3. Damage assessment

3.1 Livelihoods of coastal communities

According to the Department of Disaster Mitigation and Prevention, Ministry of Interior, 5 322 people died, 8 457 people were injured, and 3 144 went missing as a result of the tsunami^[4]. Nearby 300 villages in 78 subdistricts (Tambons) of 24 districts were affected. In these areas, 20 537 households with a total population of 91 638 people are considered to be directly affected through loss of, or injury to, a family member. In Phang-Nga, the most affected province, over 19 000 people from 4 500 households were directly affected covering 45 villages in 14 subdistricts of six districts.^[5] More than 3 600 houses were destroyed and almost 3 200 houses were damaged. Approximately 70 percent of the total damage was in Phang-Nga province. This disaster had a serious impact on the local population, their livelihoods and the local economy. Many survivors are in a state of shock and are not in a frame of mind to work. They need emergency support from the public and the government. At present, they have enough food to eat, but they need housing and occupational support (seeds, planting materials, equipment, tools, etc.) to restart agricultural activities. In general, the fisheries sector was the worst affected, however, some people were involved in both the fisheries and agriculture sectors. Affected communities’ needs are listed in Table 3.

The Department of Disaster Mitigation and Prevention reports that the estimated damage to the fishery sector is US$ 47.2 million, with half of the losses in Phang-Nga. The losses in the business sector are currently estimated at nearly US$ 390 million, excluding the losses to 98 damaged hotels and resorts in Phang-Nga, which have yet to be estimated. Damage to civil infrastructure, including roads, bridges and piers is estimated at US$ 7.8 million, with almost 70 percent of the damage in Phang-Nga.

According to the DOF record of 10 January 2005, at least 33 725 victims/families (of which 5 202 and 28 523 come from fishery and aquaculture families, respectively) from 396 villages in 74 subdistricts suffered from damage related to their fishing and aquaculture activities as well as to some of their houses. The deaths of relatives or of the farmers themselves also occurred. These figures do not include an uncounted number of families that suffered the loss of or damage to their private jetties/piers for their own boats or for use by the fishery services sector such as ice plants, gas stations, fish landing and markets. Apart from the actual damage to properties, victims also lost their opportunity costs or incomes until the next catch/harvest.

Table 3 Summary status of affected communities

Source: Presentations made at DOF/EU CHARM “Workshop on fishing communities and livelihoods impacts of tsunami”, Phuket 14-15 February 2005.

3.2 Coastal fishery

The total damage to the fisheries sector in the southern province (US$ 47.2 million) was much higher than other agriculture subsectors. This does not include the opportunity cost that the affected fishermen/aquafarmers have to forgo during their forced inactivity until they undertake the next catch/harvest. This tsunami severely affected not only fisher folk and aquaculturists, but also fisher folk who earn additional income from ecotourism. The estimated damage as reported by the Fisheries Rescue Coordination Centre on 10 January 2005 includes damage to 3 741 small fishing boats, 1 199 large fishing boats, 554 ecotourism boats, 6 063 fish and shellfish cage farms (totalling 609 869 sq m), 42 shrimp farms (266 rai), 573 hatcheries (86 818 sq m), 17 shellfish concession plots (819 rai) and 47 063 sets of fishing gears. In addition, 83 public harbours/piers were affected whereas the damage to private jetties/piers for private boats or fishery associated businesses (e.g. ice plants, gas stations, fish landing and markets, etc) has not been assessed yet.

The proportion of damaged large boats (over 10 m length) was greatest in Phuket (41 percent), Phang-Nga (27 percent), Ranong (17 percent), Krabi (12 percent), Satun (2.9 percent) and Trang (0.1 percent). For small boats (below 10 m length) the figures were Krabi (22 percent), Phang-Nga (20 percent), Trang (17 percent), Phuket (17 percent), Satun (15 percent) and Ranong (9 percent). The most severely damaged small boats (432 of these) and large boats (390 of these) at district level were in Muang district, Phuket. The severe damage to large boats (mainly trawlers and purse seiners) was caused by several boats being crushed against each other and subsequently hitting the fishing ports, bridges, and rigid structures or by sinking. It is noted that the primary data, which were collected from the claims of victims, for valuing damages, were either overestimated or underestimated by the victims.

