SQUEEZED together in the Bang Muang temporary shelter in Phangnag, a coastal town north of Phuket, 3,000 homeless people are calmly getting on with their lives, a sign that the worst of the tsunami disaster now lies behind them.

Most of the survivors are focusing on picking up their shattered lives and starting anew. But it will take a long time for them to recover from the aftermath, with thousands of refugees in Thailand now congregated in temporary shelters. There they receive food and medical care.

According to a recent report from the Xinhua News Agency, 347 children from Thailand's southern Phuket Island have begun attending classes in a luxury resort hotel, now serving as their temporary school. The resort hotel luckily escaped the tidal waves and suffered no damage. The owner decided to make it available to local students.

The most popular beach resorts in Thailand, which had been deserted, are now coming back to life. Vendors are peddling soft drinks. Some European tourists can be seen cycling or playing on the beach.

"People are coming here again to walk on the sand in the morning and evening and life is returning to normal. No matter what happens, we have to face it bravely," said one local tsunami survivor from Phuket Island.

The fatal waves on December 26, 2004 killed at least 5,300 people in the country and left

3,370 missing - many of whom are presumed to be among the

3,700 unidentified bodies.