BelgianBoy Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 sfinkz said:"This points directly to one of the biggest problems I see in Thailand..." ___________________________________________________ This discussion points to one of the biggest problems I see outside of Thailand--the need to blame others. This is a 'natural' disaster of spectacular magnitude. Once unleashed, survival depends upon timing and luck. With regards to warnings for other natural disasters, of which tsunamis by far the most infrequent: sfinks, Thanks for balancing this crazy finger-pointing thread ! BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 Announce with loudspeakers to clear the beach ------------------------ is anyone listening (just picking up the thread since this AM): it was 8.30/9 AM. How many people are on the beach at that time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thalenoi Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 pattaya127 said:Announce with loudspeakers to clear the beach ------------------------ is anyone listening (just picking up the thread since this AM): it was 8.30/9 AM. How many people are on the beach at that time? 6.000??? (people missing now) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thalenoi Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 From todays Bangkok Post (30dec 2004) Experts urge tsunami alert system ONNUCHA HUTASINGH GRIM TASK A team of Taiwanese rescuers carry the body of a tsunami victim recovered yesterday at Khao Lak in Phangnga's Takua Pa district. - Phongthai Wattanavanitvut Academics have urged warning and rescue systems be set up along the Andaman Sea coastline as they believe future deadly tidal waves are now more likely. At a press conference organised by the Thailand Research Fund yesterday, Assoc Prof Panya Jarusiri, a seismic specialist from Chulalongkorn University, said the earthquake and tidal waves on Sunday were caused by the Indo-Australian plate colliding with and plunging under the Eurasia plate. He said the phenomenon makes future earthquakes more likely along a fault line stretching northwards from Sumatra, across the Bay of Bengal and to Burma. Assoc Prof Pennueng Vanichai, from the Asian Institute of Technology, called on the government to establish an effective warning system. He said advanced seismic detectors must replace Thailand's existing equipment which cannot measure earthquakes above 7.0 on the Richter scale. Assoc Prof Pennueng also called for high-technology tidal wave detectors to be deployed in the ocean and for them to be monitored by seismic and tidal wave experts rather than just by ordinary meteorologists. Setting up an effective warning system would require cooperation from overseas agencies, he said. Assoc Prof Pennueng urged the government to design within the next few months a system to cope with such tsunami disasters. The system must meet academic standards, not only bureaucratic requirements, and target the entire process of deciding whether an emergency warning should be issued, he said. A quake measuring over 7 on the Richter scale requires immediate tidal wave warnings, without having to seek permission from a superior, Assoc Prof Pennueng said. The system also should include effective means to inform people of danger and evacuate them from high-risk areas, communication networks that will endure disasters and regular drills to educate people and raise their awareness. ''Thailand usually waits for a disaster before working out a protection plan. Worse is that we have failed to come up with a plan even after some kinds of disasters were repeated,'' he warned. He said the government should deploy experts to map zones at high risk of tidal waves. He also said mangrove reforestation along the coast would cushion the impact of such waves. Thawat Virattipong, of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, said a quake and tidal wave warning system would be costly. The government should cooperate with other nations to develop the system and share its use. He had contacted experts from the National Tsunami Warning Centre in the US and they had agreed to transfer academic knowledge to help experts prepare such a system in Thailand. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- An article in the same Bangkok post from 28 dec 2004 mentions that the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center takes a submarine earthquake of 6.5 or more as a starting point prone to initiate a tsunami warning if the ocean reacts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 Right on! [color:"red"] "The system must meet academic standards, not only bureaucratic requirements" [/color] And that is how it should be done. As for blaming - when so many die - people do have a right to ask why this happened and if it could have been prevented. The number of deaths could have been lowered if not ideally reduce to zero - but it wasn't. NOW is the time to put into place a system or systems so this will never happen again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardinalblue Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 completely agree. So now there will be a knee jerk emotional repsonse to put in some high tech western system. Better to spend the money (which they don't have by the way) on a TB prevention/control where they do know another million people will die with certainty in asia every year. disaster preparedness is an abstract yet also an emotional bussiness. Unfortunately, the people who know the most about this subject usually have the least imput when it comes to funding and usually at the mercy of gov and business, political decision-makers. I fought this battle for 15 years as the chairman of our hospital's diasaster committee.. I hated to capitalize on disasters but sometimes that was my only leverage when, in fact, decisions should be based cost/risk/benefit equations... cardinalblue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardinalblue Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 BB, As how we defined it (accounting and insurance purposes), it is a natural disaster.. But me thinks it is a man made one... Nature will do what nature does. We are the ones who put ourselves at risk. Many times we lose respect for both the beauty and power of nature.... Cardinalblue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 [color:"green"] You guys that say something can be done really have no clue of human nature and crowd mentality do you? Put emotion aside here and logically think about it. Trying to get even 500 people to do anything *that they have decided to do* as a group in 1 1/2 hours is impossible [/color] You don't get it. Just blocking off the beach roads would have saved many lives. Warning people to stay off the beach would have saved lives. You do not need anything more high tech than phones to setup a warning system in the region. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaad Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 I agree that many lives could and SHOULD be saved in the future by a warning system of ANY kind. Up to others (those who're given the power) to seek out what system is best for what country depending on budget, current situation and state of country etc etc. (and a lot more important factors I have no clue about) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Quote "You guys that say something can be done really have no clue of human nature and crowd mentality do you? Put emotion aside here and logically think about it. Trying to get even 500 people to do anything *that they have decided to do* as a group in 1 1/2 hours is impossible" Not really true. I helped clear out a stadium once - we did it in about 30 minutes. I believe 50,000 people were there in attendance. We were told to evacuate - no questions. Later, we found out there were armed excaped convicts outside. If something can be prevented and it is not that expensive, why say no to it? Many governments now are looking at implementing a system so this will NEVER happen again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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