Some small-scale fisher folk may overestimate their claims in cases where there are no lost boats and/or equipment available for inspection. The large scale operators might not bother to report the value of damage to their boats as making a claim for compensation requires a lot of paper work and because they expect very little compensation from the government. It also takes time for DOF/authorized officers, who are updating the necessary data, to re-estimate/counter check any compensation claims by actual investigation under the government’s emergency assistance programme. Hence, it was not possible to get the true value of damage to both fishing boats and fishing gears during this mission period.

Fig. 1 Small fishing boats were worst hit

Fig. 2 Large trawlers were damaged

Fig. 3 Some damaged boats ended up in mangrove areas

Fig. 4 Engines in need of repair

Table 4 Number of damaged to fishing boats

Source: Department of Fishery, 10 January 2005

Note: * = This covers the cost for retrieval of boats only. The value of completely damaged or lost boats, boat and engine repair is not included.

According to the DOF data of 7 January 2005, 421 bamboo traps, 13 690 other fish traps (including crab traps and squid traps) and 1 871 nets were lost or damaged.

The mission considers that the actual damage to these fishing gears should be higher than that recorded because various types of gear such as air compressors for diving to collect coral reef fish, lobster and shellfish, and illegal fishing gears were not included in the calculations. The details of damage at the district level are shown in Annex 13 and are summarized at the provincial level in Table 5.

The most severe damage to fishing gears was found in Satun, Phang-Nga, Phuket, and Krabi, in that order.

Table 5 Damage to fishing gears in six provinces

Source: Department of Fisheries, 7 January 2005

3.3 Coastal aquaculture

The most severe damage in the aquaculture sector was to fish cages (estimated loss at US$ 20.3 million) for marine fish farming of which Phang-Nga (29 percent), Ranong (20 percent) and Satun (18 percent) were mostly affected (see table 6). The cultured species include grouper, sea bass, red snapper, lobster, etc. Though fish cages are mainly located in sheltered areas, well protected by mangroves such as the mouth of rivers and canals, the rapidly rising tides and their reversal caused the fragile cage structures to break by crashing them in to other cages or rigid structures or mangrove trees. If the fish stocks did not escape from the damaged cages, the remaining stocks might be injured by the collision and subsequently die as a result of bacterial infection of their wounds. The total damage to shrimp ponds was reported to amount to only 233 rai (mainly in Krabi and Phang-Nga) because most shrimp farms along the Andaman coast are located on higher ground which the tsunami waves could not reach. Shrimp hatcheries were heavily damaged in Muang district, Phuket, Takua Pah district and Tai Muang district, Phang-Nga, where the structures were mainly destroyed. Because of good water quality, many of these hatcheries also operated broodstock development and sold the newly hatched larvae (nauplii) to other small-scale hatcheries. Fortunately, the main areas for shrimp hatcheries are in the Gulf of Thailand. The rest of the hatcheries were only slightly affected, such as by the loss of and damage to water pumps, other equipment and shrimp seed stocks. The impact on shellfish culture covered 819 rai of seabed concession for cockles and mussels as well as 165 013 sq m of mussel and oyster rafts/cages. The worst shellfish damage was in Phang-Nga, Phuket, Satun and Ranong. The damage at the district level is shown in Annex 13 and the provincial level data are summarized in Table 6.

Table 6 Damage to coastal aquaculture in six affected provinces

Source: Department of Fishery, 10 January 2005
Note: * = Updated information received from Ranong Provincial Fisheries Officer on 20 Jan 2005

Fig. 5 Smashed fish cages

Fig. 6 Fish cages were washed onshore

Fig. 7 Small traps

Fig. 8 Shrimp hatcheries were damaged

Fig. 9 Crab traps

Fig. 10 Box traps

3.4 Agriculture

The Ministry of Agriculture compiled the data received from the DOAE provincial offices and estimated the damage in the agricultural sector. As of the report on 26 January 2005, 9 726 rai of agricultural lands (rice, horticultural and other crops) owned by 1 157 farmers were affected.

Significant damage to agricultural land resulted from the intrusion of sea water (Fig. 11-13). Damage due to direct impacts of the tidal waves to crops at close proximity to the coast line was minor. However, the majority of crops suffered from the high level of salinity. Fruit and plantation trees showed toxicity symptoms such as yellowing and drying leaves (Fig. 14). The Land Development Department (LDD) reported that about 8 000 rai of agricultural land in the six provinces were estimated to be affected by salinity.

