Earth Quake/ Tsunami News
April
With everything back to normal I have archived this section for
those with and overdeveloped sense of curiosity...... Lots of tsunami
pictuers hitting Railay here, pictuers
a week after the tsunami are here.
March
Shamick has written an update
here on Phi Phi. He says it is open and you should visit it.
Many of you will know Soley who used to live in Railay, before
setting up a climbing shop on Phi Phi. He was rearlly badly hurt
in Phi Phi. To help him we have set up a web page of up to date
information on his condition, and a way to donate to his huge medical
bills. It would be great if anyone could help out. For
information and details on how to help click here.
Also if any one is heading over to Railay with skills in physiotherapy
and preapared to donate some of their time to Soley, please contact
Shamick.
There is an excellent organisation directly helping those from Phi Phi, particularly
orphaned children. They have a website
here. If you want to help the Thais directly, then this is one
of the best places to direct your donations. We can also vouch that
phiphi-releve-toi.com
are doing good work.
January 7th
Welcome to railay.com
Firstly I would just to take a minute to say thank everyone for
contacting to see if we are all ok.
Railay.com and all the resorts we book for are all fully operational.
We would like to encourage people to come as usual. All the businesses
here are managed by local Thai families. Tourism is their only source
of income, and they are feeling the pressure now as they do not
have the backing of big businesses or insurance companies.
Today Railay Beach is clean, the boats service is back to normal
and everything is open. There is and never was, any concern for
diseases, showering water, drinking water, food or health issues.
We were lucky, damage was superficial and temporary.
Please read what the resorts have said
about themselves and their cancellation,
rescheduling and refunding policy.
Thanks, Robin, railay.com
Railay Sunset Beach a couple of days ago (After the wave and some
clean up). The beach is in good shape and the crowds have eased.
I've posted more pictures here.
Ao Nang Beach a couple of days ago. The crowds are gone, but the
beach is looking good.
Are
just posted this in the forum This links to the best video I
have seen yet of the waves/ surges hitting. The guy who is filming
this is standing on the corner of Ao Nang where the boats come in.
Thanks for this and all the other links, information and translations
from the international community who make me wish I was far more
language literate then I am.
Sam Lightner Jr, who has developed the climbing at Railay for 15
years, is setting up a contact center for parents and friends who
are looking for missing climbers at Phi-Phi.
You can reach Sam at the Railay Beach club and at lightner@telus.net.
World-Wide
Earthquake Locator: Global Earthquake Report- up to the minute
earthquake info.
2004
Indian Ocean earthquake by wikipedia- this is a very good source
of info. Updated all the time.
December 30th Update
On Railay beach Sand and Sea resort is closed, and is re-opening
on January 1. They need to fix up the beachfront restaurant, mini
mart and tourist desk (They lost all their paper work).
All the other accommodation is open as usual.
The boats are now running fairly regularly and are getting better.
There is no flooding, the power is fine and all the food is fresh
and boated in daily.
We have all seem the grisly pictures in the media. Thankfully they
are nothing to do with Railay, Ao Nang and indeed most of Thailand.
If you have booked a holiday in Railay, the best thing you can do
is to turn up and enjoy yourselves. The locals are panicking that
everyone is going to cancel, and that they will lose their businesses
as a result. They would like it known that they are all open as usual,
and are looking forward to seeing old friends, and making new ones.
For the skeptics among you (I understand 'cause I'm one of you) we
will be posting pictures of what Railay is like as of today. Hopefully
we will get these pictures up sometime tonight (Thai time) if all
goes according to plan. If anyone out there has any pictures (come
on somebody must have some!) send them to dan@railay.com and I will
post them. Pictures of the Tsunami/ sea surge
by Bjørnar Tomassen
 
Bjørnar must of been 2 or three pitches up on Thaiwand Wall.
I've put the rest of the pictures here.
If anyone has any more pictures send them in and we will post them.
Somebody posted this
link in the forum, which gives more local Krabi News
Patient lists of Krabi hospital
All the bodies from anywhere in the Krabi region (may include Kho
Lanta and Pi Pi) have been brought to Krabi hospital. There is a
web site mostly in Thai for Krabi hospital at
this URL They have a patient list here.
There is also a link to unidentified body picture from their home
page. This is very grim though, and the pictures take a long time
to load, so only use their bandwidth if you really have to.
