PHRANGNGA, Thailand, Dec. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- A tsunami memorial park was set up in Ban Namkhem village of Thailand's southern Phangnga province to commemorate last year's disaster, which caused huge human losses and crippled tourism in part of the southern region.

    The memorial park, one of the venues where the upcoming "One year in Memory of Tsunami" ceremony would be held, was constructedby the army in six months with a budget of 45 million baht (110,000 US dollars).

    The park consisting of a memorial wall, a recreation center, a nursery for children orphaned in the tsunami as well as shops willserve as a memorial place for local people to mourn the dead and seek peace in mind following the struck of the Dec. 26 tidal waves.

    Lt. Col. Charuk Kaewpacuk, head of the army in charge of reconstruction work in Ban Namkhem area, said Saturday that a total of 722 new houses had been built in the area for those whosehouses have been washed away by killer waves.

    "The relief process has entered the third stage and our task nowis to build permanent houses for villagers and make sure everyone could get a job," he said.

    Speaking of the memorial wall, on which the names of the tsunami victims would be engraved, Charuk revealed that only 400 relatives of the total 1,200 deceased allowed the names to be written out. The main reason is that they do not want to be reminded of the past tragedy, he said.

    The one-year tsunami anniversary ceremony is scheduled to take place simultaneously at seven places of four of tsunami-hit coastal provinces. Some 6,200 representatives from Thailand and abroad expected to participate in the Dec. 26 event. Enditem