Figs. 11a Damage to agricultural lands due to sea water intrusion

Figs. 11b Damage to agricultural lands due to sea water intrusion

Fig. 12 Sea water intrusion and uprooting of young oil palm trees

Fig. 13 Crops affected by sea water intrusion

Fruit trees, namely cashew, rambutan, mango, longong, jackfruit, and mangosteen were more vulnerable to salinity and more severely affected than the other crops. Some affected mangosteen trees showed yellowing and twitching of young leaves, whereas older or mature leaves remained green at the time of assessment after five to ten days of sea water intrusion (Fig. 14). It was, therefore, recommended to monitor the damages frequently, preferably weekly, at least for a period of six weeks after sea water intrusion. Young oil palms, especially two to three years old trees, grown in areas near the coast were severely damaged because of salinity (Fig. 15). Leaves and the leaf axis of whole plants turned red and dried indicating that the oil palm was not tolerant to high level of soil salinity. Rubber trees more than three years old showed greater tolerance to salinity. Coconut, as expected, showed a high degree of tolerance to salinity, but many young and smaller trees near the coast were knocked over because of the direct impact of tidal waves. Oil palm trees withstood the direct impact of tidal waves. Details of damage to the crop sector are presented in Table 7.

Fig. 14 Young leaves of mangosteen showing saline toxicity symptoms

Fig. 15 Severely damaged oil palm plants

Table 7 Damaged cropping areas by Province

Source: Department of Agriculture Extension, 26 January 2005
* Affected area: The area where the agricultural land was flooded with sea water

Crop damage in Phang-Nga province was reported in five districts (Takua Pah, Kuraburi, Tay Muang, Takua Thung and Ko Yao). The total area damaged was 8 406 rai affecting 300 farmers. Takua Pah was the most severely affected district. Damaged crops included fruit trees, oil palm, cashew nut, vegetables, and rice. Oil palm trees and rubber seedlings in Takua Thung were severely damaged due to salinity. Soil was dark in colour with high moisture content with poor drainage due to dispersion of soil organic matter and loss of soil structure affected by salinity (Fig. 16).

Fig. 16 Agricultural land affected by salinity in Takua Thung

In Ranong province, damage to crops was mainly located in Muang Ranong, Kapur, and Suk Samrarn districts. Suk Samrarn and Kapur were the most severely affected districts in the province. Damaged crops included cashew, mangosteen, longong, rambutan, mango, coconut, rubber and seedlings of fruit trees, covering an estimated area of 1 354 rai belonging to 238 farmers. Coconut was tolerant to salinity, but many trees were destroyed due to the impact of tidal waves.

Fig. 17 Damaged coconut trees from direct impact of tidal waves

Crop damage in Satun province was reported in two districts, Thung Wa and La Ngu. Crops, including rice, water melon and oil palm, belonging to 185 farmers and covering a total area of 587 rai were damaged. Grasslands were dry as a result of sea water intrusion posing feeding problems for cattle and buffaloes.

Damage to crops in Trang was reported in two districts, Pa-lian and Haad Samran. Crops, including rice and water melon, covering 177 rai and belonging to 76 farmers were damaged. Lodging and empty grains were the main problems in rice because of salinity, whereas the fruits of water melon dried before harvesting.

Crop damage in Krabi was reported in three districts (Muang Krabi, Neua Klong, and Ko Lanta). Crops, including rice, oil palm, water melon, rubber seedlings, and coconut, belonging to 14 farmers and covering a total area of 56 rai were damaged. Oil palm trees showed saline toxicity problems (Figs. 12 and 15).

Damage to crops in Phuket was reported in two districts (Muang Phuket and Thalong). Crops, including vegetables, pineapple, rubber, mango, cashew nut, and coconut, belonging to 10 farmers and covering 25 rai were damaged. The coconut was slightly damaged, but vegetable crops were severely damaged because of salinity. Salt was visible on the soil surface, indicating a high level of soil salinity (Fig. 18).

