Golden Buddha reawakened

Khuraburi is a small town on Thailand’s Andaman coast, 140 kilometres north of the tourist isle of Phuket. It was spared from the tsunami on 26 December 2004 because it was shielded by the island of Koh Pratong, which was not so lucky. Several villages on the island were totally devastated, particularly Bak Jok, whose population has now been completely relocated to the mainland, and Baan Talae Nok, whose waterfront is eerily still, lined with trees dead from over-salination and a lone flagpole as the only reminder of its former beachside school.

The North Andaman Tsunami Relief (NATR) operation sprang into life on Khuraburi’s busy main street, filling aid gaps left by larger relief organisations. It is a grass-roots venture which aims to give local people as much ownership of the process of rejuvenation as possible, devising projects on the basis of extensive consultation. The group’s charismatic leader, Bodhi Garrett, is as likely to burst into a freestyle rap about sustainable development as to lead a discussion about it. His association with the area began in 2003 when he was employed at Golden Buddha Beach on Koh Pratong, an ‘eco-tourism’ resort proud of its ecological record on the pristine island.

Bodhi is that rare person who has found his niche in the right place at a critical time; his wider personal network has been helpful in gathering support for NATR from elsewhere, and his local relationships are key to organising people and supplies. He is drawn to the area’s character and beauty —– its 20 million-year-old rainforest teeming with wildlife, and its Muslim, Buddhist and Moken (sea gypsy) cultures. But his impetus to do something in the aftermath of the waves was also based on personal tragedy. Among his Thai friends who survived, one known as ‘Duke’ lost no fewer than 14 members of his family: mother, grandmother, uncles, cousins.