Tsunami 30th December 2010
The 30th December 2010 Tsunami
It was early in December 2010 that I heard of the 30th December 2010 Tsunami. What?
One of my girlfriends said she wanted to go home to Northern Thailand because she did not want to die away from her family. "What are you talking about?" I asked.
"A big wave is coming" She said. Seemingly someone had heard something on the news. 'Tsunami on December 30th'.
I explained to her that no-one, no-one knew when a Tsunami was coming and especially weeks before the expected date. Further to that the likelihood of one occurring in the Gulf of Thailand at all was extremely unlikely ever. I went on to say that if there was a Tsunami
waiting especially for her then it was probably as likely to get her in Northern Thailand as anywhere else.
I forgot about the conversation till a week later when another of my girlfriends cancelled a trip to Phuket. "What's up?" I asked.
"Tsunami come" she said. Again this prediction. As she had actually lost relatives in the last Tsunami I can understand her worry to a degree. It is not helped by the fact that Tsunami DVD's are a popular sale item, particularly so on the beach front in Phuket. This isn't just big waves and damage portrayed but dead people too. Close ups of fly blown or water damaged corpses. The stuff of nightmares.
"Where did you hear this? I asked.
She said "Mor Do say, everybody know." Sure enough a number of girls I knew arrived from Phuket.
A 'Mor Do' is a fortune teller, a mystic, a phycic. Fortune and good luck figures so highly in the lives of girls from Northern Thailand that it is part of them. They believe. Many will read the cards several times a day or have them read for them. A visit to or from a 'Mor Do' is a weekly event for many.
As can be expected this warning of things to come has had a severe effect on tourism to the Andaman Coast of Thailand. Hotel bookings are down and holidays to the south have been cancelled. The government have made statements of reassurance and newspapers have condemned the prediction.
Some, but not all are reassured. Some are waiting for the Tsunami of 30th December 2010.
