Thailand ignored disaster warning

[Guest]

Thailand ignored disaster warning

 

from --news.com.au

 

BANGKOK: -- The Thai Government was officially warned seven years ago that tsunamis stemming from an earthquake on the seabed could hit southwest Thailand, but the warning was ignored for fear of frightening off tourists and investors.

 

The veteran meteorologist who issued the warning, Samith Dhamasaroj, was called "crazy" by some, and sidelined to an inactive position from which he later resigned.

 

But now, after the Boxing Day catastrophe ? which by yesterday had cost 4812 lives in Thailand, half of them foreign tourists, and huge destruction of property ? he has been vindicated, and put in charge of establishing a nationwide early-warning system for all natural disasters.

 

He said yesterday that such a system would have saved 10to 50 per cent of the lives lost. Mr Samith, the former director general of the Thai Meteorological Department, told The Australian: [color:"red"] "Seven years ago, as chief meteorological official, I predicted the possibility of an earthquake and tsunami in the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Sea or around Sarawak.

 

"I suggested an early-warning system be put in place for tidal waves, such as alarm sirens at beachside hotels in Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi, the three provinces which have now been hit. I alerted senior officials in these provinces, but no one paid any attention." [/color]

 

He said some provinces had even banned him from entering their territories because [color:"red"] "they said I was damaging their image with foreign tourists". [/color] Thai sources said some senior provincial officials had dismissed him as [color:"red"] "crazy". [/color]

 

The sources noted Mr Samith had been sidelined after his earlier warnings, the last issued in 1998. Mr Samith had stipulated at the time no hotels should be built closer than 300m from the sea, a recommendation that would have angered powerful economic forces in the region, the sources added.

 

But last Thursday, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra put Mr Samith in charge of establishing an advanced seismic and tsunami warning system for the whole nation. The brief would also take in other calamities such as storms and floods. He was named a vice-minister reporting directly to Mr Thaksin.

 

Mr Samith said that, after he felt the tremors in Phuket on December 26, he tried to get through to his successor at the Meteorological Department, an old friend, to ask that a tsunami warning be urgently issued ? but he was unable to reach him, [color:"blue"] and other weather bureau lines were blocked. [/color]

 

He said meteorological officials would not make a decision because they were afraid that, if they made a wrong forecast, someone would blame them. He said there would have been enough time for warnings after the earthquake struck at 8am, followed by the tsunamis about 9.15am.

"Even half an hour should have been enough," he said.

 

"Now we have this tragedy, and I am very sad, because 50 per cent, or at least 10 per cent, of the people who died could have been saved if there had been warnings."

 

Mr Samith said he had issued his alert seven years ago after studying information on the twin dangers of earthquakes and tsunamis, after studying material published in China, Japan and the US over the previous 25 years.

 

In announcing Mr Samith's appointment, Mr Thaksin, who faces an election on February 6, said: "Some may say we are putting up fences after the cows have gone.

 

"But there are still some cows left, and more will be coming, and we need to have a strong fence."