The 2004 tsunami traveled east across the Andaman Sea and hit the southwest coast of Thailand about 2 hours after the earthquake. Located about 500 km from the epicenter at the time, the region was popular with tourists because of Christmas. Many of these tourists were taken by surprise by the tsunami, as they were not notified in advance. The tsunami hit during high tide. The main damaged sites include the west coast of the island of Phuket, the tourist town of Khao Lak in Phang Nga province, the coastal provinces of Krabi, Satun, Ranong and Trang and small islands such as Ko Racha Yai, the Phi Phi islands, the Surin islands and the Similan archipelago. Approximately 8,000 people were killed.
Thailand experienced the second largest tsunami run-up. The tsunami heights recorded:
6–10 m (20–33 ft) in Khao Lak
3–6 m (9.8–19.7 ft) along the west coast of Phuket island
3 m (9.8 ft) along the south coast of Phuket island
2 m (6 ft 7 in) along the east coast of Phuket island
4–6 m (13–20 ft) on the Phi Phi Islands
19.6 m (64 ft) at Ban Thung Dap
5 m (16 ft) at Ramson
6.8 m (22 ft) at Ban Thale Nok
5 m (16 ft) at Hat Praphat (Ranong Coastal Resources Research Station)
6.3 m (21 ft) at Thai Mueang District
6.8 m (22 ft) at Rai Dan
The quiet resort town of Khao Lak is located on a stretch of golden sandy beach, famed for its hotels overlooking the Andaman Sea and hilly rainforests. A video, documented by a local restaurant manager from a hill adjacent to the beach, showed that the tsunami's arrival was preceded by a sudden retreat of the sea exposing the seafloor. Many tourists and locals can be seen trying to gather fish and moments later, the tsunami can be seen suddenly as a turbulent bore and inundating a person, several people and the hotels inland. Another amateur video, captured by a German family at beach level, showed the tsunami appearing as a white horizontal line in the distant horizon, gradually becoming bigger (bore-like), engulfing a jet skier and lifting two police boats. A maximum inundation of approximately 2 km (1.2 mi) was measured, the inundated depths were 4–7 m (13–23 ft) and there was evidence that the tsunami reached the third floor of a resort hotel. The tsunami in Khao Lak was bigger due to offshore coral reefs and shallow seafloor which caused the tsunami to pile-up. This was similar to eyewitness accounts of the tsunami at Banda Aceh.
Khao Lak also experienced the greatest tsunami lift outside of Sumatra. The highest recorded tsunami was measured at 19.6 m (64 ft) at Ban Thung Dap on the southwest tip of Ko Phra Thong Island and the second highest at 15.8 m (52 ft) at Ban Nam Kim. In addition, the highest death toll occurred in Khao Lak, with around 5,000 dead.
The video is a tribute to the victims of the tsunami in Khao Lak, located in Thailand, where most lives were lost.
R.I.P.
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