Krabi Hospital 611-202, 611-210, 611-2203
Ao Lak Hospital 681-159, 681-510
Koh Lanta Hospital 697-017, 697-100
December 28
Things are becoming clearer now. Seems like allot of the news stations
are more interested in sensationalized ratings boosting then giving
a clear picture of the situation...
Ao Nang was completely unaffected. Railay got a large surge of water
which brought with it allot of debris. Some of the restaurants on
the Sunset side lost their furniture, and some of the bungalows
closer to the sea need to be dried out. The swimming pools on the
beach now have a distinct salty taste, which is a definite improvement
on the chlorine.
The Sunrise side was completely unaffected, as of course was the
diamond cave area.
There is a real buzz around the place, as everyone is understandably excited, and everyone is helping to clear up.
It's great to see everyone come together like this. Allot of the
staff went home yesterday to see their family, and are back today,
so the clean up is in full swing, and will be finishing up tomorrow.
The Phones are mostly out and the mobile network has been jammed solid. If
you have not heard from someone, then be patient as they are probably
unable to phone and have not been able to get a boat to Krabi to
phone due to the lack or boats....
The worst hit places were Phi Phi and Phuket, where the water
is allot deeper right next to the beach, so that the wave broke
closer to the beach. On Phi Phi The Narrow strip was washed right
over, alot of it just wiped out. Things must have been rearlly desperate
there, and alot of people died, maybe a thousand. Boy who was diving
at Pee Pee did not realise that a wave had hit until he came around
to the other side. When he did he could not believe what he saw.
Railay then was very lucky. Tragically the boatmen were the hardest
hit. 10 boatmen from Railay died. Our condolences to their families.
Even if you don't know their names, you will have seen them around,
and their humor and charisma will be greatly missed.
Today the sea has returned to it's regular high season glassy
perfection. The boats are running again, and to the casual observer
you would not know that anything had happened. If you are coming
to Railay, catch a boat from Ao Na Mao (best) or Ao Nang. The restaurants
are getting new furniture and food, and are open as usual. The best
thing everyone can do, is to turn up and enjoy themselves. We are
all grateful that Railay is as protected as it is. Our sympathy
and hearts go out to the people of ShriLanka, Indonesia, India and
epically Banda Aceh, whose people have been murdered and persecuted
by the Javanese, and now are the hardest hit by this latest disaster.
We would like to think that international relief effort which
will follow, and the cooperation within and between communities
will help people realise what their real priorities are, and bring
them together in the effort of rebuilding what has been lost.
Thanks for all the posts in the Forum, your concern and sympathy is greatly appreciated.
Luck and love to all.........
December 27
There are a few divers from Ao Nang and Krabi that are still missing.
Despite all the rumors, Railay is not going to be evacuated, and
all the bungalows are still open. It is messy, but the Thais are
amazingly good at making the best of the situation. The Bungalow
owners reckon it will be 2 or three days before they get all the
rubbish cleaned up. That is not including the numerous boats which
have ended up in some very bizarre places....
The sea is still rough for the time of year, and that has made everyone
nervous. As the sea regains it's calmness, so will everyone's confidence
return. The main issue is the lack of boats. There are not many
left, and those that remain are helping to search for people swept
out to sea. If you have a flight booked Krabi airport is open and
running as normal. You will just have to be patient in catching
the boat over. I'd advise you catch a boat from Krabi wharf.
We'll update this as we get more information.
Initial News
As all will know an 6M wave hit Railay Beach yesterday.
The wave broke out to sea, but 1.5M or so of white water hit the
beach. There was enough power in the wave to push water half way
over the peninsular. The wave was filled with debris from boats
to trees, and a huge amount of mud and sand.
The place is a mess. That said Railay seems to have got off relatively lightly.
So far no serious casualties are reported on Railay, but several people who were out in boats remain unaccounted for.
The accommodation is mostly ok, but so many of the boats have
been destroyed that it is very difficult to get on or off Railay.
As things become clearer today we will post definitive news on the
damage, missing people and the state of accommodation.
Please be patient as this has taken everyone by surprise and we will need time and help to sort out.
There is a web forum here where you may post and trade information.
Our thoughts are with those who have been hardest hit, particularly the fishermen and boatmen who are still missing.
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