[Nicke]

PHUKET: Figures just released to the Gazette show that 934 people are confirmed dead in the southern provinces hit by the tsunami, 2,720 missing and a further 10,063 injured.

Phang Nga and Khao Lak are the areas worst hit by the series of surges that began yesterday morning. The official figures for this area alone is 478 dead, 657 missing and 4,799 injured.

The breakdown of the toll is as follows:

Phuket: 203 dead, 814 missing, 1,239 injured.

Phang Nga (including Khao Lak): 537 dead, 990 missing, 4,849 injured.

Krabi (including Phi Phi Islands): 68 dead, none reported missing, 1,003 injured.

Ranong: 118 dead, 97 missing, 167 injured.

Trang: 4 dead, none reported missing, 70 injured.

Satun: 4 dead, 2 missing, 15 injured.

The figures were provided by the Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor).

Some 66 bodies, mostly, according to Chalermkiat Ongjarean, Chairman of Kusolatham Foundation, of foreigners have been taken to Patong Hospital and await identification.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra inspected the disaster areas of Khao Lak and Phi Phi Island. He spent Sunday night in Phuket and held a press conference yesterday morning at the Royal Phuket City Hotel.

Before his departure, PM Thaksin said rescue workers were searching for bodies stuck under mud and debris in Khao Lak and Takuapa, described by Thai TV Channel 3 as the most devastated parts of Phang Nga.

“We have already ordered food to be flown in and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is looking after tourists and issuing temporary identification cards. We are providing free accommodation, food and air transport to survivors,” he added.

Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula said it had been impossible to reach Khao Lak due to damage to the telecommunications network there, but that officials were working to establish links in order to coordinate the rescue effort and begin damage assessment.

“Although we have reports of hundreds dead at Khao Lak, I believe the death toll there will be over 1,000. Identification of the bodies will be difficult,” he said.

Regarding the situation in Phuket, he said, “We are helping tourists who are without accommodation. Many are afraid of staying at hotels within 300 meters of the shoreline.

These were provided shelter at Phuket Provincial Hall. Now the situation has improved so it is now safe for them to return to their hotels to collect their belongings,” he said.

“We have also received reports of looting from abandoned homes in the affected areas. Police are now on patrol to prevent this,” he said.

K. Bhokin added that there are now diplomatic staff from 28 countries standing by at the OrBorJor offices [click HERE for previous report]. Thai Immigration officers are also on hand and cooperating with them in issuing Certificates of Identification for foreigners who lost their passports. There are also Immigration officers on standby at Phuket International Airport.

K. Bhokin said that there are still some 1,000 people stranded on the Phi Phi Islands. Tour boats, including the Andaman Princess, have offered ferry people from Phi Phi to Phuket, he said.

Harbor Department officials continue to recover dead bodies from the sea around islands around Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi. All are being taken to Phuket, which has become the default center of emergency relief operations in the region.

“We were reassured by by Meteorological Department Director General Suparerk Tansriratanawong that any aftershocks [and associated tidal waves] will be less severe than the original shock,” he said.

Speaking to the Gazette yesterday, Julie Martinez of the United States Geological Survey, said that the seismic activity in the area was “very unusual”.

“The two [tectonic] plates – the India Plate and the Burma Plate meet at a fault line called the Andaman Thrust,” she said.

[The USGS] has recorded 40 aftershocks since the Magnitude 9 earthquake of 7.38 am (Bangkok time) on Sunday.

“They are very ‘shallow’ earthquakes – only 10 kilometers below the surface of the Earth – and the shallower they are, the worse the effects can be, especially if they occur at sea,” she explained.