[Nicke]

SITUATION SUMMARY

Statement by Web Sawadee Plc:

Our team has toured the affected areas of Krabi, Phuket, Phang-na (Khao Lak) with a truck loaded with food, drinks, clothes and emergency cash. Given the extensive media coverage, we wish to inform of facts, which are not much present in the media:

Phuket: There is severe damage in the selected beach area of about 500m inwards. However, the impression that "Phuket is gone" is wrong. 80% of the hotels are unaffected and full operational. 10% have damages which can be repaired with 1-2 weeks. Phuket is safe.
Most pictures you see on TV are now taken from the depot where they bring the rubble and trash from the clean-up efforts!

Krabi: Only a few selected areas (like Railay bay) got hit by the wave, but popular destinations like Ao Nang are totally safe. There is a protection wall in place for a long time already and even if the main road was flooded (and now cleaned up), 90% of the hotels are not damaged. Krabi is safe for visit.

Koh Phi-Phi: A large part of infrastructure was destroyed, leaving the island with only 3 full operational resorts. Many lives were lost on Phi-Phi.

Important: The main damage to Krabi Ao-Nang is done by the media, not the wave. Because Phi-Phi belongs to Krabi Province, there is the wrong impression that Krabi mainland is heavily damaged. They are killing Krabi by thinking in Provincial categories, instead of differentiating between Krabi, Phi-Phi and Lanta !!

Phang-Na/Khao Lak: This area got the worst hit and has the highest number in lost of lives. Most parts of Khao-Lak are virtually destroyed and it will take time to get a picture of the full extend. Khao Lak accounts for more than half of the death-toll.

Summary:
With the exception of Phang-nga/Khao Lak/Phi-Phi, the other destinations are not as bad as it appears in the media.

What you see on TV are the sites of destruction, what you don't see is the 90% unaffected part of the area. It should also be mentioned that destinations like Samui and Pattaya are perfectly save, as there was no Tsunami at all. Samui is in the gulf of Thailand (east-cost) and not in the Indian ocean (west-cost)

New Year greetings 2005 from Thailand.
Our thoughts are with those who are suffering,
or have lost their beloved ones.
May God bless you, whatever God you believe in.

YOU can help by NOT CANCELING your visit to Thailand.
The Thai people rely on your visit to keep their jobs to survive!

Jan.02, Web Sawadee Public Company Limited