News Analysis
HUNDREDS of people have died in Indonesia because, according to news reports, no early warning came before a three-metre tsunami this week.
But Phuket's emergency chief hastened to reassure visitors and residents today that their safety from big waves is being guarded.
The protection offered by tsunami early warning systems continues to be controversial. San Janpawong, Director of the Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, did add today that three of 19 Phuket warning towers had not sounded in tests earlier this month, because thieves had stolen wiring.
There was also the escaping Thai tsunami warning buoy that broke free and drifted from its mooring earlier this year, and is still, as far as we are able to tell, being repaired before being reattached.
The problem is that with tsunamis in the region, there is no guarantee of adequate warnings. The latest victims in Indonesia were too close to the epicentre of the undersea earthquake to escape.
But undoubtedly, a warning could have saved some lives.
There have been too many smaller but equally deadly tsunamis since the ''big one'' in 2004 that killed 5400 people in Thailand and a total of about 220,000 around the Indian Ocean, mostly in Indonesia.
What officials have to say about the adequacy of the present warning system needs to be measured against the public awareness of the danger of tsunamis, and the capacity of people to know what to do if a second ''big one'' does happen to strike the coast of Phuket and the Andaman.
The answer is that awareness is barely evident. Resorts continue to spring up in the form of restored or new establishments along Thailand's Andaman coast.
Tourists should be told as they check in that they are visiting a coast where another big tsunami is unlikely, but always possible.
''Who wakes us at 3am if a tsunami comes?'' is a question every visitor to every resort around the Indian Ocean should ask as soon as they arrive.
It wouldn't hurt for a few more residents in Thailand to ask the same question, too.
Phuketwan Opinion An exercise intended to show the world that Phuket and the Andaman coast are safe did just the opposite. It's high time the government got the tsunami warning system sorted.
Phuket's Andaman Tsunami Nightmare Lives On
One Place on Phuket Not To Be in a Tsunami
Latest Phuketwan was close by when a tsunami warning tower failed to function on Phuket. Many reports are coming in of complaints about malfunctions in several Andaman provinces.
One Place on Phuket Not To Be in a Tsunami
Phuket Radar, Tsunami System an Asian First
Latest A new radar system will be an Asian first for Thailand, helping to make life safer on the Andaman Sea and provide a warning of a possible second tsunami.
Phuket Radar, Tsunami System an Asian First
Phuket's Tsunami Evacuation: What Went Wrong?
The False Alarm Tsunami evacuation calls should not be left to the discretion of resort managements on Phuket. Who takes responsibility when a tsunami alarm turns out to be false, or real?
Phuket's Tsunami Evacuation: What Went Wrong?
Thailand's Tsunami Legacy Haunted by Mistakes
Photo Album Over five years, the process of identifying nameless victims of the tsunami has represented a remarkable achievement. But ID flaws haunt the end game.
Thailand's Tsunami Legacy Haunted by Mistakes
Any warning system would not have been much help to these people as the center of the quake and source of the tsunami was very close to the islands. The best warning was the quake itself as I understand the waves were only 5 - 10 minuets later.
Phuket is a totally different situation as the source of the tsunami was approx 600km from Phuket. It also will be something like 180 - 200 years before enough pressure has built up along the subduction fault zone to generate another tsunami from that area. By then warning systems will be capable of giving accurate information.
Posted by John B on October 28, 2010 22:34
Editor Comment:
International media is reporting that there was a warning system in place, but it failed to work. Every expert we've heard suggests that the danger of a second big tsunami in the region is ever-present and totally unpredictable.