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.
