Guest Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 I agree with the view - posted several times above - that you cannot reasonably expect developing countries with limited resources to have systems in place to cover remote contingencies, such as the tragic tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Choices have to be made with the resources that are available. On the other hand: I am outraged by one aspect of this. America saw and tracked the tsunami by satellite every inch of the way. They immediately phoned the countries that would be affected because they knew exactly where and when it would hit. But the people they called didn't know what to do with this information and not one single country acted. This does bother me. I also read that the US alerted the countries most likely to be hit with a tsunami. While it is unreasonable to expect the Thai government to have a special tsunami tracking system in place becaus they are so rare and cost of a tracking system is so great, you would expect some sort of emergency warning system to be in place to warn people of an emergency - any emergency - when the US (which probably has the best technology available) warns of any impending natural disaster. And you would expect people to immediately act when the US warns of an impending tsunami or any other impending disaster. What I don't know is: (a) whether Thailand has such a system and ( whether it would have made a difference here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanukdee Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 I agree this disaster was avoidable. The tsunamai hit Thailand 1 1/2 hours after the quake. That's enough time to get people off the beach and to higher ground. Or to at least alert people to the remote possibility that a tidal wave may hit after an earthquake. At least then when they saw the water receding before the wave hit they would have know better to run to higher ground instead of venture further out on the beach. Ok but this was Thailand and they didn't have any warning system in place for this type of event. But with all the mobile phones and internet and instant communication, individuals could have taken resposibility. Resort owners and people that live near the beach should have been more aware of the dangers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 India plans on putting a system in place. It appears Thailand is going to have a system in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 As for an early warning system, I can just see the local village honcho going to some guy's hut and telling him that although there's no water or electricity, the government has decided to set up a state-of-the-art earthquake/tsunami warning system and after he's scratched up a few bugs to eat, would he mind checking the top of the coconut tree every day to make sure it works. -------------------------------------- I think you hit it on the nail. We need to think "real" here, guys. You/we want a thailand that spends more on education, that pays people a better minimum income, that has a warning system for terrorism and natural disasters, which, evryone of them, will need different and maintaining budgets, which.... It won't happen, and if it did, you/we could not recognize, afford it anymore, or crying over how it's all regulated and not sanook anymore, blaming the PM in place. Look at the reaction to NY's eve public parties being cancelled, a big . What if it was cancelled because of impending terrorist acts, implementing a costly policy adopted to that effect? I can hear the "big brother" cries already. And I am sure that if evacuation had been done in Phuket, there would be people saying it was unnecessary, poorly organized (whatever the efficiency) and caused 359 deaths... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiamIAm Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 "While it is unreasonable to expect the Thai government to have a special tsunami tracking system in place becaus they are so rare and cost of a tracking system is so great, you would expect some sort of emergency warning system to be in place to warn people" Totally agree. What gets me is that they were informed of the danger yet chose not to act on it...Regardless if there was or was not a "warning" system in place, they should have at least tried to do something. Instead they sat on their hands...Even if one life would have been saved by them trying to do something, it would have been worth it... Side note: This point directly to one of the biggest problems I see in Thailand. Lack of accountability. Without it these thing happen again and again and all you get afterward is a circle of people all point at each other...End rant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 That's enough time to get people off the beach ------------------------------- Ok, and admitting (not a fat chance though) that the most people to warn are on the beach at 8.30/9 in the morning to make it easy to round them up, how do you do that without causing a panic and a rush? And how many do you think are going to rush straight from the beach in trunks, to the rooftops and hills, and not try to get their valuables in their room, making 1000 of people trying to rush out of elevators and staircases at the same time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 Let's create an organism that will definitely make Thailand a place where efficiency is top wherever a farang thinks it's not now, and where everyone is accountable, whomever a farang wishes them to be. And we are back to the usual "rants" about stuff that is exactly part of the reasons why farangs have embraced the place and stay or keep coming back, warts and all.... Efficiency....accountability....Thailand? Yeahhh, sure... :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanukdee Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 I'm assuming just getting people off the beach away from the breaking waves would have saved many lives. They may still have gotten wet but not dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 you mean, their beach resorts bed, or the beach? Think, 8.30 (9 is pretty close to wave houe for orderly stampede), how many people on the beach. And if everyone in room, Bfast room, then it's a different technique for warning, and I believe only could be carried by authorities. Very few are going to listen to someone who just listened to someone who listened to someone on his cell phone. Now, at 8.15, 8.30, how many cops in station, ready to take orders NOW! to warn hundreds of beach hotels. Those of you who got it all covered, tell us exactly what you would have done, as chief police in standing at Phuket station, receiving a call at 8.17 that an earthquake has happened off Sumatra, scale not sure, seems a huge one, definitely expect some tidal wave of force unknown at this moment... And if HM or PM calls personally to say "evacuate Patong now!", taking care of the decision-making, how you do that without panic and stampede in 1 hour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiamIAm Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 Pattaya, All I'm saying is that they could have TRIED to do something, and should be held accountable for sleeping at the switch...Think about this, how did they get the alert out last time when there was not tsunami? They DO have some type of waning system in place, they just decided not to use it, and that decision cost lives. Not something to be taken lightly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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