PHUKET: -- Former US President Bill Clinton will visit Thailand's southern resort province of Phuket early next month for his final mission as the top United Nations envoy for the Indian Ocean tsunami recovery effort, Deputy Phuket Governor Warapoj Ratasima said here Wednesday.
Gov Warapoj said he was informed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Mr Clinton will visit Phuket, one of Andaman coastal provinces that were badly hit by the Dec. 26, 2004 tsumami, Saturday (December 2) to visit a small community of sea gypsies known as Moken whose members have begun to rebuild their livelihoods and housing through a community driven process.
The former American president will plant a mangrove tree in the village to officially launch the World Conservation Union's "Mangroves for the Future" initiative.
Clinton, whose two-year appointment as Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy ends December 31, will also visit India and Indonesia, the countries hardest-hit by deadly tsunami that killed over 216,000 people.
The former US president said earlier this month that there has been significant progress in reconstructing devastated communities but many people still have no homes, and bringing the task to completion will take years.
In other developments, National Committee on Disaster Warning Centre chairman Smith Tumsaroch said the Centre would hold a ceremony to launch the ship which will release tsunami detecting buoys in the Indian Ocean on Friday (December 1).
The ceremony will be conducted at the pier of the Research and Development Institute for Marine and Coastal Resources in Phuket, he said.
The mission to place the tsunami detection buoys is expected to take about seven days, he said, and the buoys could operate for two years.
Mr Smith said the Meteorological Department was requesting further budget from the government to maintain the system.
However, he said that to increase the capabilities of the tsunami and earthquake early warning system, more buoys should be released along the Andaman coastline.
--TNA 2006-11-29
