ANDAMAN COAST POST-TSUNAMI LANDSCAPE
ISLAND RECOVERY
Phi Phi Don and other coastal areas of Krabi Province

"Nature has coped with the giant waves; it was man's designs atop nature that haven't fared so well."

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On 7 January 2005, 11 days after the 26 December 2004 tsunamis, Krabi governor Arnont Promnart arranged a helicopter and speedboat trip to Phi Phi Don and other coastal areas of Krabi Province specifically to assess the needs for physical recovery and potential plans to aid in that recovery.

From cloud level, the tall coco palms, glittering beaches and pristine limestone forest on H-shaped Phi Phi Don presented a very normal first impression. The first exception noted was Chong Kiu, a narrow pass through a limestone ridge that forms the north-eastern tip of the island. A road that links both sides of the slender cape is deluged with sand, and the sides of the pass eroded.

At Ao Lo Dalam and Ao Ton Sai, the back-to-back bays that form the nerve centre of Phi Phi development, the damage has been tragic and extensive. The narrow lanes of Ao Ton Sai's former tourist town were piled high with post-tsunami debris, although large areas near the centre of the bay had been cleared to facilitate relief and recovery efforts.

Krabi governor Arnont Promnart then led a survey of the bays around Phi Phi Ley and Phi Phi Don island by speedboat. In most areas, the group of experts noted either a touch less or a touch more sand than in years past, and a few palms uprooted, but most appear to be quite intact. Nature has coped with the giant waves; it was man's designs atop nature that haven't fared so well.

Hat Yao, topped by a line of low-rise resorts, was protected from the waves' full impact by the large coral reef in front. The reef itself has suffered minimal damage.

On Phi Phi Ley, no obvious damage was detected. Ao Lo Samah, near the island's southern tip, has lost some of its sand so the beach looks smaller, although the bay itself is more pristine and rubbish-free than usual. On the island's western flank, Ao Maya, the famous beach where scenes for the Leonardo DiCaprio backpacker epic – The Beach was filmed, has grown in size and also looks better than ever. Both of these coves typically catch empty plastic water bottles and other flotsam from passing tourist boats, but with boat traffic reduced to almost nothing after the disaster, their waters are enjoying a much needed respite.

Nearby Koh Phai (Bamboo Island) and Koh Yung (Mosquito Island) look perfectly idyllic, once again the unintended beneficiaries of disaster. Large wooden bungalows on Koh Phai, used as accommodation for park rangers, show absolutely no sign of damage. The fact that the cosy homes were sensibly planted on sturdy stilts well back from the beach, behind groves of casuarinas trees, might have much to do with their survival. Even the dive buoys off Phi Phi Ley, Koh Phai and Koh Yung remain undisturbed.

The situation was much the same on Koh Poda and Koh Kai, two islands to the east of Phi Phi and part of Hat Noppharat Thara – Koh Phi Phi National Marine Park. On the Krabi mainland, Ao Nang and Hat Noppharat Thara both suffered minimal damage but repairs have been made and these beaches have already returned to normal tourism capacity.

Farther south Hat Rai Leh and Hat Tham Phra Nang, two of the most beautiful beaches in Krabi, were hardly touched by the giant waves.

By the time a month had lapsed since the tsunami, much of the debris on Krabi's damaged beaches had been cleared and recovery work was well underway. All tourist accommodations on the east coast of Phi Phi Don -- including Holiday Inn Phi Phi Island, Phi Phi Island Village Resort, PP Coral Resort and Spa, and Phi Phi Natural Resort -- were open for business, as were those along Hat Yao at the island's southeast corner. Ferries to Phi Phi Don from Krabi and Phuket are in operation once again. On Ao Nang and Hat Rai Leh all accommodations were open, save for the Rayavadee, which will re-open on 6 February. Two of Rayavadee's restaurants, along with the swimming pool, received water damage but will re-open on 6 March. The only areas still needing rehabilitation, in fact, are Ao Lo Dalam and Ao Ton Sai on Koh Phi Phi Don.

