David G. Massey / Photojournalist

PHUKET, THAILAND
Inside the Phuket Airport in Phuket, Thailand, a man walks by a bulletin board covered in pictures of men, women and children still missing, unidentified and dead in the wake of the Tsunami, Saturday, January 15, 2005. The number of people killed is estimated at 5,313 and 3,254 missing. After differences between Thai and foreign governments and forensic experts over the identification process, more than 4,000 bodies will be exhumed and reexamined for identification and DNA collection.  

KHAO LAK, THAILAND

A pile of sneakers is collected outside a bunglaow at the Khao Lak Resort in Khao Lak, Thailand,Thursday, January 13, 2005. Two weeks after the tsunami hit shore, 2,000 bodies had been recovered, about 800 less than the estimated death toll of the World Trade Center Attacks, September 11, 2001.

KHAO LAK, THAILAND

A worker steps over the remnants of a resort destroyed by the Tsunami, in Khao Lak, Thailand, Thursday, January 13, 2005. Bungalows in the resort were at sea level and were the hardest hit. Resorts that had housing at greater sea levels were significantly less damaged.

KHAO LAK, THAILAND

A worker shows the identification cards of a Finnish woman that he found near her lifeless body at a resort in Khao Lak, Thailand, Thursday, January 13, 2005.
In Thailand an estimated 5,000 people were killed by the Tsunami, 2/3 are thought to be tourists, the hardest hit were the vacation areas of Phuket and Khao Lak.

TAKUA PA, THAILAND
International DVI (Disaster Victim Identification) workers are sprayed down with antimicrobial and antibacterial formula after performing autopsies on  thousands of unknown bodies at the Wat Yan Yao Temple in Takua Pa, Thailand, Tuesday, January 18, 2005. Bodies are being stored in over 50 refrigerated cargo compartments, each holding about 40 corpses each. DVI teams numbering nearly 600 persons, from Thailand and about 30 other countries, are using buildings like the Wat Yan Yao Temple in Takua Pa to collect bodies and identify them so that they can be buried. The Wat Yan Yao Temple location will be aiding in identification of over half of the country's casualties numbering over 5,000 people.

TAKUA PA, THAILAND
A woman walks among the tents at the Bang Muang refugee camp in Takua Pa, Thailand, Thursday, January 13, 2005, where an estimated 3,500 people now call home. The village of tents and temporary structures was originally designed for 400 families, but currently houses 850 families most of whom were from the nearby fishing village of Baan Nam Khem on the Andaman Coast of Southern Thailand. Bann Nam Khem is one of 736 fishing villages that were completely devastated by the tsunami of December 26, 2004.

KHAO LAK, THAILAND

Remnants of past lives wiped out by the wave, were present all over the devasted areas of Phuket, Thailand.

TAKUA PA, THAILAND
Refugees in the Bang Muang relief camp stand in line for aid at the Bang Muang, refugee camp, in Takua Pa, Thailand, Thursday, January 13, 2005. International aid has helped furnish tents supplies and medical attention for the 3,500 people that now live in the camp.

TAKUA PA, THAILAND
Soldiers from the Royal Thai Army and Royal Air Force build shelters for refugees at a camp named Pru Tiew that will house people from a nearby fishing village named Baan Nam Khem, Thursday, January 13, 2005 in Takua Pa, Thailand. Under the direction of Major General Kasin Thongkomol, 400 soldiers are building a fresh water system, waste disposal and 240 units that will house one family each.

TAKUA PA, THAILAND
A Thai soldier signs a prayer wall inside the DVI (Disaster Victim Identification) center at the Wat Yan Yao Temple in Takua Pa, Thailand, Tuesday, January 18, 2005 where DVI officials from Europe and Thailand are taking DNA samples from corpses for identification matching them with samples taken from living relatives that are missing loved ones.

MAE SUAI, THAILAND
The Akha Training center is home to over 300 Akha Indian children. The Akha ethnic group is made up of tribal groups in the Mekong Quadrangle of China, Laos, Thailand, Burma and Viet Nam. Children from disadvantaged families in Northern Thailand near the Chiang Rai Province and other bordering countries come to the Akha Training Center to live a better life. An older student at the Akha Training Center leads a religious lesson early, Sunday morning, January 16, 2005. Students are taught English, Thai and also continue studying their native Akha language in addition to other skills such as cooking and building.

MAE SUAI, THAILAND
Dr. Terrence Flotte, Chairman of Pediatrics at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida, checks out a child at the Akha Training Center in Mae Suai, Thailand, Saturday, January 15, 2005. The Akha Training Center has over 300 boys and girls, age 4-18, from nearby tribal villages and provides education, medical care and vocational skills to children from parents and families that cannot care for them. The Akha ethnic group is largely unrecognized in the social structure of Thailand and other nearby countries excluding them from government programs like education, health care and other programs.

MAE SUAI, THAILAND
Two girls tie up the mosquito nets in the sleeping quarters before starting the morning chores around 5am at the Akha Training Center, Monday, January 17, 2005. Children learn skills at the training center so when they turn 18 they can return to their mountain villages with skills and vocational training and attempt to end the cycle of poverty. Children from the Akha ethnic groups are vulnerable to the area's criminal trafficking of children to be sold to farms and factories, and for prostitution.

MAE SUAI, THAILAND
Boys fix tiles to the roof of a new classroom at the Akha Training Center near Mae Suai, Thailand, in the early morning, Sunday, January 16, 2005. Boys and girls learn construction and other trades so that when they get older they can return to their tribal mountain villages with the trade they have learned and earn a living in hopes to end the cycle of poverty.

MAE SUAI, THAILAND
Akha children take a pickup truck to school down the road from the training center early Monday morning, January, 17, 2005. The training center has set up a voucher program so that the children from the center can attend local schools if they have a certificate verifying that they are enrolled in the Akha Training Center program.

MAE SUAI THAILAND
Children run by the shelves full of clothing on their way to start the morning chores at 5 am, Sunday, January 16, 2005. The children's clothes are put outside the sleeping quarters so that the doors to the buildings stay closed preventing scorpions and poisonous snakes from entering.

The team of doctors and nurses from Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Fl., treats the 350 orphans from the training center, many of whom have never seen any health care provider.

MAE SUAI, THAILAND
An Akha girl stokes the fire early Friday morning, January 15, 2005. A kitchen crew of girls between the ages of 9 and 12 make 600 meals of breakfast and lunch for the other kids to take to school with them at 8 am.

MAE SUAI, THAILAND
Akha children return to the training center with bundles of wood to be used in cooking, Friday, January 15, 2005. Children of all ages are given a responsibility at the training center so that they learn a vocation. Younger children are given trash pickup duty while the older kids are given laundry duty, cooking or building and maintenance. The Akha Training Center operates on a concept of sustainability, using wood from the area for fuel, collection of rainwater for use in laundry and closed system toilets.

MAE SUAI, THAILAND
The division of labor at the Akha Training Center ensures that each child has a responsibility to maintain and they learn how to help each other survive. Children get in line to receive their breakfast, Friday, January 15, 2005.

MAE SUAI, THAILAND
Akha children take time to be children and play with a jump rope, late Sunday afternoon, January 16, 2005. Akha children spend weekends much like western cultures, playing and hanging out before going back to their responsibilities of operating the training center and going to school during the week.

MAE SUAI, THAILAND
Children wait in line for dinner at the Akha Training Center in
Mae Suai, Thailand, Saturday, January 15, 2005. The Akha Training Center operates on self-sustainable practices and from donations and support outside the country, housing over 300 children.