INTERPOL joins Tsunami anniversary ceremony in Thailand

INTERPOL’s Executive Director of Police Services, Jean-Michel Louboutin, with Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Visanu Kruengarm, who expressed his appreciation for the support INTERPOL provided throughout the tsunami crisis.

INTERPOL’s Executive Director of Police Services, Jean-Michel Louboutin, attended the services in Thailand on behalf of the organization, which has assisted the Thai authorities and international teams throughout the year to identify almost 3,000 victims of the disaster.

Thai Prime Minster Thaksin Shinawatra laid the foundation stone for the Tsunami Memorial to be built at Haad Lek beach in Khao Lak. The ceremony followed simultaneous memorial services in Phuket, Phang-nga and Krabi, where participants laid flowers in memory of the deceased and signed a commemorative book.

An interfaith memorial service was also held at Chong Fa beach in Phang-nga with services for six religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism and Judaism. Representatives of the victims also read poetry, lit candles and launched 5,000 floating lanterns inscribed with messages of remembrance.

'INTERPOL was heavily involved in the massive disaster victim identification effort from the very first hours after the tsunami struck, when our first Incident Response Team was dispatched to Thailand,' Mr Louboutin said in Phuket. 'INTERPOL is proud to have been of service to the international community over the past 12 months in this way and to the dedicated forensic specialists who travelled from all over the world to the worst hit areas to help identify victims.'

INTERPOL has played a key role in co-ordinating the international victim identification effort and in providing logistical and communications support to the Thai Tsunami Victim Identification Information Management Centre. INTERPOL will continue in 2006 to support the centre, which relocated recently to Bangkok from Phuket.

One year after the disaster, the centre has successfully identified almost 3,000 victims. More than 2,000 personnel from 31 nations were involved in the identification process; collecting DNA samples, conducting forensic analysis, logging data and helping with the repatriation of tsunami victims’ remains.

The tsunami was caused by a powerful earthquake under the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004. The wave travelled thousands of kilometres, taking the lives of more than 200,000 people when it hit land in countries as far apart as Indonesia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, India and Somalia.

Read more about the Asian tsunami