Abstract

In December 2004, a major earthquake in the Andaman Sea generated a tsunami radiating across the Andaman Sea and Indian Ocean, including coastal resort communities of Thailand among affected areas. When the tsunami struck, the Thai coast local resort communities were filled with seasonal holiday travellers from Europe and elsewhere combined with the local populations. Devastation in low lying coastal plain was indiscriminate and extensive, resulting in over 5,000 dead and 500,000 displaced. Water supplies, sewage disposal, and solid waste management facilities were almost uniformly destroyed. Local water supplies and surface waters were immediately contaminated and subject to continuing contamination by human wastes in the absence of functioning collection and treatment systems. Public health efforts were prioritized to avoid epidemic waterborne illness. Water quality monitoring including analysis for waterborne Cryptosporidium and Giardia along with enteric disease surveillance are described to illustrate this feature of managing of natural disaster.