• Struggling for survival
• 'Washed up' fishermen turn carpenter and build their own boats
• 'Tsunami village' rises from rubble
• Inspired by Church aid, sea gypsies turn to Christ
• Foreign aid crucial
• Body ID center looks future
• Shoddy housing doesn't make a home
• Outside volunteer carves new career in housing
• Counting the costs to the environment
• Underwater tourist trails
• Turtle hatchery at risk after waves
• Where the money went
• Covered for everything but the wave
• Corporations learn that caring counts
• Starting again from scratch
• Swedish survivor gains perspective after wave 'turned my life upside-down'
• Reasons to smile
• Justice will prevail, investor believes
• Courage and resilience ease personal pain
• Help wanted
• Second chance to get it right
• Tide turns on tourist demographics in Khao Lak
• Light on the horizon
• One day at a time
• Widows and orphans left out in the cold
• Art for the heart
IDENTIFICATION
Where the money went
While Thailand declined direct financial aid, the effectiveness of other assistance is still being debated
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| Foreign volunteers work to rebuild boats at Cape Pakarang in Phangnga's Takua Pa district, one of many programmes established to help revive the local economy. |
Foreign volunteers work to rebuild boats at Cape Pakarang in Phangnga's Takua Pa district, one of many programmes established to help revive the local economy.
Families around the world were at home celebrating the festive season when horrific images of the tsunami flashed across their television screens. Everyone seemed to know someone who was in Thailand at the time of the disaster.
A total of 2,448 foreigners from 37 countries died or went missing on Dec 26, bringing the toll of dead and missing in Thailand to 8,327. The response was huge and immediate. In England, collection boxes lined the streets, schools held fundraisers and workplaces held whip-arounds.
According to the latest figures from a Thai government-United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) database, more than four billion baht worth of assistance had been pledged for the Thai relief effort, However, by the end of the year only half of that, two billion baht, was recorded as having been dispersed. So where has all the money gone?
Because Thailand declined direct financial assistance, which some reports attributed to the country safeguarding its credit rating, other monies raised went to nations that were hardest hit. Instead, Thailand accepted ''technical assistance'', and as of September 2005 had pledged $1.06 billion, or 44 billion baht, of public money, according to the UNDP.
But by December, budgetary accounts were taking the strain. The opposition criticised a move by the Finance Ministry to boost short-term liquidity in 2006 by 100 billion baht, following the use of emergency funds for the tsunami, according to a report in the Bangkok Post.
''I don't think the [money was declined] for trade relief,'' said David Hollister, disaster recovery adviser for the UNDP. ''It is not as simple as pride. It's a statement of independence, that we don't need this any more.''
So, was there enough ''technical support'' to help Thailand shoulder the burden?
Talking to people on the ground and officials, there is a clear discrepancy. One year on and businesses are still closing down, 2,000 people are still homeless and the tragedy is still affecting tourism.
Six months estimates from the UNDP, show a 53% drop in tourism in the six tsunami-affected areas, affecting more than 100,000 livelihoods. Some foreigners even claimed to have
received no support from the government or from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) six months on.
Darren Windett from England arrived on Koh Phi Phi on Jan 28 and helped to found the NGO Hi Phi Phi. He said: ''Everyone was walking around like zombies; nothing had changed from day one. I expected to come out here and there to be an aid agency, but Thai people were sitting on top of buildings and wouldn't leave because their dead families were still inside.''
According to the UNDP,funding usually comes from government aid agencies, bilateral aid, the United Nations, NGOs, and a government auxiliary in the afflicted nation - in Thailand, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation in the Ministry of the Interior.
However, the UNDP's Mr Hollister admits: ''Whether it was one hour or one day, it always seems like it wasn't fast enough.''
To date, the UN has dispersed the most aid, having spent up to 592 million baht, followed by Japan at 588 million baht.
UN projects included humanitarian relief, emergency grants, support for migrant workers, health care, fishing and farming assistance, communications, emergency education, HIV work, local authority support, sanitation, child protection, early warning systems and environmental assessment.
The United States committed the most at more than 838 million baht, followed by France at more than 692 million baht, but not all of it had been dispersed.
Mr Hollister said: ''There is always more collected than is dispersed, usually for a lot of good reasons.''
Reasons can include cash coming with conditions - for example, a project must be carried out at a particular site popular with a certain group of expatriates - and sometimes funding is scrapped because the project is unviable.
But in December 2005 there is still confusion among charities working on the ground as to whether morending was needed.
Save the Children UK, which has provided relief for 35,000 people - 31,000 of whom are Thai and Burmese children - says it doesn't want any more donations. Thailand tsunami programme co-ordinator Lynne Benson said: ''Save the Children UK now has enough money to funed our plans in the tsunami-affected regions for the next five years. We are therefore not taking any new donations for the tsunami.''
Save the Children UK set aside 44 million baht for tsunami recovery projects in 2005. Of this, 26 million baht came from the UK's disaster emergency committee, 12.5 million from Save the Children Sweden, 1.6 million from the United Nations Children's fund Thailand, and 3.9 million from corporate donors in the UK. By the end of October, 74% was expected to have -been spent, on track for the end of the year.
The charity worked with local people, volunteers and other NGOs in Ranong, Phangnga and Krabi to rebuild, educate, collate information and provide food and water. It also helped to start up new local businesses, contributed to the regeneration of fishing livelihoods by providing 109 boats, and established loans for 40 affected families.
Yet one of Save the Children UK's partners, the Tsunami Volunteer Centre, which worked on the same projects with its team of foreign and local volunteers, is asking for more cash.
The centre co-ordinates the efforts of foreign and local volunteers along the Andaman coast. Public relations officer Wes Fisher, from the USA, said: ''There is more of a need for funding. Our projects are pretty much fully staffed this month. However, in January it could be a different story. Some are only staying for the one-year anniversary.''
On Koh Phi Phi, where more people were killed per square kilometer than anywhere else in Thailand, foreigners set up Hi Phi Phi, to co-ordinate the influx of volunteers, but resorted to holding fund-raisers on the beach through lack of support from the government or other NGOs.
Hi Phi Phi managed to survive following poster campaign on Khao San Road urging tourists to turn volunteers. Word spread quickly around the backpackers' network and the destination soon became a popular place to help the country and to raise money.
NGO Hands on Global, which worked closely with Hi Phi Phi on the island, agreed that there wasn't much outside support. All of its funding came from the private sector, half from corporate foundations and the rest from individual contributions.
you would like to help out, by donating or volunteering, please contact the Tsunami Volunteer Centre at http://www.tsunamivolunteer.net/english/
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