LocationsStories of hope that help us be disaster-ready
December 25, 2025
Thai Journalist Reporting on Disaster Preparedness Marking 21 Years of Indian Ocean Tsunami
As Thailand faces unprecedented earthquakes and severe floods in 2025, the role of media in building a culture of preparedness has never been more important. Through the UNDP Regional Tsunami Project, with support from the Government of Japan, 20 selected media professionals in Thailand are empowered as Agents of Change through the UNDP Media Fellowship, exchanging disaster resilience knowledge with Japanese experts. .
Reporting from communities, classrooms, and coastlines, Media Fellows translate risk science, local memory, and inclusive practices into powerful storytelling that drives change from policy to practice— marking the 21st anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami and bringing disaster resilience into national priorities.
Together, the pieces show how informed storytelling can spark awareness, encourage readiness, and strengthen the shared responsibility to protect lives—today and into the future.
Ban Nam Khem: Holding On to Life and Memory After the Tsunami
Twenty-one years after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami devastated Ban Nam Khem, this story follows survivors as they rebuild lives, livelihoods, and memory in a village forever changed. Through the experiences of Amphan Petchnoi and others, it shows how loss reshaped the community, why many families left, and how those who stayed learned to live with constant preparedness. From emergency bags to a local tsunami museum, Ban Nam Khem’s quiet resilience reflects a determination to survive—and to pass hard-won lessons to future generations.
21 Years After the Tsunami: Turning Memory into Disaster Preparedness for Youth
Marking 21 years since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, this story reflects on how lessons from loss have shaped disaster education for youth in Thailand’s Andaman coast. At Rajaprajanugroh 35 School in Phang Nga—rebuilt after being destroyed—teachers who survived the tsunami now lead evacuation drills and integrate disaster knowledge into classrooms, turning lived experience into life skills that help prepare the next generation for future risks.
‘Don’t just take my life away now’
Twenty-one years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, survivors in Patong share memories of the day the sea changed their lives. Today, warning signs, evacuation routes, and regular drills are part of daily readiness. Alongside these efforts, local voices reflect on how preparedness can continue to evolve, highlighting the importance of clear communication, community awareness, and coordination to strengthen tsunami readiness for the future.
21 Years After the Tsunami: Are Thailand’s Tourist Cities Ready?
Twenty-one years after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the story revisits the Andaman coast through voices of survivors, local operators, and tourists—many of whom still don’t know the area’s disaster history or where to evacuate. From Koh Phi Phi to Patong, it looks at today’s preparedness: signage, evacuation routes, warning communication, multilingual information, drills, and city planning—while reflecting on what it takes to keep people safe in destinations where tourism and risk sit side by side.
Faith-Based Spaces As Places for All during Disasters
Twenty-one years after the 2004 tsunami, this story revisits Phuket to ask how temples, mosques, and other religious spaces function in times of crisis—and how prepared they are today. Through accounts from Kamala and Patong, it shows how places of worship became lifesaving refuges, helped manage the dead, and opened their doors to “outsiders” such as migrant workers, tourists, and displaced staff. It then examines today’s evacuation planning, warning systems, trust and communication gaps, and the challenge of reaching “three groups on the move”—migrants, domestic workers, and foreign visitors. The piece explores whether religious spaces can play a bigger role beyond emergency shelter, such as sharing practical preparedness information in everyday community life, while recognising limits, infrastructure needs, and the importance of coordinated planning.
Exclusive: The “Seven-Layer Giant Wave” — Indigenous Warnings Before the Tsunami
Long before modern warning systems, ethnic peoples along the Andaman coast relied on an oral legend known as the “Seven-Layer Giant Wave” to read signs of the sea. Once dismissed as folklore, the story helped save lives during the 2004 tsunami. This piece traces how ancestral knowledge—shared across generations and echoed in other tsunami-hit regions—offers lessons today on blending Indigenous wisdom with modern science to strengthen disaster preparedness in a changing climate.
A Culture of Readiness, Starting with Schools
Twenty-one years after the 2004 tsunami, disasters in Thailand are no longer rare—they are recurring and harder to predict. This story argues that the safest response is building a daily “always ready” culture, not relying on technology alone. Inspired by Japan’s “Kamaishi Miracle,” it shows how regular drills turn evacuation into instinct. The piece highlights Sala Dan Community School on Koh Lanta, where inclusive tsunami drills every term—planned with local agencies—have made students calm, organised, and able to guide younger children and even alert families at home. The takeaway: when readiness is practised and shared, fewer lives are lost.
People with Hearing Impairment in Times of Disaster
Twenty-one years after the 2004 tsunami, Khun Noom, a person with hearing impairment from Phuket, reflects on the fear of facing disasters in a world built on sound. While he escaped the waves, warning systems left him isolated and vulnerable. The story highlights how people with disabilities are often overlooked in disaster preparedness and everyday life, while showcasing a local Phuket community proving that inclusive, community-led disaster readiness can ensure no one is left behind.
People with Hearing Impairment in Times of Disaster
Twenty-one years after the 2004 tsunami devastated southern Thailand, this documentary revisits Ban Nam Khem in Phang Nga, where many unidentified victims were migrant workers from Myanmar. Survivors continue to search for lost family members while facing ongoing exclusion during disasters—from floods to building collapses. Through their stories, the film asks a pressing question: in an era of unavoidable disasters, how can we extend humanity and solidarity beyond borders, beliefs, and differences?
From the Phi Phi Tsunami to the Hat Yai Floods, are we prepared?
From Phi Phi Island, where natural barriers were almost entirely destroyed, to Hat Yai, a major economic city whose development blocked natural waterways and left it submerged, this story traces how different forms of vulnerability shape disaster impacts in Thailand. By linking nature loss, urban planning, and human decisions, the documentary reflects on a central question: are we truly prepared for disasters—or are we still repeating the same mistakes in different places?
Tsunami Survival: Vertical Evacuation
Twenty-one years after the 26 December 2004 tsunami, life in Khao Lak has changed dramatically. The population has doubled, raising concerns that existing evacuation shelters may no longer be sufficient. Drawing lessons from the 2004 losses, academics warn that urban expansion is blocking escape routes and increasing risk. They propose a new disaster preparedness model—using high-rise buildings such as hotels as vertical evacuation sites—to expand safe spaces, improve survival chances in limited time, and transform private buildings into lifesaving infrastructure before history repeats itself.
For more information:
Sooin Bang, Regional Tsunami Project Manager sooin.bang@undp.org
Karnklon Raktham, Head of Communications, UNDP Thailand karnklon.raktham@undp.org
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