Our “ New Year celebration” was very quiet but heartfelt. With us was a family of three; there should have been five people at the table. Two of this family were lost in Koh Phi Phi, the other 3 survived. It was heartbreaking for all of us.
On a more positive note: we found a further missing person, injured but alive.
For their family, that was the best New Year present.
The situation in regard to survivors, those injured and returning home, is under control. However, the number of unidentified bodies increases daily. Clean up operations and reconstruction have already begun. In Phuket, I estimate that evidence of the disaster will have disappeared in 2-3 weeks time. In Khao Lak and Phi Phi, it will take longer but, even there, it has started. Despite reports to the contrary, the dive sites were hardly touched except in areas close to beach and under 5m depth.

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