Habitat Breaks Ground For 60-House Tsunami Construction Project in Thailand * * * *Partnering with Bank of Ayudhya, Siam City Cement, Provincial Government and Local Contractor

May 12, 2005

Rebuilding partners (from left): Pamuke Suppasarn, Siam City Cement’s group brand manager, and Prapon Jiravipakorn, regional manager from Bank of Ayudhya,with the director of Habitat’s tsunami disaster response project in Thailand, Ernesto Castro Garcia, and disaster response technical center manager Osoth Galaving.

Volunteers for a better world (middle row from left): Pamuke Suppasarn, Siam City Cement’s group brand manager, and Prapon Jiravipakorn, regional manager from Bank of Ayudhya, with team members from Habitat’s tsunami disaster response project in Thailand including adviser Raul Sarceda, disaster response technical center manager Osoth Galaving (hidden), and director Ernesto Castro Garcia.

Blessings: a traditional Buddhist ceremony before building commences Field of dreams: the Plu Teow site, soon to be home for 60 families

Field of dreams: the Plu Teow site, soon to be home for 60 families

KHAO LAK: 12th May 2005: Ground breaking took place for new homes built for 60 families who were victims of the December 2004 tsunami that ripped through the holiday coasts of southwestern Thailand.

The multi-partner project will see the new homes rise on an inland site at Plu Teow village on land provided by the provincial government of Phang Nga.

Habitat for Humanity Thailand is partnering with Bank of Ayudhya, one of Thailand’s leading financial groups, and publicly-listed building materials maker Siam City Cement Public Co.

The houses will be built by a professional contracting firm, Conwood, over the next 45 days.

Habitat is contributing funding, volunteers and community development work for the families who will receive the houses. Bank of Ayudhya and Siam City Cement are providing resources.

HFH Thailand has targeted three locations in southern Thailand as having high potential for tsunami recovery building programs: Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi. A first Disaster Response Center was established in Phang Nga, with an office in Khao Lak. Building has begun in Bang Niang village. Materials are being fabricated at multiple sites. The main training and manufacturing location is a mobile Disaster Response Technical Center adjacent to two 112-lot parcels that have been promised to Habitat by the government.