Rebuilding the tsunami-devastated communities succesfully

Posted by admin on December 26th, 2008 filed in Uncategorized

Since two years now about 360 young volunteers have been working to reconstruct their destroyed villages. Some 135 of these volunteers are spearheading community-development schemes. Due to the local administrative institutions being impressed by the success they have started including the youth volunteers’ work in their more significant plans.

The Ban Thung Wa Nursery project is a good example of a success story. This project provided assistance to about 70 Moken families dealing with the changes to their living environments brought on by the tsunami on December 26, 2004. When the parents had to stop with fishing and find other ways of making a living, the children lost out care-wise. The Ban Thung Wa Nursery, sponsored by the Siam Commercial Foundation, in 2006 stepped in the help out daily taking care of children and supplying them with snacks and free lunches. In addition, Moken babysitters were trained for the place.

Around 50 volunteering youngsters cover 44 villages in Trang, Phuket, Krabi Phang Nga and Satun regarding community development activities. The Siam Commercial Foundation also financially supports these projects, focusing on coastal and marine preservation, educational issues and the village economies. Several successful projects helped the tsunami-affected villages to get rid of their debts.

The tsunami on December 26, 2004 devastated 407 coastal communities in six provinces. Phuket tsunami photos