Tsunami Thailand

The Low Carbohydrate Diet Craze Hit The Diet Industry Like A Tsunami, But Did It Really Work?

2006-12-25T10:55:00.000-08:00

The Low Carbohydrate Diet Craze Hit The Diet Industry Like A Tsunami, But Did It Really Work?
By Tim Gorman

The low carbohydrate diet craze hit the diet industry like a tsunami. Not only did this det revolution increase the profits of The Robert Atkins Institution but other industries benefited from the low diet craze. Everywhere you went the food industry was changing to fit the requirements of the low carb diet. Papa Murphy’s pizza introduced a thin crust pizza that claimed to have low carbs. Low carb ice cream in flavor that had never been seen appeared in the grocery coolers of major stores. Sara Lee introduced a low carb bread.

There was also some fallout from this diet revolution. The orange juice industry saw a downturn in its profit for the first time in the history of the industry. Because the diet allowed unrestricted amounts of protein, including meats, eggs and cheese, and severely limits foods containing carbohydrates like pasta, bread and fruit the medical community declared the diet unhealthy.

Dieters all over the world ignored this advice continuing to count carbs and losing unheard of amounts of weight. The diet was successful because it works. There are some scientific reasons why this diet works so quickly. The reason low carb eating works so well is that only carbs trigger the release of insulin. Insulin is the body's fat storage hormone.

The low card diet was very easy to follow. The rules and principals of the diet were clearcut. Dieters felt free on the diet. Unlike the Jenny Craig and Weightwatchers diet, there were no complicated meal plans. You could buy the food for the low carb diet almost anywhere. There was almost no hunger with the Atkins Low Carb Diet. For many people trying to lose weight, the constant cravings for food lead to failure. The proteins in the diet helped the person lose weight because of a dynamic decrease in food cravings.

Since overeating is the reason most people gain weight, then being able to eat as much as you like is a definite plus for a diet. You can eat butter, dry salami, barbecue ribs, and eggs items that are forbidden on most diets. Dieters were able to indulge in high protein foods in almost unlimited portions. This fact is what made the diet so popular.

Success stories from people on the low carb diet were seen on National tv spots. The news media sought out the average person who had experienced exceptional weightloss so they could interview them on the evening news. People dropped 50 lbs in record time. These were people who had never lost a significant amount of weight in their lives.

There are various stages to the diet but the easiest way to incorporate this eating plan is to track carbs. You can start out by cutting out the sugar in your diet. One of the Harvard Medical schools studies found that women who traded their usual sugar sweeten beverages and foods for artificially sweetened options lost 22 pounds in 16 weeks. In addition when they continued this practice. The weight stayed off for at least three years.

A suggestion from low carb dieters is to incorporate what they call “trigger fat fighting hormone with oemga-3." Food like salmon, tuna and flaxseed. Omega-3s fatty acids make it harder for your body to break down food. The foods stay in your stomach longer. This says the low car experts, triggers some hype of hormone that carries a signal to your body to stop eating.. Foods that contain omega-3 contain heart health fats. The bottom line say these low carb enthusiasts is salmon promotes weight loss.

The low carb diet demands that you drink 10-12 glasses of water per day. Drinking water increases your metabolism. Water flushes toxins Out of your body. The consumption of water can make or break this diet. There is a medically sound reason for drinking the water. Eating large amounts of protein is hard on the kidneys. Drinking the water helps the kidneys wash the fat right off your body.

Fo rmore information on the low carb diet craze to include low carb diet recipes try visiting Low-Carb-Weight-Loss-Tips.info where you will find an abundance of information and resources dealing with the low carb diet craze to include information on low carb foods, low carb meals, low carb nutrition, low carb weight loss and low carb meal plans.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Gorman

German Memory in Asia: A Visit to Tsunami-Hit Jungle Areas

2006-12-25T10:50:00.000-08:00

German Memory in Asia: A Visit to Tsunami-Hit Jungle Areas.
By Rajkumar Kanagasingam

Archaeological findings show that the Poompugar City, which was inundated, was off the coast of Tamil Nadu of Southern India as mentioned in Tamil texts.

Some other older texts like Tolkappiyam, the oldest surviving Tamil text and grammar book written supposedly around 500 B.C., says that the Pumpugar City was supposedly flourishing there 7000 years ago before tsunami tidal waves took the city beneath the sea.

Most of the people thought it was only a myth until they experienced the 2004-tsunami tidal waves and experienced its massive devastation.

With drifting memories of the ruined Poompukar and walking along the destroyed marine drive in the Indian Ocean’s coastal Mullaitivu, the LTTE member showed me a well near the beach and told me that that was pure water well now turned into salt water. I stepped up a ladder and peeped into the well, there was a motor for pumping the water out from the well. Though they had been dredging continuously for days, there was no significant difference in the water. The tsunami waves might have changed the underneath water system.

When I was about to step into the vehicle, the Catholic priest of the ruined church arrived. We went to him to hear of the tragedies of that fateful day and how he had survived. He had narrowly escaped as he was in a different church at the time when the tsunami demolished his church. God had saved the life of a spiritual leader to console the people who had lost their kith and kin and almost everything. We condoled with him on what had happened.

We started our journey towards Mulliavallai hospital, which was originally a maternity hospital, but now turned into an emergency ward for tsunami victims as well.

A decade ago in the CARE days I have visited that area a number of times. But now the landscape had changed a lot.

When we were reaching the Mulliawalai area, old memories came alive. At the Mulliavalai hospital we heard many horrific stories of tsunami tidal waves. Entering the hospital we saw pregnant women, mothers with newborn infants and those who narrowly escaped housed there together in the same ward. The German Praktikum (Internship) students, I noticed were a little puzzled by the hospital and its set-up.

They might have wondered at the unusual combination of patients with different ailments being brought together or at the condition and the available facilities of the hospital to serve many an affected victim. The large hospitals they were accustomed to in Germany might have disturbed them when they compared them with the Asian jungle’s tiny hospital. They might have well experienced the disparities of the very first Planet Earth where they were living on many grounds.

We went to meet the doctors and other health officials attached to the hospital in the front office of the hospital, and they came out with many pathetic stories about the condition of the hospital. They had only two medical officers for medical services, which are normally provided with twenty medical officers in a developed country, which run them efficiently. Dr. Jayalath, Dietmar Doering and the team had a lengthy discussion and came out with alternative arrangements in order to compensate for the shortfalls.

When I came out of the office the young students who were busily unloading medicines and medical instruments from a medium sized lorry of the six-vehicle convoy surprised me.