It has been agreed that Ao Ton Sai warrants total restoration from the ground up. The question on everyone else's mind now is, what shape should the island's tourist core take this time around?

PHI PHI DON DEVELOPMENT PLANS
Governor Promnart says that provincial planners are now surveying every square metre of Phi Phi Don in order to come up with an entirely new development plan. The first priority will be to identify any land where park encroachment has occurred and to re-claim these areas for marine park protection.

The province also intends to re-plan and re-zone the core area of beach, palms, and casuarinas between Ao Ton Sai and Ao Lo Dalam to ensure that replacement architecture is of a lower density.

According to Governor Promnart, this will help to preserve the dual-bay views as well as make the beaches easier to evacuate in the event of future tropical storms or tsunamis. One further idea will be to create a public beach park in the central area linking both bays.

Krabi officials are not alone in their desire to take advantage of the 'clean slate' the giant waves have provided in the wake of much human tragedy. For the first time in nearly 30 years, Patong Beach on Phuket is free from its pre-tsunami forest of beach umbrellas, sling chairs and vendor carts. Phuket authorities hope to keep it that way, or at least to reach a compromise with beach vendors that will result in a greatly reduced number and density of umbrella/chair concessions.

At the national level authorities are also pushing hard to completely rehabilitate the three spots on Thailand's Andaman coast where the greatest damage occurred, namely Khao Lak, Patong Beach, and Phi Phi Don. At each of these by far the greatest damage to life and property has been at specific properties built closely together and closest to the beach.

Hence in all three areas, thoughts about restoration run along parallel lines: Lower the density of resorts and other tourism suppliers, and pull all properties back well behind the high-water mark. Although Ao Ton Sai and Ao Lo Dalam remain closed for restoration, the rest of the island, as well as the five neighbouring islands of the Phi Phi archipelago - Koh Phai, Koh Yung, Koh Bida, Koh Kai and Koh Poda - are open for business.

The governor's post-tsunami visit to the islands and beaches of Krabi concluded with a speedboat ride back to Krabi's main tourist pier. His guests for the trip commented afterwards on the energy and efficiency involved in the relief and restoration efforts. All that is needed at this point is the final tribute to Krabi's dedication, a full return of visitors both local and international.

PHI PHI DON FLASHBACK - 1981
Travel to Phi Phi Don in 1981 involved a wave-hopping, four-hour, longtail fishing boat trip from the Andaman port town of Krabi in southern Thailand. Ao Ton Sai, the impossibly beautiful crescent of turquoise-rimmed sand at the island's centre, offered a single set of simple thatched-roof bungalows where one could spend the night.

By the mid 1990s Ao Ton Sai and Ao Lo Dalam, its mirror image only a few hundred metres away on the north side of the crossbar, were packed with pizza parlours, dive shops, multi-story concrete hotels, and souvenir stands. Towards the east end of Ao Ton Sai, near a huge pier built for the mooring of speed cruisers carrying tourists and supplies, the shophouses were packed in so tight that once you entered the grid of narrow lanes, you could see nothing of sea, sand or palms - only tile roofs, asphalt and row upon row of commercial signage printed in English, Japanese, French, German, Hebrew, and Italian.

On post-tsunami Phi Phi Don, many hope that the planned rehabilitation can restore some of the island charm lost to intensive development.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JOE CUMMINGS
Joe Cummings began travelling in South-East Asia shortly after finishing college, serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand and teaching English in Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan. Joe later earned a master's degree in Thai language and Asian art history from the University of California at Berkeley, and was a scholar in residence at the East-West Center in Hawaii. Joe has contributed to over 35 guidebooks, maps, atlases, phrasebooks and photographs, including his bestselling Lonely Planet Thailand and Buddhist Stupas of Asia: The Shape of Perfection. He is also a regular contributor to periodicals such as the International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Condé Nast Traveler and Wall Street Journal. Joe has twice been honoured with the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award for his work on Thailand. In 2002 he earned the Peace Corps Best Travel Writing award for Lonely Planet Bangkok. Joe makes his home in Chiang Mai, Thailand.