Agency admits Andaman tsunami buoy defected, claims tsunami warnings unaffected

[Coss]

Note: misspellings are not mine, they are from the original article published Monday, January 08, 2024 in a Thai news website LINK.

_____

The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said on Monday that its defective tsunami detection buoy in the Andaman Sea has been retrieved but assured that its warning system was still effective.

The department was responding to a comment posted on the Foundation of National Disaster Warning Council’s Facebook page. The post said that Thais should not bank on just the tsunami warning system as buoy “Station 23461” had stopped working and stopped feeding information into the warning system. The comment was posted on Saturday.

However, it was not until Monday that the department responded. It said that the problems with the Station 23461 buoy were nothing new, as the department had been seeking help from the Royal Thai Navy to retrieve it since August 7 last year.

The department said it had realised that the buoy had stopped feeding information into the system on August 3 and called on the Third Naval base to retrieve it for maintenance.

The buoy was stationed about 340 kilometres northwest of Phuket.

The department said it had purchased a replacement, and it was en route from the United States. It is scheduled to arrive in March and should be deployed by November this year.

The department added that the decommissioning of Station 23461 buoy will not make the department’s National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) less effective.

This is because the NDWC system also used information from other sources, both inside and outside Thailand to compile and simulate tsunami scenarios as a warning for people along Thai coastal provinces in time.

The department said the system used information from foreign partners in monitoring earthquakes in the Indian Ocean and other seas as well as data from tsunami buoys in the Indian Sea and water level measuring stations of India and Indonesia.

Data from water level measuring stations at Koh Mang in Phang Nga and Koh Racha Noi in Phuket are also taken for compiling.

The information will be comprehensive enough to issue a tsunami warning for Satun, Trang, Krabi, Phang Nga, Ranong and Phuket in time, the department assured.

Without a tsunami warning system, thousands of lives were lost when a tsunami hit the western and southern coastlines, particularly affecting popular tourist destinations like Phuket, Khao Lak, and Phi Phi Island. The waves reached up to 10 meters high in some areas, causing immense damage to infrastructure on December 26, 2004.

-----

What I really like is the image of a Tsunami they've used.

* not a real photo

 

[Mekong]

Nice to see the efficiency of the Royal Thai Navy, requested to retrieve it 7 August and 5 months later still not done.

If the Buoy is “En Route” for the USA why will it not be here until March? That’s another 48 days away, even by boat at 10 knots it should only take 29 days to cover the 9000 mile pacific route from San Francisco.

As for “Wont be deployed until November” 8 months, why? Is this estimate base on the fact it has taken the RTN over 5 months to retrieve it so expect 8 months to deploy it

[Coss]

I'm wondering if they have more than the one, or if their "other" data is from other countries systems, and buoys...

[Mekong]

Thailand Tsunami warning system consists of Two buoys and 100 watch towers

[bust]

2 hours ago, Mekong said:

Thailand Tsunami warning system consists of Two buoys and 100 watch towers

and a special level of competence 😊

[Mekong]

9 hours ago, bust said:

and a special level of competence 😊

I never said the watch towers were manned, just that they had 100 watch towers.

They withdrew the “Watchers” during Covid an as, of yet, have not reinstated such.

I also don’t know why they have ordered a replacement  buoy from the USA without examining the present one first (still not recovered by RTN) they are aware that the batteries require replacing every two years don’t they.  … Don’t they?

The tsunami monitoring buoy must be maintained annually for two years, which is the battery lifespan.

Source

[Coss]

No one ever said, that you said, that  the watch towers were manned. 😜

The competence comment, could also be applied, to the people not up towers, to people monitoring the system, from the little app on their phone, at the all day lunches they do, instead of sitting at their desks in front of a computer...

I can just imagine it, Somchai opens the Tsunami app on his phone, he is presented with a singe screen, which displays one of two messages ::  "Have" or "No Have".

[Mekong]

9 hours ago, Coss said:

No one ever said, that you said, that  the watch towers were manned. 😜

I never said that anyone ever said that I said the watch towers were being manned, what I said was I never said the watch towers were manned emphasizing that I did not express that particular idea or opinion.

[bust]

I never said that anyone said than anyone suggested that anyone said they were manned 😃

[buffalo_bill]

Nobody said that Mekong said that anybody ever said that nobody said that anybody else said that no watchtowers were manned nor annually maintained by nobody. The truth.

I read in the newspaper that the wise Thai government has now withdrawn the possibility to sell cannabis anywhere. Quite  a move.