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The Indian Ocean tsunami: socio‐economic impacts in Thailand
Author(s) -
RIGG JONATHAN,
LAW LISA,
TANMULLINS MAY,
GRUNDYWARR CARL
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
geographical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.071
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1475-4959
pISSN - 0016-7398
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4959.2005.00175_3.x
Subject(s) - indian ocean , geography , oceanography , socioeconomics , geology , economics
In the morning of 26 December 2004 large areas of coastal southern Thailand were transformed when a tsunami, generated by a powerful submarine earthquake in the Indian\udOcean, swept ashore. Officially, there were 5395 confirmed deaths in Thailand with another 2932 people listed as missing. In February 2005 a team led by Dr Ben Horton\udof the University of Pennsylvania was awarded an SGER grant by the National Science Foundation to undertake exploratory research on the tsunami in Malaysia and Thailand. This report summarizes the preliminary conclusions of the social science element of the Thai fieldwork. The team undertook fieldwork in three main sites during July 2005: Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi and Khao Lak. We chose Koh Phi Phi as a small, tourist (backpacker)-oriented island economy with high levels of damage and casualties; Koh Lanta as a site with a significant population of fisherfolk with a long presence in the area; and Khao Lak as a mainland site with the\udhighest number of casualties in Thailand and with a mixed tourism–fishing economy