Immediately after the unloading, the tired Fredrike Wagnar, an undergraduate student of a Munich-based university was giving an interview on her experience about the tsunami devastation, which will be telecast all over Germany by satellite transmission. She was shaking her hands while talking as though she wanted such gestures to enhance her expressions of the extent of the tsunami devastation.

Her eyes were expressive adding more meaning to the tragedy. The eyes had a gleam in the mid-noon daylight.

Immediately after the interview I talked to Fredrike Wagnar. As she has a grasp of economics, her view about the disaster had a different dimension towards sorting out and coping with the crisis. The way she was behaving to express the tragedy was heart-rending.

Rajkumar Kanagasingam is author of a fascinating book on German memories in Asia and you can explore more about the book and the author at AGSEP

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rajkumar_Kanagasingam

Kerala - Peace & Tranquility in God's Own Country

2006-12-25T10:44:00.000-08:00

Kerala - Peace & Tranquility in God's Own Country.
By Robert Bluffield

As the dreadful events of Boxing Day 2004 unfolded on television I was growing increasingly anxious about going to India. I was also deeply concerned that people and places that I knew in neighbouring Asia countries had been wiped out. I was experiencing nightmares that threw me close to a dark depression yet I knew that by continuing with my trip what little money I would spend might directly help the region’s already depleted tourism industry.

En-route to Dubai my wife sat next to a softly-spoken, middle-aged Sri Lankan, a UK resident since his childhood. He was a psychiatrist returning to his birthplace to help counsel victims of the disaster. He expressed a pronounced anguish over what he would face and the concern showed in his eyes as he talked about how his own mind would react to the heart-rending situations he was about to encounter. As a trained specialist he feared the lasting psychological damage he risked exposing himself to and suspected that in time the counselors would themselves require counselling to prevent the brain from shutting down. As we met our connecting flight there was a crowd of tired looking international rescue workers gathered on the airport concourse en-route to Colombo, a stark reminder of the disaster’s close proximity, not that we needed reminding.

Locally they call Kerala “God’s Own Country”. It shares the most southerly landmass of India with Tamil Nadu to the east and a communal border that continues towards the lowermost tip of the sub-continent. Trivandrum, the Kerala state capital, lies towards the foot of the Malabar Coast near the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Arabian Sea. It was on this stretch of coastline that over two hundred fisherman and pilgrims perished while worshiping in the sea as the great wave struck. Kerala faces south west and apart from the most southerly part the majority of coastline was fortuitously sheltered from the tsunami’s direct path. This spared hundreds of small fishing communities from total annihilation. Abnormal tides had swept the beaches but they failed to venture inland sufficiently to cause damage but a week later many visitors were still nervous of venturing onto the magnificent white sands. Fewer still entered the sea. Fearing the great wave might return, some fishermen had already sold up and bought auto-rickshaw taxis (phat-phats) with the limited funds they could accumulate.

Religion in Kerala dominates, like much of India, often to the point of obsession. Many locals, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, even Jains commonly agreed that it was only “God’s will” that had spared them from disaster. In reality their sheltered location was their real savior but it was easy to imagine what a direct hit from the tsunami could have done to the ecosystem around Vembanad Lake and the district’s intricate network of meandering backwaters. These waterways are essential to Kerala’s economy in so many ways not least tourism. The vast lake (204 sq km) one of 34 throughout the State, acts like a hub to 1900kms of peaceful backwaters that links small communities of inland fishermen, farmers, shell collectors and rice growers. Three hundred houseboat operators depend entirely on backwaters tourism to survive. The English language newspaper “The Hindu Times” reported that cancellations and a drop in bookings for 2005 had already diminished their trade by as much as 40%. Although Kerala hasn’t the widespread gross poverty that permeates throughout most of India, a continuing reduction in tourism wouldn’t take long to force many boat owners to go bust. Thankfully the State is rich in natural produce such as rice, fruit, nuts, vegetables, tea, coffee, and spices. These resources provide a steady living for some but this is of little consequence to the houseboat operators. They are well aware of their vulnerability so they are pushing the government to campaign overseas for more tourism in an attempt to protect their livelihoods.

The houseboats, known as kettuvallom, are converted rice barges, comfortably equipped; some part solar powered, with a crew of two boatmen and a cook. An overnight stay on a kettuvallom is enchanting even though failing to book an air-conditioned boat was a mistake that made for a very sticky night beneath a constricting but essential mosquito net. A noisy electric fan became the sole means of distributing the humid air. But the boats do have basic en-suite facilities and a restless night is a worthwhile sacrifice when you awake to be rewarded by the sound of the dawn chorus and the prospect of a few more relaxing hours of the cruise still remaining. Nothing could diminish the outstanding pleasure of watching everyday rural life pass by as you sit comfortably in a rattan armchair on the sundeck sipping chilled Kingfisher while the crew attends to your needs. I’d heard that the curries created on board are without comparison. Two sensational meals confirmed this to be a true culinary experience that no British take-away could ever match for taste! Freshwater fish cutlets, vegetable curry, perfectly flaky boiled rice and chapatti for lunch taken at anchor surrounded by an abundance of bird life on the motionless waters of Vembanad Lake. Occasionally a bright colored kingfisher would zip past; next an egret. Afternoon tea arrived as we traversed the backwaters strewn with water hyacinth and part shaded beneath a lofty canopy of swaying coconut palms while lone fishermen trawled their nets from narrow wooden canoes. Dinner was a maharaja’s feast of spiced fried chicken, crispy bitter gourds, okra, fried rice, green beans, dhal and potato curry. Another culinary experience.

A narrow green divide separates the canals from the lower level of the rice fields where farmers worked their small holdings using bullock-drawn wooden ploughs in the same way as their forefathers had done for centuries. Others worked knee deep in mud harvesting rice. At times it felt we were viewing rural life through a kaleidoscope and we’d become an integral part of a Discovery Channel documentary. Farms, small shops, houses, village schools and temples competed for space on these medians, often no more than forty feet wide. Daily life is enthralling, people watching became a pre-occupation. Smiling children in blue uniforms waved from long, tightly crammed boats that criss-cross the waterways that take them from village to school. Women rinsed their waist length black hair and bathed fully clothed, some brushed their teeth using a finger as a toothbrush as others washed clothes in the communal waters of the canals. On land, lop-eared goats were milked while small groups of elders passed time doing precious little. The backwaters also have their own unique sounds. At times the tranquility was broken only by the low purring of the houseboat’s outboard motor or the occasional deep-sounding throb of the diesels powering fast moving water buses that distribute human cargos at stopping points spaced either side of the main arteries. Some times nature alone disturbs the silence with the sound of wild birds taking flight as a black crow screeches. Elsewhere the calmness was broken by the almost melodic rousing call of a cockerel somewhere in the distance. Overhead, the graceful shapes of white headed eagles circled in the warm thermals. At dusk and dawn the sound of Hindu prayers chanted in Malayalam, the local dialect, permeated the air from a temple dotted within a tiny community. Perhaps this was as near to an earthly form of heaven as you might find; certainly it has a hypnotic appeal.

