Scores of local residents from 2004 tsunami affected communities attended the opening of Kamphuan Memorial Tsunami Education museum recently. The community center and meeting halls are part of the Post-Tsunami Sustainable Livelihoods Program, sponsored by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by AIT (SERD, AARM), Coastal Resources Center/ University of Rhode Island and University of Hawaii (Hilo). The aim of this program is to help improve tsunami affected communities’ economies and give residents skills and resources necessary for self recovery.
“This is that Asia’s first community-based tsunami education museum” says the Project Director and Associate Professor, Amrit Bart.
The tsunami museum occupies a ground-floor in the Tambon Kamphuan Community Learning Center, a two-story meeting hall and resource center that was built earlier this year with funds from the USAID and the Coca-Cola Company Thailand. The building also houses a meeting room and a computer center with high-speed Internet connections for school education programs. The eco building was designed by AIT’s Habitec Center and uses constructed wetland developed by AIT scientists.
The Kamphuan Memorial Tsunami Museum focuses on the December 26, 2004 tsunami that devastated five nearby fishing villages and tells how the area’s 5,000 residents responded to the disaster and are now rebuilding their lives. The museum, created by tsunami expert Walter C. Dudley of the University of Hawaii, uses photographs, charts and interactive computer displays to explain how tsunamis are created and how people can prepare for future tsunami alerts.
“This small museum serves as a living memorial by educating residents and visitors about the tsunami risk and how to protect themselves from future tsunamis. There can be no greater tribute to those lives lost than to save lives in the future,” said Dr. Dudley, who has been contributing to the resiliency of five Suksamran District communities since the tsunami claimed hundreds of residents’ lives.
The names of the missing and dead villagers are posted in the museum, which features videotaped interviews with survivors from Ban Talae Nok, Ban Praphat and Ban Tub Nua recounting their experiences and the lessons learned as a result. Among them is Marisa Khunpakdee, one of three students in her class to survive the tsunami.
“This is a good opportunity for a community to have a facility like this,” said Suksamran District Police Major Colonel Chinnawat Premsanga, who officiated the museum’s recent ribbon cutting ceremony. “Some foreigners recognized the receding waves were a sign of a tsunami, but we didn’t. This museum provides the education that was lacking here.”
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