[NEWS]Gloom still hangs over Thai beaches at Khao Lak

KHAO LAK, Thailand : Gloom still hangs over Khao Lak's beaches one year after the tsunami destroyed dozens of luxury hotels in southern Thailand, with some like the Sofitel Magic Lagoon languishing in tatters.

The resort has become a symbol of the destruction wrought by the tsunami on Thailand's tourism industry. Some 186 people were killed at the Sofitel - including 42 French, 24 Germans and 13 Chinese.

Under a grey and drizzly sky, the hotel still bears the scars of the powerful waves that left little more than a shell of the resort on December 26.

The water pushed hundreds of metres inland, up to a coconut grove, killing 129 of the resorts guests from 17 countries, as well as 54 employees and three of their relatives, according to Accor group, which manages the hotel.

The painstaking pace of forensics work has dragged out the suffering for several families. One year later, international experts in Thailand are still working to identify 805 bodies or body parts.

Just two weeks before the anniversary, a teenaged girl came to collect the remains of both her parents and one of her sisters who died at the Sofitel. Another sister is still missing.

A nearby Buddhist temple held a ceremony with the three coffins before they were repatriated.

Unlike in neighbouring Phuket, which suffered far less damage and cleaned up relatively quickly, the beaches around Khao Lak are still being rebuilt.

Most of the hotels around there were new - the region only began developing a few years ago - and occupancy rates at the ones that have reopened are dismally low, according to Thai tourism officials.

The Sofitel wasn't even able to begin clearing the property until March 22, due to a problem with its insurance. The search for bodies only wound up on August 2, according to Accor.

A total of 10 search missions combed over the site, including one with
specially trained sniffer dog sent from France.

Now the site remains in disrepair. At the entrance to the resort, once a jewel among Accor's hotels in Thailand, hang signs reading: "warning - dangerous site - no entry".

The owner of the hotel, Zeynel Atmacan, appears annoyed at the media glare shining on his property.

"I will not talk to journalists. The wounds are too fresh. Come back in
January," he insists.

Atmacan, a Turkish-German, says he wants to respect the memories of the dead.

"On December 26, there will be religious ceremonies for the Christians, for the Muslims, for the Buddhists and for the Jews," he says.

But he's also anxious to tell the world that his hotel has not disappeared.

"I have not given up," he says. "It will reopen in June or July 2007."

"This is for sure, and if it is not with Accor, it will be with Sheraton or
with another partner," he says.

Atmacan indicates he has received some 17 million euros from insurance payouts, but industry experts believe he'll need another 10 million euros to reopen.

But the deaths at his resort have become the subject of a court case in France, where relatives of victims in the Support Association for Families of Sofitel Khao Lak Victims filed a lawsuit on September 5.

Preliminary hearings have already begun in Paris in the case, which claims "involuntary homicide and failure to help someone in danger".

A lawyer for the families said the suit is going after Accor, because he
said the Sofitel had been alerted to the tsunami some 15 minutes before the waves hit, but the hotel had failed to respond.

Accor confirmed that it had received a telephone call "only a few minutes" before the tsunami, recommending an evacuation.

"eople didn't realise what was happening" at first, when the water retreated before the tsunami struck, said Patrick Basset, Accor's vice president for operations in this part of Asia.

"Then the hotel employees did everything they could to save the clients, at the cost of their own lives," he said.

The Sofitel was particularly vulnerable to the waves, because its buildings open directly onto the beach and form a U-shape, which helped the waters rise quickly and powerfully in the rooms, witnesses said.

Meanwhile, just five kilometres away, the Meridien, which suffered 20 deaths, reopened on October 15.

The hotel's general manager, Achim Brueckner, admitted that times were tough as Christmas approaches, a period when the hotel should be booked.

"In this area, only 1,200 rooms are available today. Before the tsunami, there were 6,500 rooms," he said.

"I believe Khao Lak will be back to full operation next year." - AFP/de

PHUKET, Thailand : One year on, many children of the tsunami say life has improved but UNICEF warns that there are many seemingly "invisible" children who still need help.

The United Nation agency also warns that the risks of tsunami children being exploited are ever increasing.

Ten-year-old Win Hla is one of Thailand's invisible children.

Her family crossed the Thai border illegally from Myanmar in search of a better life.

But Win's brother and sister were killed by the tsunami.

Now Win can't get access to government health care or education because she is an illegal.

Fortunately, local aid groups in Phang Nga Province have set up a makeshift school hidden within a rubber plantation to help hundreds like her.

Said Win, "I'm really enjoying school here with my teachers and I love playing with my friends here."

Aid groups estimate that there are several thousand Myanmarese children living in Phang Nga, many of whom were denied help after the tsunami struck.

Because of their predicament, most of these children are forced to work, many starting as young as 12.

Said Kyaw Lin Oo of Grassroots Human Rights Education, "The Thai government focus on the Thai citizens here and they focus on other tourists. I think they cannot focus on the Burmese; they cannot be included in the target group. That's why we came here, to help the Burmese people."

Many of the Myanmarese children live with their families in squatter huts without proper sanitation and access to facilities.

Aid workers are concerned that this could pose a serious threat to the children's future.

And the risks to children in Thailand are on the rise.

More than 1,400 children were orphaned and as many as 300,000 were psychologically scarred by the killer waves.

Said Andrew Morris, Thailand Programme Coordinator for UNICEF, "The risks for children are increasing from now. The longer it takes for families to restore their income the greater the risk of their children dropping out of school, leaving their family to go into the sex industry, leaving school to raise an income by perhaps begging."

It is a future that international aid groups are working hard to change for the children of the tsunami. - CNA /ct

Tsunami Disaster - One Year On: Channelnewsasia.com special coverage

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