Kerala is one of earth’s most densely populated rural areas. Nearly 32 million people cram into 38,863 square kilometers, an area smaller than Switzerland. Wallowing in the sleepy atmosphere of the backwaters this statistic can easily be overlooked. It is not even overly apparent within the dusty confines of a busy town. But look inside the churches and temples or along the main highways and it seems this is where life is gathered. During late morning a church in the town of Alleppey was overflowing. People queued for access while several hundred devout Catholics, mostly women in bright saris, were inside, already seated on the floor, worshiping. Christianity arrived with St Thomas the apostle in AD52 and continued as a legacy of the Portuguese (1498), Dutch (17th Century) and British (1806). Kerala (then called Malabar) has been an important trading center from the 1st century BC when the Greeks and Romans came in search of spices.

Hinduism remains prominent and from before daybreak the spiritual sound of prayers carries on the tropical air from distant temples. Holy festivals that can last for days are a regular occurrence and in the hours before dawn highly revered elephants are led along the main highway as they travel between temples. It is haunting to see their broad shapes silhouetted in the headlight beams of oncoming traffic. Apart from a swinging reflector hanging from their tails they have no other safeguard to prevent them from being hit from behind. Indian driving standards lack common sense or any kind of discipline. Last year 3066 died on Kerala’s roads (13,000 injured). Jokingly we were told that a similar number die from being hit by falling coconuts!* The day we arrived 59 perished when a crowded bus plunged into a canal; seven died in a head-on accident two days later. The most venomous are the horn blowing bus and truck drivers who hog the crown of the road at high speed bullying others to move aside. Motor cycle riders rarely wear crash helmets, car drivers seldom bother with seat belts. I watched a family of four aboard a small moped. The father was helmeted, his young son and wife riding side-saddle behind nursing a baby had no such protection. The drivers assigned to foreigners maybe slightly less crazy but they too maneuver dangerously into the smallest gaps between moving trucks and overtake blind. Everyone nurses a burning desire to get ahead of all other traffic regardless. Visitors are generally transported in Ambassadors, big heavy cars, still made in West Bengal to the 1948 design of the British Morris Oxford. They are basic, seriously underpowered but built like tanks and well suited to the Indian environment.

One night spent on a houseboat is generally sufficient especially when combined with a visit to other parts of India or a stay in the old city of Cochin. A few nights at a magnificent Vembanad Lake retreat or a little longer at a relaxing beach resort can also provide a well earned break from traveling around the historic cities of India. The State Government has launched an eco-Kerala program that is successfully encouraging hotels to become environmentally friendly. The cost of accommodation, meals and drinks can be high by Indian standards but considerably less than at many comparable hotels elsewhere in Asia. The state authorities claims almost 100% literacy rate for Kerala, the highest in India and unemployment is low by national standards. The extremely friendly people are proud of the history, cuisine, wildlife, deserted beaches and a good climate that the state offers. In view of the tragic circumstances in Sri Lanka and Thailand, Kerala is now well placed to capitalize by attracting visitors who might otherwise have gone to the tsunami affected countries.

Footnote:• During 2002 George Burgess the director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s Shark Attack File claimed in a speech that “Coconuts kill 150 worldwide each year, 15 times the number of fatalities attributed to sharks”.

Robert Bluffield is a professional photographer and writer living in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom. His web site can be found at http://robertbluffield.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Bluffield

Learner Drivers in Ireland to Come of Age.

2006-12-25T10:41:00.000-08:00

Learner Drivers in Ireland to Come of Age.
By Robin Piggott

Learner Drivers make up one tenth of the Irish population.

Yes it’s a fact …hard to believe but true nevertheless.

Immigrants have been arriving in Ireland in substantial numbers for several years now as a result of the booming economy and have swelled an already expanding Learner Driver population. For the foreseeable future numbers of Learner Drivers are unlikely to be reduced despite the moves afoot to improve the antiquated Driving Test system.

The Demographics in Ireland are such that, notwithstanding a global recession, Learner Drivers will continue to grow in number as the average age for car ownership comes down. Years ago it was quite normal for someone not to learn to drive until their late twenties when some kind of financial stability was reached usually.

Today financial freedom in Ireland is coming at a very early age, sometimes even before the age at which you can take to the road legally. Part time jobs for school kids and Teenagers are the norm although it can be argued that this interferes with essential studies. However, money in the pocket has a powerful influence on immediate future aspirations and here in Ireland droves of seventeen and eighteen year olds are commencing the tortuous journey to a Driving Test. Note the absence of the phrase Learning to Drive!

It has been estimated that as few as twenty per cent of Learner Drivers in Ireland are taking Driving Lessons and those that do often only contemplate professional lessons when the Driving Test is looming.

Rather a case of putting the cart before the horse wouldn’t you think?

It is somewhat understandable that this situation pertains in Ireland since there has been a total lack of commitment on behalf of successive Governments to both tackle the Road Safety nightmare and the accompanying comical situation surrounding Learner Drivers that are allowed to drive away unaccompanied after failing a Driving Test!

Things are about to change however for the better as the avalanche of backed up Legislation is due to be released, tsunami-like, on the Irish Driver population in 2007.A greater part of these new moves will focus on the Learner Driver population which occupies twenty per cent of all Drivers on the road. In other words, one in five car drivers in Ireland is a Learner Driver!

Expected changes to the Irish Driving environment include:-

(a) Speed Camera Rollout under private Contract.

(b) Registration and Accreditation of Driving Schools.

(c) Mandatory Tuition for Learner Drivers.

(d) Minimum Number of Driving Lessons before sitting a Driving Test.

(e) Tougher regime to cope with Drinking and Driving (already underway )

The Year 2007 should go down in Motoring History in Ireland as the year when Driving finally came of age and commonsense prevailed. Let us all hope that this proves to be the case.

