Frenchwoman’s 20 years of helping Thai school after daughter died in Boxing Day tsunami
Elisabeth Zana thought her life was over after her daughter died in the 2004 tsunami. Instead she began helping a Thai school. She still is
After the deadliest tsunami in history claimed her only daughter, Elisabeth Zana considered taking her own life – until a school in Thailand reignited her sense of purpose.
Against the backdrop of a picture-perfect beach in the Phi Phi Islands, the 79-year-old Frenchwoman thinks back to the “unforgettable chaos” she saw at the same spot in February 2005.
“There were mountains of rubble. We walked around thinking there might be dead bodies down there. And maybe my daughter,” she says.
In Thailand, more than 5,000 people were killed by the Boxing Day disaster according to the official toll – around half of them foreign tourists holidaying on its southern beaches – and another 3,000 left missing.