Fig. 18 Salt damage visible on the soil surface

3.5 Livestock

Damage in the livestock sector was compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives based on the data from the DOAE and DLD provincial offices. According to the report of 4 February 2005, 535 560 head of livestock including cattle, buffaloes, pigs, sheep, goats, ducks, chickens and geese belonging to 4 898 farmers were affected because of feed shortages and damage to infrastructure in addition to 10 730 animals which were dead or missing. The Department of Disaster Mitigation and Prevention, Ministry of Interior, estimated the sustained losses of the livestock sector at US $ 0.5 million with 90 percent of the animal, losses occurring in Phang-Nga and Ranong province, including cattle, buffaloes, pigs, sheep, and goats. Chickens, ducks, quails, and geese were directly hit by the tsunami and died as a result. The surviving animals were in a critical condition because their barns were destroyed and there was a shortage of feed. They were, therefore, relocated one to two kilometres inland where the area had escaped damage and better conditions were available for raising livestock. Sick and wounded animals were provided with first aid by provincial livestock officers with drugs, feed and hay.

Details of damage to livestock are summarized in Table 8.

Table 8 Damage to livestock sector

Source: Department of Livestock Development, 4 February 2005.
* Suffering from lack of feed and water

Damage to livestock in Phang-Nga was reported in four districts namely, Takua Pah, Kuraburi, Tay Muang and Ko Yao. The Department of Livestock reported that 6 452 farm animals (cattle, buffaloes, pigs, native chickens, and ducks) belonging to 236 farmers were dead or missing because of the direct impact of the tsunami. The poultry sector was the most severely affected. Livestock damage in Ranong province was reported in three districts (Muang Ranong, Kapur, and Suk Samrarn). Kapur and Suk Samrarn were among the most severely affected districts of the province. Livestock, including cattle, buffaloes, sheep, chickens and ducks belonging to 154 farmers were reported dead or missing. In Satun province, damage to livestock was mainly in the districts of Thung Wa and La Ngu. Farm animals, including 20 head of cattle, 22 sheep and one goat belonging to 25 farmers were reported dead or missing. A number of cattle, buffaloes, and sheep belonging to 300 farmers in these districts are suffering from an acute shortage of animal feed mainly because of the extensive damage to the grasslands (Fig. 19).

Fig. 19 Damaged pasture lands and emergency supply of feed to surviving livestock

Damage to livestock in Trang was reported in two districts (Pa-lian and Haad Samrarn). Livestock, including 79 sheep and chickens, belonging to nine farmers was reported dead or missing. In Krabi province damage to livestock was reported in three districts (Muang Krabi, Neua Klong, and Ko Lanta), where a total of 317 farm animals (cattle, buffaloes, sheep, ducks and chickens) belonging to 36 farmers were reported dead or missing. Damage to livestock in Phuket was reported in two districts (Muang and Thalang) where 897 animals including pigs, sheep, duck, chickens and geese belonging to 22 farmers were reported dead or missing.

3.6 Mangrove and other coastal forests

The Office of Mangrove Conservation, Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, reported on the mangrove destruction caused by the tsunami of 26 December 2004 and stated that about 1 900 rai and 10 rai of mangrove forest in Phang-Nga (Takua Pah, Kuraburi, Tay Muang), and Satun (Tarutao National Park) respectively were affected. The damage was less than one percent of the total mangrove forest in the six provinces. From discussions with MOAC provincial officers in Phang-Nga province, the mangrove destruction was minor and partly caused by being hit with the tsunami affected fishing boats which ended up in the mangrove forests. Damage to national parks was also reported at Laem Son in Ranong, Sirinad in Phuket, Surin in Phang-Nga, Similan in Phang-Nga, Tan Boke (Ko Hong) in Krabi, and Noparat Thara in Krabi province. Details of the mangrove destruction are presented in Table 10.

Fig. 20. Common view of the mangroves in Southern Thailand (Courtesy of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources)

As shown in Fig. 20, the majority of mangroves in the south are secondary growth forests, partly because of their historical utilization for charcoal and timber production. Other reasons include illegal logging, clear cutting for fish or shrimp farming, and socio-economic development activities, e.g. construction of harbors, roads, etc. Some degraded areas have been naturally regenerated or artificially replanted. Most mangrove trees are less than 12 cm in diameter and 10 m in height.

The damage to the mangroves is displayed in Figures 21, 22, 23 and 24. The damage is concentrated in the sea front areas where the tsunami had the greatest physical impact. Mangrove trees are broken and knocked down in a landward direction. Although Figures 23 and 24 display the most severe damage (30-40 meters to the inland), the tsunami’s impact is confined to less than 10 meters inland in most cases. Mangroves further inland are unharmed. Another type of serious damage observed was caused by the boats that were swept up by the force of the tsunami as shown in Fig. 25.

