Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
research center to support the university's students and staffs in conducting
researches in various fi elds such as environment, marine sciences, fi shery, biodi-
versity and ecology long the Andaman coastline. It is also a hub of the university
in the southern Thailand to conduct a knowledge transfer and educational out-
reach to the locals.
At the time of the disaster, the ACRSD hosted one two-stories research and
training building, 3 single-story offi ce and research buildings, 5 two-stories resi-
dences and 3 single-story residences (Recovery and Development Committee
2005
). There were 15 employees stationed at the research center during the time of
the incident. Due to the increase in the research center's activities, the number of
employees is currently increased to 21. According to the census in 2008, the Nua
village had a population of 1,397 (422 families) and the Hat Sai Khao village had a
population of 561 (234 families). The major occupations of the residents in these
villages are fi sheries and small groceries venders. The others are small poultry and
livestock raising and self-employed.
6.3
Methods
Since the purpose of the is work is to compare the impacts and the recovery
processes of the affected sites, the effects from the disaster such as physical, eco-
nomic, social and health damage assessments, and typical disaster recovery pro-
cesses (i.e. Natural Hazards Center
2006
) such as removal and disposal of debris,
temporary shelters, infrastructure and utility restoration, livelihood restoration,
reconstruction and hazard mitigation were compiled from various sources such as
research papers, technical reports, museum displays, other articles and interviews
recorded during the fi eld surveys. As the it has been 9 years since the incident,
many documents were missing. In addition, as the affected sites, especially these
local villages in this work, were relatively small (although they refl ect the situa-
tions of the small affected communities in Thailand very well.), there were very
little specifi c information regarding the tsunami impacts and the restoration pro-
cesses of these selected villages documented in the offi cial report. Therefore a
large portion of the data is acquired by interviewing the witnesses in the affected
communities.
Interviews were conducted with 12 residents, both victims and witnesses, from
all three study sites during the 5 days site visit in August 2013 to gain insight of the
impacts of the disaster and restoration processed that were not documented, espe-
cially for the social aspect. The qualitative data gathered here is used to understand
the human experiences at the affected location and specifi c situation (Winchester
and Rofe
2000
). The conclusions drawn from the interviews, however, do not neces-
sary refl ect the experiences of the remaining population. Nevertheless, this proce-
dure provides deeper understanding of the individual's experiences that were never
been documented elsewhere.
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