[Dialogue] Need for elders

[LAURELCG@aol.com]

Elders' Sea Knowledge Spares Some Thais


January 03, 2005 ‹ By Associated Press 


BANGKOK, Thailand ‹ Knowledge of the ocean and its currents passed down from 

generation to generation of a group of Thai fishermen known as the Morgan sea 

gypsies saved an entire village from the Asian tsunami, a newspaper said 

Saturday. 

By the time killer waves crashed over southern Thailand last Sunday the 

entire 181 population of their fishing village had fled to a temple in the 

mountains of South Surin Island, English language Thai daily The Nation 
reported. 

"The elders told us that if the water recedes fast it will reappear in the 

same quantity in which it disappeared," 65-year-old village chief Sarmao 

Kathalay told the paper. 

So while in some places along the southern coast, Thais headed to the beach 

when the sea drained out of beaches -- the first sign of the impending 
tsunami 

-- to pick up fish left flapping on the sand, the gypsies headed for the 

hills. 

Few people in Thailand have a closer relationship with the sea than the 

Morgan sea gypsies, who spend each monsoon season on their boats plying the 
waters 

of the Andaman Sea from India to Indonesia and back to Thailand. 

Between April and December, they live in shelters on the shore surviving by 

catching shrimp and spear fishing. At boat launching festivals each May, they 

ask the sea for forgiveness. 

Source: Associated Press