Ton Sai Village (also written Tonsai, and called Ban Ton Sai) was a small Muslim fishing village in Phi Phi Don. It was located on the 1.5 km strip of sandy isthmus between the two hilly sections Phi Phi Don, with Ton Sai Bay on one side, and Loh Dalam Bay on the other.
Today, Ton Sai is barely recognisable, having been engulfed by the retail arcade, chalets, cafes of mass tourism. As this is the only place in the Phi Phi archipelago with a village, it is also where most of the visitors to Phi Phi visit.
View of the isthmus where Ton Sai is located.
Remembering the tsunami
Ton Sai was badly affected by the tsunami of 26 December 2004. The waves hit Phuket about two hours after the earthquake hit the Simeulue Islands off the coast of Sumatra. 45 minutes later, it arrived at Ton Sai in Phi Phi Don. The initial stage of the tsunami was a trough, when the seawater rapidly receded, exposing the coral reefs. Tourists and locals alike were curious, many wandered out into the sea, curious. Some collected the stranded fish.
At 10:37am Thai Time, the water came back. It raced towards the shore at approximately 50 kilometres per hour, much higher than sea level. The wave that entered from Loh Dalam Bay was 6.5 metres (18 feet) high while the one that same in from the opposite direct, through Ton Sai Bay was 3 metres (10 feet) high. On the north side of Phi Phi Don, the water crossed from one side of the island to the other, from Loh Lanah Bay to Loh Bakao Bay, and at the Sea Gypsy village at Laem Tong.
Seafront structures sustained total devastation at most, and heavy damage at the least. The waves smashed into everything on their path, and met from two sides in the middle of Ban Ton Sai village. The larger Loh Dalam wave pushed the smaller Ton Sai wave back into Ton Sai Bay, along with all the debris. On the Loh Dalam side, the wave pushed its way towards the hill.
After a few minutes, a second trough passed through the island, sucking the water out the second time. Then it hit the island once more. And then the sea returned to normal. 70% of the buildings in Ban Ton Sai were destroyed. 800 people were dead. 1200 were missing. 104 children became orphans.
As this page is written, one year after the incident, Phi Phi is slowly returning to normal. Although traces of the devastation remains, most of the shops in the retail arcades were once more open. A grim reminder of the tsunami was the sole 7-Eleven on the island. Today, it was nothing more than an empty shell, being totally emptied by the tsunami that came in from both sides.
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