Robin Piggott is a Driving Instructor in Ireland who brings four decades of experience to his Astral Driving School based in Limerick. His newly refurbed web site can be found at http://www.astraldrivingschool.ie Here you can find a treasure trove of everything for the Learner Driver and also pages for the visitor who is contemplating Touring Ireland by Car. Pick up a free seven part mini course "Passing the Driving Test First Time" and stack the cards in your favour.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robin_Piggott

Risk Management Strategies For Overseas Businesses

2006-12-25T10:37:00.000-08:00

Risk Management Strategies For Overseas Businesses.
By Alexander Gordon

The areas outside UK are prone to natural disasters. Tsunami, hurricanes, and earthquakes show their faces time and again in these regions.

You own your dream home overseas. You wish a UK home insurance firm to offer you insurance. Here is what you may get:

• Home Buildings Insurance
• Public Liability Insurance
• Lost Earnings Insurance
• Insurance against Theft
• Insurance For Natural Disasters

Risk Identification and Share Value safety: Institutional investors are burdened with heaps of responsibilities concerning sustaining a defined process during investment selection. The financial managers as well as the trustees of institutions are legally bond to manage their investment portfolio. This is in the interest of their beneficiaries as well as participants.

In order to identify risks and safeguard the value of shares, it is vital to have robust and long-term investing strategies. This can be done by the following ways:

• Weighing up the intangibles included in the investment process at great lengths. This involves analyzing the economic, social, and environmental factors.
• Safeguarding the components having long-term value (for example brand value) by participating in the core decisions of the business.

Significance of Sound Risk Management Strategies: Investors can come close to the problems by examining a company’s record about variety, environmental performance, and overseas work. The risks emanating from these may include government penalties, lawsuits, customer boycotts, and community ill will. The repetitive mushrooming of these problems is not good for the company’s business and reputation.

Formulation of risk management strategies, taking into account the social, economic, and environmental issues of the company, helps a great deal in retaining the employees in the company and predicting the market trends. Not only this, it also assists the institutions in picking up promising industry leaders that successfully tackle unpredicted troubles.

Sound investment strategies help the investors in safeguarding the equity values already existing in their portfolio. It is crucial for the investors to be alert in controlling share value, as long-term relationships become bogus because of submissive investing methods like index purchasing.

The large investors have to pay more attention to this. They are the ones that cause a tremendous disturbance in the price of shares while selling a position in the stocks of the company.

Largely, sound strategies are a product of good judgment and logical thinking process. Any business cannot think of progressing without this.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

Business Owners all across the country are joining "The Community of Small Business Owners” to receive and provide strategies, insight, tips, support and more on starting, managing, growing, and selling their businesses. As a member, you will have access to true Millionaire Business Owners who will provide strategies and tips from their real-life experiences.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alexander_Gordon

How To Market To Construction Industry

2006-12-25T10:35:00.000-08:00

How To Market To Construction Industry.
By Alexander Gordon

The dreadful events like Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita and Tsunami have eaten a large number of buildings and dwellings. Due to this, there are chances of gigantic growth in the construction industry. It is expected that the industry will grow to $1.1 trillion in 2006 and $1.2 trillion in 2007.

Moreover, within this, the growth opportunities are great in the segments like residential, retail, office, hospitals and schools. Builders are looking for people who are responsible, sincere, punctual and trustworthy and can supply them efficient and quality products and services.

Therefore, you area a contractor or material supplier or technology vendor, take advantage of the situation. Make money out of this simply imbalance equation of demand and supply.

How Can You Do This? If you want to reach these builders or other executives operating in the construction industry, you can use traditional methods like trade shows, local sales forces and brochures. Along with these, websites also deliver promising and profitable results.

Some marketers have tried and found customer relationship management a better and advanced technique to reach their customers and provide them customized products.

A well designed and well developed website also raises the chances of getting contract. If the website contains all the product information, price list, delivery mode and useful tips, it is considered as an advantage. Online marketing, thus, can play an important role in getting profitable contracts.

Advertisement, in its traditional way, always proves to be helpful. It can be done both on regional and national levels. Like all other advertisers, you also need to use various advertising strategies like recalling and persuading, but in your own way.

You also need to be different in your approach. If you want your customers to come back, you have to provide some special services like warranty for used products. You can also guarantee a particular price for fixed period. You can win a larger market share by providing cost-effective and time saving products.

Remember, once you get a good contract, you work for it whole-heartedly and sincerely; you can easily create a loyal customer base for your business. Builders demand a good package including availability of materials, on-time delivery and strong pricing commitments. Moreover, you have to offer them to be in their contractors’ list. Your low pricing offers should not make them feel that the quality of product and services is also low.

If you are confused and do not know where to start with, you can take help of marketing advisers and various websites. Their valuable tips can help you customize your marketing programs for the construction industry.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

Business Owners all across the country are joining "The Community of Small Business Owners” to receive and provide strategies, insight, tips, support and more on starting, managing, growing, and selling their businesses. As a member, you will have access to true Millionaire Business Owners who will provide strategies and tips from their real-life experiences.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alexander_Gordon

Siriraj Medical Museums - Medical Exhibits that Could Make You Queasy

2006-12-25T10:31:00.000-08:00

Siriraj Medical Museums - Medical Exhibits that Could Make You Queasy.
By Eric Lim

The Siriraj Medical Museums in Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok display exhibits relating to pathology, forensic medicine, parasitology, anatomy and the history of medicine in Thailand.

Siriraj Hospital is the first public hospital in Thailand established by King Rama V in 1886 and named after one of his sons who died of dysentery at the age of two. The Faculty of Medicine here, set up in 1890, is also the oldest medical school in Thailand.

Six separate museums make up the Siriraj Medical Museums:

* Ellis Pathological Museum

* Songkran Niyomsane Forensic Medicine Museum

* Ouay Ketusingh Museum of History of Thai Medicine

* Parasitology Museum

* Congdon Anatomical Museum

* Sood Sangvichien Prehistoric Museum & Laboratory

Let's start our tour of the Siriraj Medical Museums with the Ellis Pathological Museum named in honor of Professor A G Ellis, the first pathologist in Thailand who worked in the Pathology Department in 1921 and stayed on as Director of Siriraj until 1938.

The babies preserved here are either stillborn or dead shortly after birth. There're dissected sections of babies, Siamese twins showing their joined organs and babies born with one eye. Some have external or internal deformations arising from various diseases or with organs protruding outside the body.

Specimens of preserved organs used for pathological tests are displayed with organs infected by various diseases. Medical students were scribbling away in their books, though not all visitors were as enthusiastic. One visibly shaken woman visitor was seen sitting out the tour.

Our next stop in the tour of Siriraj Medical Museums was the Songkran Niyomsane Forensic Medicine Museum named after Professor Dr Songkran Niyomsane, a pioneer in forensic medicine who started the museum.

