The 2004 tsunami originating in the Indian Ocean took hundreds of thousands of lives, in its course sweeping away unsuspecting multitudes from the islands and coastal regions of the Andaman Sea.
     Of the Sea Gypsies, however, a mainly transient boating people who have long made the low-lying islands and coasts of the Andaman their home, only one life was lost -- a disabled man away from his community.
     The Moken of the Andaman recognized the signs. They sensed what was about to occur and quickly moved to higher ground before the sea receded, then rose and crashed catastrophically upon their shores ...

Project Available:  An original writing including summary history, personal interviews, the peoples' view of modern society and ecological impact, their sense of climate change and rising seas, the respective governmental policies of Southeast Asian nations granting those tribes and communities collectively known as "Sea Gypsies" special rights of passage and residence, and close-in photos of these resilient humans and the remarkably beautiful destinations which they call home.

About the Chao Ley:  They refer to themselves as Moken. The name is used for all of the proto-Malayan speaking tribes who inhabit the coast and islands in the Andaman Sea on the west coast of Thailand, the provinces of Satun, Trang, Krabi, Phuket, Phang Nga, and Ranong, up through the Mergui Archipelago of Burma (Myanmar). The group includes the Moken proper, the Moklen (Moklem), the Orang Sireh (Betel-leaf people) and the Orang Lanta.

The last, the Orang Lanta are a hybridized group formed when the Malay people settled the Lanta islands where the proto-Malay Orang Sireh had been living.

The Burmese call the Moken Selung, Salone, or Chalome.  In Thailand they are called Chao Ley (people of the sea) or Chao nam (people of the water), although these terms are also used loosely to include the Urak Lawoi and even the Orang Laut. In Thailand, acculturated Moken are called Thai Mai (new Thais).

The Moken are also called Sea Gypsies, a generic term that applies to a number of peoples in southeast Asia. The Urak Lawoi are sometimes classified with the Moken, but they are linguistically and ethnologically distinct, being much more closely related to the Malay people.  [More / Source]

About the Bajau:  The Bajau, (also written as Badjao, Badjaw or Badjau) are an indigenous ethnic group of Malaysia and the southern Philippines.

Although native to the southern Philippines, due to escalated conflicts in the Sulu Archipelago in the southern part of the country, many of the Bajau had migrated to neighboring Malaysia over the course of 50 years, where currently they are the second largest ethnic group in the state of Sabah, making up 13.4% of the total population.

Groups of Bajau had also migrated to Sulawesi and Kalimantan in Indonesia, although figures of their exact population are unknown.

They were sometimes referred to as the Sea Gypsies, although the term has been used to encompass a number of non-related ethnic groups with similar traditional lifestyles, such as the Moken of the Burmese-Thai Mergui Archipelago and the Orang Laut of southeastern Sumatra and the Riau Islands of Indonesia.

The modern outward spread of the Bajau from older inhabited areas seems to have been associated with the development of sea trade in trepang.  [More / Source]