In yesterday's blog about the 10 year memorial of the Boxing Day Tsunami, I promised a follow up story and here it is, about the Baan Namuang Tsunami memorial offices near Takau Pa.
Loads of files and assorted materials used for victim identification in a corner of the room
During my visit of the Baan Namuang cemetery, I noticed some abandoned buildings, a little bit set back from the burial grounds. Upon closer inspection, they were all open and some cats seemed to have made them their home. Some rooms had things stashed away in them and with a bit of imagination you could see what they were used for, back in the couple of years after the tsunami, when the building were in use.
Cabinets full of file folders
One small room had a lot of file holder cabinets and seemingly a lot of trash in one corner. Upon closer inspection, some of the cabinets were open and on displayed dozens of file holders, used during the victim identification and release process. Completed body release forms and victim identification forms were easily accessible.
A body release form
Some of the file folders that I checked contained hundreds of body release forms from both Thai and foreign nationals.
From the pile in the corner; an empty 'victim identification form', in the file folders you could find plenty of filled out and completed forms
It's a bit surprising that all this information is not better secured. For me the information is rather useless, with all due respect to the victims, but I can imagine that relatives of the victims are not too excited about this information being open to 'the public'.
From the pile in the corner; an identification tag for the opening ceremony 26th December 2006
The pile of materials in the corner contained many items, ranging from 'biohazard' stickers to flyers of the cemetery, blank victim id forms and lots more.
Some display poster still waiting for someone to look at them, explaining what is done in the buildings
It felt slightly disturbing to be able to access this information and I didn't push the option to invest much further since it's none of my business. I just hope that the local authorities take better care of this sensitive information and make it less publicly accessible in the near future.
RIP to all victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami 26th December 2004
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Camille
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