The latest addition to the museum records the efforts by Siriraj Hospital during the December 2004 tsunami, when pathology teams assisted in the disaster victim identification. The scenes are simply gruesome.

The rest of the displays cover skulls, bones, damaged organs and photographs of murder and accident cases used in investigations, including the preserved bodies of a couple of rapists/murderers!

I gather that the founder, Dr Songkran's skeleton is also on display in the museum, though I couldn't quite identify it!

The Ouay Ketusingh Museum of History of Thai Medicine started by Professor Ouay Ketusingh, who headed the Departments of Physiology and Phamacology, was started in 1979. The traditional Thai medicine shop display was a pleasant relief. Also featured are the traditional practice of child delivery by village midwives and the quaint practice of getting the new mother to sleep by the fire for quick recovery.

In the Parasitology Museum started in 1970 by Dr Vichit Chaiyaporn, Department of Parasitology, you'll be exposed to every conceivable form of parasite or worm infecting every movable form of edible life.

Lungworms, pinworms, roundworms, tapeworms, whipworms infecting livestock, fish, crustaceans, vegetables and viruses causing food poisoning are identified here. So are the mosquitoes that cause Elephantiasis, an enlargement of the leg and the scrotum.

If it's not what you eat, then pay heed to the venomous snakes, spiders, scorpions, centipedes and tarantulas.

The last two Siriraj Medical Museums are in the Anatomy block. The Congdon Anatomical Museum was started in 1927 by Dr Edgar D Congdon, Professor of Anatomy and father of modern Anatomy in Thailand.

Row after row of showcases display skeletons, skulls, organs, dissected sections, preserved nervous, muscular, arterial and venous systems. Being the oldest museum, the creaking floorboards added to the creepy air about the place.

By the time we reached the last of the Siriraj Medical Museums, the Sood Sangvichien Prehistoric Museum & Laboratory, it was closed for lunch. This was just as well, as we've had an overdose medical museums by then. As it turned out this museum, started in 1972 by Professor Dr Sood Sangvichien, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, dealt with evolution!

For those keen on anatomy, pathology, forensic medicine, the Siriraj Medical Museums could probably be a wealth of information. These museums were in fact set up as resources centers for medical students.

If you can indifferent to preserved corpses, dissected sections, organs damaged by disease or violence, you'll probably be able to cope with the tour.

If you're not, we strongly suggest you skip the Siriraj Medical Museums and go straight for lunch.

If you really want to go there, here's how, map to the Siriraj Medical Museums.

For something that's really different, visit the Siriraj Medical Museums. They're some of the many Bangkok Museums covered in Tour Bangkok Legacies, a historical travel site on people, places and events that left their mark in the landscape of Bangkok. The author Eric Lim, a free-lance writer, lives in Bangkok Thailand.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Lim

Tsunami warnings by 2006

2006-12-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

Tsunami warnings by 2006
By Melt Du Plooy

Experts from the United Nations and Indian Ocean countries agreed to set up a tsunami warning system to prevent a repeat of the catastrophe that struck on December 26, Unesco said.

A fully functioning system that detects undersea earthquakes and broadcasts warnings to coastal communities is expected to be in place by the end of 2006, said Patricio Bernal, executive secretary of Unesco's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, on Tuesday.

"The Indian Ocean countries have agreed among themselves to set up an early tsunami warning system for the whole Indian Ocean basin," Bernal said. The basin extends to the 11 southern Asian coastlines devastated by the December tsunami.

At a five-day meeting at Unesco's headquarters in Paris, experts also laid out a timetable for the project and interim measures to help protect the region that was battered by the killer Asian tsunami.

Japan and the United States are to begin providing alerts on seismic activity to the region starting on April 1. The two countries have the world's most advanced tsunami warning systems, and a UN-co-ordinated network based in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, issues alerts for 26 Pacific Ocean nations.

Could be extended by 2007
Experts say a similar system in southern Asia would have saved many lives in the Dec 26 disaster.

Work will also begin on installing systems that can detect changes in sea level and broadcast the information in real time to countries in potential danger.

Tidal gauges will be installed at six sites, mainly off the coasts of hard-hit Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, Bernal said. Another 15 existing sites will be upgraded around the region.

"We expect to have all those systems operative by October or November," Bernal said.

A second Unesco-sponsored meeting will be held next month in Mauritius to finalise policy matters and broach divisive questions, including whether one country would host a disaster warning centre or if the responsibilities would be distributed across the region, Bernal said.

Member states plan to meet in June to formally adopt the plan, but work is getting under way immediately.

Officials hope to extend the system globally by 2007 to cover other regions at risk, such as the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and the southwest Pacific.

South African scuba diving, marine and environmental news http://divesouthafrica.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Melt_Du_Plooy

Thailand And Some Facts About It

2006-12-25T10:12:00.000-08:00

Thailand And Some Facts About It.
By Michael Russell

Thailand, officially known as the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia. Thailand is more famous for its tourism than any other countries in the same area. Tourists are fascinated by its natural beauty, hundreds of splendid temples and the unforgettable hospitality of Thai people.

The capital of Thailand is Bangkok, which is the largest city in Thailand and also owns one of the world's biggest international airports. Thailand has 75 provinces and two special governed districts: one is Bangkok and the other is Pattaya. Thai population is virtually made up by ethnic Thai and Lao and more than 94% of them are Buddhists. Thai people worship Buddha and ancestors and that's what makes the Thai culture. Thai people respect their religion and ancestors so much that it comes into their way of greeting each other: they greet other people with a prayer-like gesture. Thais are very friendly and smiling, that's why this country is also called "the land of smiles". Thai people like talking openly to everyone, including foreigners. Tourists coming to Thailand are always warmly greeted by all Thais, from kids to old people. Even if you don't know much about the Thai language, you can still have a good time interacting with the local residents.

Thailand is a typical tropical country with a hot and humid climate. There are two seasons in a year: the dry and the rainy season. The rainy season is from July to November. It is very inconvenient and uncomfortable to travel in the rainy season. The best time to come to Thailand is from February to March when the weather is the finest and the beaches are the most beautiful.

Thailand has never been colonized. Since its foundation date in 1238, Thailand has been growing and has become one of the most prosperous countries in Asia. The official currency in Thailand is the Baht, which exchanges at about 34 to the US dollar. Nowadays Thailand has a fast growing and open economy which benefits a great deal from the tourism industry. More than 10 million tourists go to Thailand every year, but this number fell sharply after its tsunami disaster at the end of 2004. The most badly affected area is Phuket - one of the most beautiful destinations for tourists, with its glorious beaches. Much advertising effort has been made since, to recover the tourism industry.