Fig. 21. Typical secondary growth mangroves. The main species are Rhizophora apiculata and R. mucronata (Courtesy of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources)

Fig. 22. Damaged mangrove trees (Courtesy of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources)

Fig. 23. A severely damaged mangrove stand (Courtesy of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources)

Fig. 24. Broken mangrove trees along the sea front

Fig. 25. Serious damage to the mangroves was caused by the boats swept there by the force of the tsunami

In many places, the local people told the mission team that a mangrove forest was a buffer to protect communities, including houses and land from the force of the tsunami. For example, the chief of Ban Haad Sai Khao Village, Tambon Kampuan Suk Samrarn district, Ranong province, said that he believed that the mangrove forest in front of their community protected them from significant tsunami damage. For this reason he will encourage the villagers to rehabilitate the mangrove forest.

The mission team also visited the Ranong Mangrove Forest Research Centre^[6] which is located in Tambon Ngao, Muang Ranong District, about 15 km south west of Ranong town. No mangroves in the Research Centre, which faces the Ngao Canal, have been damaged by the tsunami.

Table 9 Damage to mangrove forests

Source: the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, 14 January 2005

The estimated area of mangrove forests in the South in 2000 was 209 310 ha or 85.3 percent of the national total, which was 245 255 ha (RFD, 2002). The six provinces surveyed by the mission team had a total of 176 590 ha, or the majority of the mangrove forests in the South. Thus, only about 0.17 percent of the mangroves was in fact damaged. Although this figure is likely to increase after further damage assessment, the total is unlikely to exceed one percent.

The mission team was unable to spend much time making a detailed assessment of the damage to other coastal forests. However, on the basis of field observations, reports from the local people, and a photographic analysis, the team’s general assessment is that these sustained more serious damage than the mangroves. Figures 26, 27, 28 and 29 indicate that the damage mostly occurred on sandy beaches where, sometimes, a layer as deep as one metre was lost as a result of sand erosion. Large trees have deeper and more developed root systems to hold them against the impact of a tsunami and therefore uprooted large trees were seldom seen. Uprooted medium and small size trees were common however.

Fig. 26. Trees on sandy beaches were the most affected by the tsunami. This photo shows serious sand erosion. A large amount of sand has been washed out and the tree roots are now exposed. (Courtesy of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources)

Fig. 27. A narrow sandbar is susceptible to the impact of a tsunami. A smaller tree was uprooted by the loss of the sandy layer. (Courtesy of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources)

Fig. 28. Very serious sand erosion - a loss of about one meter plus the sand layer, in a Casuarina stand. (Courtesy of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources)

Fig. 29. Trees uprooted as a result of sand erosion (Courtesy of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources)

Casuarina, coconut palm, Terminalia and Tamarindus appear to have been relatively more resistant to the tsunami than other species found along the coast, such as Leucaena leucocephala (ipil-ipil). Kapok trees (Ceiba pentandra) appear to have offered a medium degree of resistance. The mission team recommends that more scientific studies, including on the long-term effect on root-exposed standing trees, be carried out. This would provide important information on the appropriate species to plant as part of a programme to rehabilitate the area.

The mission team also observed that the damage to the woody vegetation along the rocky seashore was almost negligible. Further study would be needed to determine the reasons for this.

In the rubber plantations inundated by sea water, the leaves of rubber trees have turned brown (see Fig. 30). Because of their economic value in latex and wood production, further study to determine a prognosis is recommended.

Fig. 30. Rubber trees with brown leaves

The mission’s mandate did not include an environmental impact assessment of coastal natural resources. However, it is worth noting that some epiphyte ferns attached to trees were observed to have died (Fig. 31). Whether the cause of this was salt water is hard to say with any certainty at this stage. Further study on biodiversity is recommended and should cover this environmentally sensitive species group.

Fig. 31. A dead epiphyte fern on a tree (Courtesy of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources)

Fig. 32 indicates that a woody stand on a coastal area, especially on sandy beaches that are not suitable for agricultural uses, can act as a buffer zone offering protection to the human communities and infrastructure behind it.

Fig. 32. A well grown Casuarina stand on a sandy beach

Mangrove and other coastal forests appear to have played a significant role in protecting beaches, land, houses, animals, and fruit trees from the destruction of the tsunami. However, no scientific studies have been carried out to determine their protective functions in relation with the specific conditions of a stand, such as the location, size and shape, species composition, tree height and density, soil type, etc., linked with the management systems practiced.