“Tsunami” is a Japanese word meaning “harbor wave”. The December 26 tsunami was caused by a massive earthquake 30km below the Indian Ocean near Sumatra, Indonesia and has now been upgraded to 9.3 on the Richter scale. This makes it one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history. The wave traveled at 800km/hour across the open ocean. It struck land at between 50 and 200km/hour. After hitting Phuket, Thailand, the wave took 45 minutes to reach Phi Phi Island. The first wave struck at the south Bay at 10:37am on December 26th, and was 2-3metres high. The second wave came in from the north and was 5.5 meters high. The waves met in the middle of the island, destroying 70% of the buildings.

There were 7-10,000 people on the island at the time of the tsunami. 850 bodies have been recovered on Phi Ph and 1,300 people are still missing. 104 children have lost one or both parents or guardians.
Initially after the tsunami hit, major relief aid flooded the island. Phi Phi has been rebuilt and is a full functioning island, however, money has run out and they now heavily depend on tourism to bring money to the island. Tourism is still down by over 80% and this affects all of the islanders, especially the children. Today, most of the islanders make their money from coconut farming and fishing.