Besides tourism, agriculture is also the strength of this country. Thailand has been the leading country in exporting rice for more than a decade. However, the Thai economy and food chain has been stricken once more by the recent avian flu epidemic which has adversely affected poultry farming in the entire area.

In contrast to the beautiful city sights, grand hotels and luxury resorts, a large proportion of the Thai population still live in poverty in suburban areas and ragged villages, although the government is always trying to develop the Thai economy as well as improving the living standard for the poor across the country.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Asia

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

Michael Russell - EzineArticles Expert Author

Tsunami Aftermath

2006-12-25T10:10:00.000-08:00

Tsunami Aftermath.
By Ryan Fyfe

On December 26, 2004 a massive tsunami swept through Thailand killing thousands of people, and changing the lives of thousands more. Although the Tsunami happened months ago, we are still feeling the affects of it today.

The massive destruction that occurred because of the tsunami has a huge impact today. Thousands of villagers in Thailand who live on a very low income to begin with lost all they had in the tsunami, as the water took it away or destroyed it altogether. These are villagers who are having an incredibly hard time now trying to scrape by and replace what it is the tsunami took from them.

Agriculturally Thailand was hit very bad with the tsunami as well. Where water was reported to have traveled 7-8 miles inland farms are suffering loss of crops and livestock, as the salt that remains on their fields isn’t producing the crops that are needed to support themselves and their families.

Because of the change in the environment around Thailand, rivers are emptying more quickly into the ocean, which is going to become a problem for farmers as far as irrigating their fields, and providing water for their livestock to drink.

Another result that I think is often overlooked, is the amount of pollutants that were deposited into the waves went over the land. This can include substances like gasoline and oil, and other dangerous chemicals.

This is only a short look at some of the effects that the great tsunami is having in Thailand and in other parts around the world. I would urge you to become more informed on the situation and learn what it is that you can do to get involved, and to assist in the recovery of these nations.

Feel free to reprint this article as long as you keep the following caption and author biography in tact with all hyperlinks.

Ryan Fyfe is the owner and operator of Tsunami Area. Which is a great web directory and information center on the tsunami in Thailand and around the world.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ryan_Fyfe

Phuket - Jewel of the Andaman Sea

2006-12-25T10:00:00.000-08:00

Phuket - Jewel of the Andaman Sea.
By Richard Meyer

The largest and most accessible island in Thailand, Phuket, lying off the South West coast, is also one of the most diverse and developed. It is blessed with a wealth of natural resources to entice the visitor. Lime stone cliffs, white sand beaches, rocky headlands, peaceful sweeping bays and a forested tropical interior. Alongside its natural assets Phuket has a range of accommodation and entertainment to offer something for everyone.

Phuket island is about 850 kilometers South of Bangkok. The province covers 590 square kilometers including the additional 39 small islands. The main island itself covers about 540 kilometer square and measures 48 kilometers North to South and 21 kilometers East to West.

As the island is the biggest in Thailand you can find quite beaches and you can party the night away at others. It is all up to what you are looking for.

Phuket is connected to the mainland by two bridges. These cover the narrow strip of water that separates Phuket from Phang-Nga province on the North side of the island. The rest of Phuket borders only the tropical Andaman Sea.

The island is a variety of manly forested mountains stretching North to South and flat plains. However it is the jewel of the Andaman Sea and its palm fringed beaches that has contributed to making it the wealthiest and most visited island in the South. It attracts thousands of visitors a year. Many are content to relax on its many beaches, but for the more adventurous Phuket is a center for diving in the area with world class dive sites a short boat trip away and facilities for all levels.

The year is divided into the rainy season and the dry season. The rainy season falls from May to October, with September and October being the wettest. The dry season, from November to April gradually gets hotter and hotter until the rains start again. The most pleasant time to visit, but also the most busy, is from November to February. At this time blue skies and spectacular sunsets are the usual, along with a cooling sea breeze and average temperatures ranging from 23c to 33c.

Phuket also has something to offer those who are looking for more than beach lounging. Phuket town with its Sino-Portugese architecture, markets, temples and friendly small town atmosphere is a place to sample real thai living and enjoy the bustle - just be careful in the narrow streets with all the motorbikes! Phuket island has food and restaurants for any taste and budget. Surrounded by the rich Andaman Sea its no surprise that its sea food is exceptional. Accommodation ranges from five star world class resorts to simple bamboo beach side bungalows with everything in between.

Nevertheless, emphasis is put on the upper sector. Phuket is not just the most popular destination in the South of Thailand but it also is extremely popular among people from Hong Kong and Singapore and other foreigners that are looking for a holiday house. In no other place in Thailand is it as expensive to buy property as in Phuket. Many rich people are living here and the offered property is very much geared to the higher end.

Due to Phuket's world known status as a tourist destination it was rightly or wrongly at the center of the media attention after the tsunami of 2004. In comparison to other provinces in Thailand, Phuket actually received less damage and had a lower death toll. Also, compared to other countries that were affected by the Tsunami Thailand had probably the least problems. Only days after the tsunami many beach front bars were open and ready for business. Since then there has been much attention and help by the Thai government (focusing on the big businesses) and other organizations to get business back up and running and to promote tourism back to the region. Now apart from the warning sirens and 'tsunami evacuation route' signs there is little evidence that the tragic events of the 26th of December, 2004 ever happened.

Richard Meyer is a professional travel writer for Excelloz which is an online travel website that specializes in hotel reservation in Asia and Oceania but soon worldwide. In addition to hotels, Excelloz provides free travel guides and independent hotel reviews.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Meyer

Tsunami One Year On : Reflections and Responsibilities

2006-09-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

Published on December 25, 2005 - Paying tribute to lives lost, lives being restored, and the value of a helping hand

One year ago many people in Thailand had not even heard the word “tsunami”, and fewer still of the geologic faults and forces that create them.

Since then hardly a day has past without a news report addressing some aspects of the greatest natural disaster to hit Thailand in modern times.

So when anniversary events get underway tomorrow we will pay our respects.
We will honour the memories of the 5,395 precious lives lost and the 2,817 still missing from Thailand’s affected areas. We similarly remember more than 200,000 souls who perished across 12 other countries.

We amplify our commitment to aid those victims who remain injured, still lack housing, or continue to struggle to restore lost livelihoods.

We are so fortunate that most in Thailand have regained their footing, but hundreds of thousands of tsunami refugees elsewhere remain homeless.

