Tsunami Thailand, One Year Later – National Response and the Contribution of International Partners

The UN Country Team report published this week, ‘Tsunami Thailand, One Year Later – National Response and the Contribution of International Partners’, acknowledges that progress has been made over the last few months, especially in providing psychosocial support to traumatized families, getting children back to school, helping migrant workers to access healthcare, and assisting fisherfolk and tourism workers to repair their boats or learn new skills.

The human cost of the tsunami in Thailand left over 8,000 people dead, severely impacted more than 400 villages, and destroyed the livelihoods of 100,000 people. Measured in financial terms, Thailand is the second most affected country after Indonesia, with USD 2.1 billion in damages and losses.

The Royal Thai Government led a prompt and effective humanitarian relief operation, providing assistance to Thai and foreign nationals; and there has been an extraordinary response from the public, NGOs and private companies.

International support to Thailand is small, but strategic, and amounts to USD 69 million, compared to the USD 1 billion spent by the Government on relief and reconstruction. Among the international partners, the top five are UNICEF, World Vision, UNDP, World Bank, and USAID in that order, accounting for half of all international support.

A year after the devastating tsunami struck Thailand’s Andaman provinces, December 26 will be a day for the people, Government, and other local and international partners to remember those who lost their lives, to assess the lessons learned and to give renewed impetus to rebuilding communities and livelihoods.

Longer–term recovery does present major challenges to all involved, including the need to solve land disputes, address the housing situation, recover the livelihoods of poor and vulnerable communities, improve the rights of migrant workers, ensure long-term social protection, improve local governance and community participation, rehabilitate the environment in a sustainable manner, and develop community-based disaster preparedness plans.

“The anniversary of the disaster provides an opportunity for the people and Government of Thailand to collectively assess the situation of the affected communities and whether their needs are being fully met”, comments acting UN Resident Coordinator, Inese Zalitis. “Now the challenge is to make sure that longer-term recovery is done in a sustainable way, and in the spirit of the ‘building back better’ principle”.

The international community is fully committed to supporting Thailand in its recovery efforts, and is focusing on helping the more vulnerable in society, from women and children to foreign migrant workers and minority groups.

For more information, Please also contact Amanda Pitt,
Public Information Officer at tel. 02 288 1940
or Dennis Duncan at tel. 06 022 7443