Turning Disaster into Economic Development (Dark Tourism) - Research Paper Example

To have such a memorial, there are psychosocial dynamics that have to be considered to balance its economic importance with its social significance to the people in the region. This way, the society will feel as being part of the project hence embrace it as their own. Establishing a Tsunami memorial center in Phuket has been marred with contention trying to balance the economic significance of such a move with the psychosocial aspects involved considering that the 2004 tsunami led to the loss of many lives in the region.

This study is therefore aimed at addressing the dynamics involved in incepting the memorial center to know whether its economic significance will surpass the social aspects such as reminding the inhabitants of the tsunami that claimed so many lives from their midst. December 26, 2004 was marked by one of the biggest tsunamis to ever hit Phuket (Abby, 2009). According to geologists, this specific one was triggered by an undersea mega thrust Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. The exact values from the destruction were controversial though the number of the lives lost was speculated to be around 280 thousands with another fourteen thousand missing.

The Tsunami mega waves reached thirty meters which was the highest value is ever recorded for in such a catastrophe. Among the countries hit by the Tsunami in Asia include Singapore, Bangladesh, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. In all of these countries, many people were reported to have lost their lives with many more being displaced or missing (Kirtz & Kehnemui, 2004). More than ten years after the Tsunami disaster, a Tsunami Memorial recreation center has been established in Thailand.

The joint initiative which includes the local community who were directly affected by the disaster is a new attraction site with a wall engraved with the names of those people who died in the disaster bringing back the remorseful memories to