The primary content of this post is taken from a discussion board thread I started on eBid on 3 Jan 2005. I’ve condensed it here and moved all the linked articles and other sites’ forum threads to a table of links at the bottom of the post. I open this blog-post with my closing forum-post in the eBid thread.

I am completely shocked and stunned … the Thai Prime Minister has actually stated something with which I can agree.

He (Thaksin) has said that Thailand does not need the humanitarian aid from the general pool, as Thailand is fully capable of taking care of it’s own – I agree, if you could see the level of aid raising activity going on internally, then I think you would too – the Andaman Sea coastline and the affected communities are only about 7-8% of the population, and not the wealthiest part either (except maybe the coastal expat communities and tourist resorts).

Only maybe 3 – 4% of Thailand’s tourism CAPACITY is affected – I stress the word capacity because many other tourist regions operate severely under-capacity. The fact that virtually all surviving tourists (foreign & local) were relocated to other accommodation within 7 days of the tsunami attests to this.

He’s also stated that Thailand has all the resources it needs for self-recovery, except for strategic and tactical level management of clearance & rebuilding, and specialist technical experts for activities like DNA-testing of corpses before they decompose so badly they must be cremated or buried (before they are identified or claimed) – again I agree with him.  BTW – he’s also said that foreign corpses will be suitably identified when buried and can be exhumed at the request of identified relatives, for transport to home countries – wow – he’s actually thinking ahead.

Maybe I’m suffering post-traumatic shock, and that’s maybe making me agree with him?  Or maybe he’s actually started listening to foreign advice?  This is the guy, who on 30 July 2002, against all advice from the Bank of Thailand and economists worldwide, repaid the IMF loan 5 years early and declared that foreigners would never again influence Thai economic policy, and that because of it, 31 July each year would be known as Thai Independence Day.

So in some ways, he’s painted himself into a corner about accepting foreign aid … now if only he could get the Thai Navy’s aircraft carrier out to sea as a mobile helicopter platform, he could start helping other countries in the same way as India is doing.

List of other stories and data referred to, by me, in the eBid thread -

• SITUATION SUMMARY, SOUTH THAILAND, Phuket, Krabi, Phang-Na/Khao Lak (ThaiVisa.com Thailand Tsunami News Forum – link)
• Sharing My Volunteer Experience In Phuket, with diving rescue team in Kao lak.  (ThaiVisa.com Member report from the front line – link)
• Photo Diary Of Thailand Disaster, Direct from the relief effort – link
• Casualty lists from Thailand as of 5 January 2005 – link
• INET English-language interface to searchable databases of the missing, dead and injured – link

There are many more eyewitness reports and news articles linked to in the first three links of the bulletted list above.

Another thread on eBid in which I gathered and collated many news reports was this one.  It started on 28th Dec 2004 and ran until 3rd Jan 2005 and includes the “blame game” from experts (and a retired senior police officer) showing that PM Thaksin’s know-all arrogance may have been the cause of a higher than neccesary death toll within Thailand.

And this thread, which I started and kept topping up, was a central list of all the aid and charity organisations I could find, that were involved in assisting and in fundraising.