We express our utmost gratitude for the tremendous generosity of all those who aided in the response and recovery efforts.
Whether with their bare hands or through their wallets there is no question that Thailand’s Andaman revival would be but a fraction of what it is today were it not for the compassion extended by so many individuals, including those from abroad.

Most importantly, we express our resolve to learn from what the tsunami has taught us.

Improvements in preparedness and response coordination could greatly help us to minimise the loss of life and maximise our rebuilding efficiency when hit by nature’s next surprise.

Few doubt that a warning system similar to what is now being implemented could have saved many if not most of the lives lost a year ago.

Equally effective in saving lives could have been the yet implemented building setback polices, which also could have significantly reduced structural damage and recovery burdens.

Improved land use and recovery planning would also benefit those suffering yet again from seasonal flooding, which scientists warn will become more pronounced in Thailand with the changing climate.
As illustrated by the tsunami, the recent Atlantic hurricanes and October’ s South Asian earthquake, nature’s forces will continue to overwhelm us.

We certainly owe it to all of our citizens and visitors to be prepared, but there’s another responsibility: respecting the toll disasters take on valuable international aid resources.

From medical assistance, to food, housing and the rebuilding of income streams, the international relief efforts in Thailand and elsewhere has been a major force in the tsunami recovery.

But right now another struggle is occurring. As winter settles upon the Himalayan quake zone, the lack of sufficient assistance for the millions without shelter is expected to cause a new wave of deaths on top of the 78,000 that have already occurred.

Disaster assistance should augment what governments could not have possibly provided, not serve as a substitute for poor planning. Thailand’s needs may have dwarfed those of Indonesia’s or Sri Lanka’s, but as the ongoing food crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa illustrates, there is never enough humanitarian aid to go around.

So once the commemorations and speeches draw to a close, let’s take a hard look at the preparedness and recovery lessons learned this past year.

The next time nature roars, whether tsunami, flood, typhoon, earthquake or something not yet anticipated, we should feel confident we did all we could to minimise the human tragedy and property damage, while expediting recovery with limited reliance on outside assistance that may be needed elsewhere.

Thailand is fortunate to have the capacity to do a much better job in disaster preparedness and response, so much so that we could serve a greater role in providing disaster assistance to other countries in need.

Realising this potential would be a wonderful tribute to all those affected by the tsunami, and those who helped us to pick up the pieces.

Information : http://www.nationmultimedia.com

A backpacking couple discover more than rubble in Thailand's devastated Khao Lak.

2006-09-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

by Luci Yamamoto, Lonely Planet author.

Last spring Kevin and Mary Beth O'Donovan ended a three-year, round-the-world backpacking trip with a stop in Khao Lak, the worst-hit area on Thailand's Andaman Coast. For a month, they joined the Tsunami Volunteer Center, a grassroots group that welcomes all comers, skilled or not.

A boat stranded far from the sea.

From day one, when a Bangkok travel agent insisted that "Khao Lak gone, Khao Lak no more," they discovered a place clearly in distress.

Kevin joined a group building houses at a small village camp, 20km north of Khao Lak, called Thap Tawan, where inhabitants had lost all but their lives. Under the guidance of local foremen, the group planned to build 80 houses for the sea-gypsy community.

Kevin shoveling and sweating atop the remains of a foundation.

"It was a ragtag crew," Kevin says, "from 19 to 50, men and women, Japanese to French-Canadian." They dug trenches for foundations, mixed mortar and cement by hand, wheelbarrowed sand and gravel, and lugged and laid cinder-block bricks, which was "the more-relaxing work, believe it or not."

"The houses are certainly an improvement from the refugee camps or the nearby jungle," Kevin says, "but make no mistake, [even] by Western standards, it is an upgrade from having nothing or living in squalor."

Row of A-frame houses built for those who lost everything but their lives.

Kevin often relied on the advice of Lung Tien, the elderly mentor at the camp. While all the houses built were the same, Lung Tien designed an intricate, unique moulding theme for the railing of each unit. Though neither spoke the other's language, they managed to communicate through pictures in the sand.

"It never mattered how busy that guy was. He always had time to stop and help this confused farang [foreigner] understand why the hell a wall was going up wonky or why some plum line wasn't plum."

Mary Beth with one of her brilliant woodworking creations.

At the volunteer centre, Mary Beth eventually used her woodworking skills at the on-site carpentry shop, which builds basic furniture for schools and villages.

"New lumber was in short supply," Kevin says, "so we used leftover wood from the makeshift coffins used to temporarily hold bodies in the initial days of the cleanup." It might sound rather morbid, but Kevin adds, "A new beginning for this wood came with very loving, colourful paint jobs. The carpentry shop can really put a smile on your face after a hard day on another site." Each day brought new challenges that to the Western eye might be unexpected and rather counterproductive. For example the centre tried to encourage locals–who were often apathetic, fearful or depressed–to work alongside volunteers in hopes that they'd eventually take the ball and run with it.

"But the locals were afraid to work too close to the water," Kevin says. "Thailand is rooted in folklore, myth and Buddhist tradition. A rumour might start about another tsunami and everyone heads to the hills–so the last place you'd find locals was on the beach picking up rubble even if it was offered as a paid job."

Mary Beth is exhausted after hours of clearing rubble.

Everyone in Khao Lak has a story of serendipity–why they are still alive. Kevin heard countless harrowing stories that "resonate in your thoughts the entire time you work in the 30-degree-plus [Celsius] heat, oozing sweat from pores you didn't know you had, slathered in SPF 45."

"The tsunami affected all classes, whether the poor, the middle class and the wealthy," Kevin says. "In most cases there's no cash-cow nest egg or insurance policy to fall back on. Our volunteer coordinator, Sang, lived in the same government camps as the rest of the community."

Infrastructure was returning daily, but based on the number of foreigners and locals who arrived. "As more people showed up," he says, "more businesses reopened, more stock appeared on the shelves, and more locals could return to work.

"If the local economy can get rolling again through tourism, the relief effort can become self sustained rather than dependent on foreign aid."

"Let's face it," Kevin says, "you can't export the beach and the sand. It is an industry that exists only when people come to Thailand."

Information : http://www.lonelyplanet.com

Earthquake, Tsunami Kills Thousands in South Asia on 26th December 2004.

2006-09-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

Earthquake, Tsunami Kills Thousands in South Asia on 26th December 2004.

Disclaimer : All efforts have been made to make this image accurate. However Compare Infobase Pvt. Ltd.,its directors and employees do not own any responsibility for the correctness or authenticity of the same.

