Public Health engineer Saiyan Dongpune said today that the Patong Hospital cracks were superficial, not structural. He was to make checks at Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket City where cracks had also been reported.


PHUKET: Experts were due to inspect cracks on the fourth floor of Phuket's Patong Hospital today in the aftermath of a series of earthquakes that hit the holiday island.

Although there have been no injuries or major damage, low-level aftershocks are continuing. The latest, a shake of 3.2, came at 2.43am today.

Aftershocks are normal but have triggered concern among some Phuket residents for whom the earthquakes are a new experience.

Residents from a total of 114 homes in the region around Thalang's Liporn Village, epicentre of Monday's 4.3 magnitude earthquake, have reported sustaining damage.

The sound from the earthquake carried all over Phuket in ways that the previous Wednesday's more serious earthquakes of 8.6 and 8.2 magnitude off Sumatra did not.

A thorough review of all tsunami and earthquake alarm systems is being undertaken in Thailand for the first time since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed 5400 tourists and locals on Phuket and along the Andaman coast and more than 220,000 region-wide.

Officials have undertaken to pay compensation of between 20,000 baht and 30,000 baht to residents in the epicentre region who can establish that Monday's earthquake damaged their homes.

Checks are likely to be carried out on all buildings on Phuket beyond three storeys to determine whether they are safe. Regulations governing new taller buildings are likely to be strengthened.

Although some media has reported people in the tourism industry as saying that Phuket is ''back to normal,'' the truth is that the old ''normal'' disappeared with Monday's earthquake.

From now on, Phuket officials are likely to ask people in the tourism industry to accept that Phuket is in a tsunami and earthquake hazard zone.

There is no reason why tourists would stop coming to Phuket - although those on the west coast who were involved in two evacuations in the space of five days may have second thoughts.

There was a two-hour gap between the Indonesian undersea upheaval and the possible arrival of a big wave on Phuket.

Over the coming days and weeks, with aftershocks likely to serve as a constant reminder for at least a month, administrators on Phuket and in Bangkok are bound to review all the issues raised by the series of earthquakes.

At Laguna Phuket, where more than 15,000 Amway China delegates are being entertained in a series of rewards seminars between now and mid-May, there was a coordinated evacuation for the first tsunami alert but since then, it has been holidays as usual.

The seven-resort complex issued a statement as follows:

''The well-being of our guests and associates is our top priority at Laguna Phuket and we are vigilant and prepared for any emergency situation that may arise.

''Phuket now has a comprehensive tsunami alert system in place and Bang Tao beach has a siren system which was activated on Wednesday April 11 after the magnitude 8.6 earthquake off Sumatra.

''The Laguna hotels and businesses responded to the alert swiftly and effectively. The majority of guests and associates followed our direction and were evacuated to two inland assembly points by Laguna shuttle buses and made as comfortable as possible before being returned to the hotels once the alert was cancelled.

''Phuket has learnt a lot from 2004's devastating Boxing Day tsunami. However, our coastal location makes us vulnerable to such events and we remain alert to possible future emergencies.

''We are confident Phuket now has the right strategies in place to provide the public with adequate warning and prevent injury and loss of life if another tsunami was to occur.''