BIG WAVES ON PHUKET

There's been a lot of seismic activity in Thailand over the past few weeks.  A couple of weeks ago, I felt a bit of a tremor at school but shrugged it off.  When I went downstairs to clock-out, there was a notice saying there had been a local earthquake and to steer clear of the beaches.  That one didn't amount to anything but there have been other quakes felt in the north, most significantly in Chiang Mai about a week ago.

The other day, we noticed very large waves along Karon Beach and my wife later told me there had been another tsunami, something most local residents fear to one degree or another.  Well, it wasn't exactly a tsunami but the following article from Phuket Gazette Online gives some interesting details:

Friday, May 18, 2007
High Tides Slam Phuket’s Northern Beaches

PHUKET: Following Wednesday’s earthquake felt across much of the country, unusually high tides yesterday created fear of another tsunami among some residents of west coast beaches.

Authorities said the waves, which damaged a number of seaside restaurants in Thalang District, were unrelated to seismic activity and were just the result of normal tidal conditions and strong monsoon winds.

The waves damaged nine restaurants along Haad Saikaew in Tah Chat Chai, just south of the Sarasin Bridge along Thepkrasattri Rd.  Tides there reached their highest at around 9 am, when they overturned tables and chairs and washed away the concrete foundations of the restaurants, constructed of bamboo and corrugated zinc.  No injuries were reported.

Pointing to a pillar put in place to mark wave heights during the December 2004 tsunami disaster, locals estimated that the waves reached a maximum height of almost four meters at the restaurants.

Chanthira Kalmachshima, owner of Andaman Seafood, estimated the damage to her restaurant at about 10,000 baht.

“Conditions were normal on Wednesday and we were operating as usual, but for about two hours this morning the waves came up very high, almost reaching the main road.  We are going to monitor the situation tonight,” she told the Gazette yesterday afternoon.

“It wasn’t like a tsunami because the sea didn’t recede first.  They just came up like regular waves, but much larger than normal.  About nine restaurants were open at the time and all were badly damaged.  We will have to find a safe place to stay tonight,” she added.

About 50 vehicles were still parked on Sarasin Bridge at 8 pm with people monitoring sea levels there.

K. Chanthira noted that a few days before a large sea turtle washed up on the beach and died.

“We felt that this was a sign that there was something wrong with nature.  Then today these huge waves came, the biggest we have seen since the tsunami,” she said.

During a meeting at the Governor’s office this morning, an official from Mai Khao Tambon Administration Organization warned that even higher tides are expected for tomorrow and there was a possibility that sections of Thepkrasattri Rd could become inundated.

The official said he thought the unusually high tides could be a result of global warming.

In Phang Nga, some villagers in the Baan Namkem area of Khao Lak evacuated their homes yesterday to seek shelter on higher ground in fear of tidal waves, the state-run Thai News Agency reported.

The area was devastated in the 2004 tsunami disaster.

Phang Nga Tourism Association President Chittiporn Suthipibul, also a member of the Khao Lak Resort management team, told the Gazette at about 1:30 pm today that seawater was flooding the ground floor of her hotel and several other resorts in the area.

Similar flooding occurred at about 9 am yesterday, she added.

'AFTERMATH' COMING TO DVD

Last summer, I spent several days "acting" as an extra on Tsunami:  The Aftermath, an HBO/BBC miniseries which dramatizes the days immediately following the 2004 tsunami which affected so many lives here.  There was a lot of local controversy surrounding the filming which was done at a number of locations here on Phuket as well as up in Khao Lak and, I believe, in Phang Nga and Krabi.

When the program aired in the States a couple of months ago, I heard from several friends and relatives that they spotted me in two scenes — both filmed at the airport.  In one, the setting was just a few hours after the disaster and we were looking at the flight cancellations on the big boards in the terminal.  I was in a small group with my neighbor, Franz, and a small Dutch boy who was sleeping on the floor.  The camera panned around us as Franz and I kept talking and pointing at the boards.  That was difficult — having an animated conversation (in silence as we weren't supposed to make any sounds) during take after take after take.  The second scene was easier to film; this one was set about five days after the tsunami when flights finally resumed.  Again, I was at the airport (the wounds from my first day of shooting having miraculously healed — I felt that I was my own private continuity error) — ticket in hand.  The camera did a long tracking shot through the check-in area of the airport, weaving through many survivors and reporters before finally turning towards me.  When the camera panned in my direction, I walked from the ticket counter and the camera followed me (and a number of other passengers coming from different directions) all the way to the entrance to the international departure gates.  That one required about 15 or 20 takes.

The movie wasn't (officially) shown here.  It had been scheduled to open in the theaters on December 26th (the second anniversary of the tsunami) but was cancelled amidst protests of inappropriateness.  I'd thought I'd be able to find bootleg or pirated copies of The Aftermath at the street stalls in Patong by now but that hasn't happened...

Finally, a 2-DVD set (with a couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes as bonus material) will be released on April 24.  No word on if there will be a version with Thai dubbing or subtitles but I think I'll go ahead and place a preorder through Amazon.com.