One of the most powerful earthquakes in the planet hit the Asian Continent with its epicenter at Ach Indonesia. Some of the tsunamis reached as far as 1,600 kilometers (91,000 miles) from the epicenter of the 9.0 magnitude quake, which was located about 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island at a depth of about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).

The quake struck about 7 a.m. Sunday (midnight GMT Saturday), according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Center.

The tsunamis also left thousands injured, thousands missing and hundreds of thousands homeless in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

It is the fourth-largest earthquake since such measurements began in 1899, according to the NEIC, tying with a 1952 quake in Kamchatka, Russia.

More than 4,500 people have been reported dead in Sri Lanka. Most of them, authorities said, were in the eastern district of Batticaloa. Thousands were missing and more than a half million displaced.

In southern Sri Lanka, 200 prisoners escaped when the waves swept away a high-security prison in Matara.

Witnesses in the eastern Sri Lankan port city Trincomalee reported 14 meter (40-foot) waves hitting inland as far as a kilometer (0.6 miles).

The Sri Lankan government declared a state of emergency, and, along with the government of the Maldives, has requested international assistance, the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.

If you are looking for information on relatives or friends in the areas affected by the tsunami, here are some disaster hotlines from around the region:

To contact representatives from India, call +91 11 2309 3054

To reach Thailand, call their emergency hotline at +66 21672

For information about local residents in Sri Lanka, call +94 11 536 1938, for tourists the number is +94 11 243 7061

In the Maldives, the government hotline is +44 20 7224 2149

For more information on travelers in the Seychelles, call +248 321 676

Information : http://www.mapsofworld.com

Pre & Post satellite photos of cities hit by Tsunami on 26 Dec 2004.

2006-09-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

Pre & Post satellite photos of cities hit by Tsunami on 26 Dec 2004

TSUNAMI ANNIVERSARY: Thousands mourn the dead.

2006-09-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

Published on December 27, 2005

Events too lavish, too upbeat for many villagers and relatives of disaster victims. The government-organised tsunami commemoration yesterday drew heavy criticism from local villagers and returning survivors as being too lavish, commercially driven and too exclusive.

Yesterday, thousands of survivors and relatives mourned the deaths of their loved ones one year after the tragedy struck, killing a quarter of a million people throughout the region.

The Boxing Day disaster also destroyed homes, villages and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people, and the government’s commemorative ceremony in the six provinces of Thailand that were worst hit was intended to help people grieve and to show the world that the tourism-reliant areas had recovered.

“Four hundred million baht [for the ceremony]? It’s too much,” said Prasith Kaetkrai, a village leader of Baan Thungwa, who lives just a kilometre from the site of yesterday morning’s commemoration service.

The sea gypsy village of 70 families lost 42 members, including Prasith’s wife, to the savage power of the tsunami waves.

“The money could have been put to better use by helping us, the victims,” he said. “We have not had a single baht from the government. Our whole village was rebuilt by help from private donors and foundations. We still have no tap water in the community.”

Prasith organised a three-day event to remember the disaster and invited various grassroots groups to join the people’s commemoration instead of the government’s.

He said the event was needed to highlight the continued plight of the poor in the six provinces who are still suffering from the impact of the December 26 tsunami.

It was in stark contrast to the government service, which featured a chamber orchestra and Miss Universe as the MC in the afternoon.

Thousands of survivors and relatives joined in the memorial services or held their own yesterday at seven locations in Thailand where the earthquake-generated waves killed 5,395 people one year ago.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, attending one of the bigger ceremonies in Phuket, said he hoped all the victims “will be happy in their next life”.

Many foreigners who arrived at Phuket Airport for the ceremonies were handed a 96-page booklet filled with a shopping list and a special “Andaman Grand Sale discount card” that had the government’s tsunami logo printed next to it.

The message in the booklet by Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop stated that the government was hosting a “gigantic Andaman Grand Sale” but nothing about remembrance.

Some people, like Inger Ostergren, head of the Regional Tsunami Response team of Save the Children Sweden which is helping both Thai and Swedish children recover from the traumatic experience, questioned the government’s spending.

“Of course it’s to attract tourists again,” said Ostergren, who felt however that she was not sure if spending money on the fares for foreign relatives of the victims and their accommodation was appropriate.

Twenty-seven-year-old Pole Marta Rabska, a survivor of the Boxing Day tsunami who came back to compliment the Thai government said it was money well spent.

“I don’t think they’re pushing [the sales]. They’re helping tourists to come back.”

“I think the government did a very good job. It will heal those who were suffering,” said Adel Jala, a Saudi Arabian diplomat who works in Germany and another survivor of the gigantic wave who lost a friend at Khao Lak’s Sofitel Resort.

“We came with tears in our eyes and sorrow in our hearts. It will help us get on with the future. If you look at it, in a way we’re remembering the dead and celebrating those who survived,” he said, adding he wanted to openly thank His Majesty the King and his government.

Thais who were critical of the events did not feel confident about identifying themselves, however.

One was a lecturer from a top Thai university and a guest of the afternoon's Tsunami Memorial foundation-stone laying ceremony at Khao Lak-Lamru National Park.

“We’re not a rich country. What the government is doing is overdone. It’s wasteful,” he said. “Villagers’ problems are not being solved yet and it’s like the rain isn’t falling to soothe everyone evenly. But I think it’s too risky for me to stand and talk to you. It won’t be good.”

As the Chamber Orchestra played inappropriately joyous music – Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nacht” (a Little Night Music) – the afternoon event resembled at times a posh concert at an exclusive beach.

In the morning, MC Natharadee Vajraprichanond used over-hyped English expressions like “I am thrilled to welcome you ...”, and again there was joyous Thai pop music.

“I felt it was festive. They were selling tragedy for tourism,” said a Thai staff member of an international aid agency who asked not to be named.

“The staff at the airport were in such a good mood, as if it was a celebration.”

At Khao Lak-Lam Ru National Park, Prime Minister Thaksin laid the foundation stone for the Tsunami Memorial. However, there was criticism that the construction of the memorial in a protected area would affect the forest.

While some villagers did not know about the museum project, some foreigners agreed a museum should be there.

“I returned to Phi Phi Island for my beloved wife who was lost in the huge waves,” said Mischol Luduic from Switzerland.

“I prayed for her this morning on Phi Phi Island alone. Now my heart and soul has recovered a little bit. Then I joined the memorial here and agree that the Thai government should have a museum to learn about the disaster.”

Phatarawadee Phataranawik,

Pravit Rojanaphruk

Phang-nga

Information : http://www.nationmultimedia.com