meet his rescuers again.
In Phuket, Patong beach was awash with candlelight when more than 100,000 candles were lit at 7.09pm in remembrance of dead tsunami victims.