PHUKET: A special FM broadcast band frequency can be set aside for Phuket in the event of future tsunami or earthquake disaster alerts, a broadcasting expert said today.
Lack of any essential information when needed has been the biggest criticism in the aftermath of Phuket's tsunami scare from earthquakes of magnitude 8.6 and 8.2 on April 11 and the 4.3 Phuket earthquake that followed five days later.
Both events triggered panic and evacuations of Phuket's holiday west coast beach resorts. In the first case, evacuations also came all along the Andaman coast.
Phuket's mobile telephone networks folded in the aftermath of the April 11 tsunami scare. The second evacuation five days later could have been avoided if officials had been able to tell holidaymakers and residents quickly that it was a Phuket-based shake, not another offshore earthquake capable of generating a tsunami.
With information lacking, people fled for the second time in five days, with motorcycles and other vehicles clogging roads from Phuket's west coast.
Supina Klangnarong of the Office of National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission said today that she will offer the FM radio 89.0 spot to Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha for emergency use on Phuket.
Khun Supina said she was scheduled to meet with the Governor tomorrow. Phuket would become the first place in Thailand to have a designated radio band set aside for emergency use, she said.
A similar bandwith would be allocated for Bangkok, she said.
Such a band could be picked up by listeners on mobile telephones. People could be notified quickly about potential dangers and just as importantly, notified when alerts come to an end.
The two events, coming so close together more than seven years after the December 26, 2004 tsunami in which 5400 residents and tourists were killed in Thailand, have galvanised officials into action to fix obvious flaws in the existing disaster plan.
A seminar organised by the Phuket Real Estate Association yesterday heard that some old buildings on Phuket could be affected by earthquakes stronger than the 4.3 shake but that modern buildings on Phuket were mostly built to withstand much stronger earthquakes.
Lack of any essential information when needed has been the biggest criticism in the aftermath of Phuket's tsunami scare from earthquakes of magnitude 8.6 and 8.2 on April 11 and the 4.3 Phuket earthquake that followed five days later.
Both events triggered panic and evacuations of Phuket's holiday west coast beach resorts. In the first case, evacuations also came all along the Andaman coast.
Phuket's mobile telephone networks folded in the aftermath of the April 11 tsunami scare. The second evacuation five days later could have been avoided if officials had been able to tell holidaymakers and residents quickly that it was a Phuket-based shake, not another offshore earthquake capable of generating a tsunami.
With information lacking, people fled for the second time in five days, with motorcycles and other vehicles clogging roads from Phuket's west coast.
Supina Klangnarong of the Office of National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission said today that she will offer the FM radio 89.0 spot to Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha for emergency use on Phuket.
Khun Supina said she was scheduled to meet with the Governor tomorrow. Phuket would become the first place in Thailand to have a designated radio band set aside for emergency use, she said.
A similar bandwith would be allocated for Bangkok, she said.
Such a band could be picked up by listeners on mobile telephones. People could be notified quickly about potential dangers and just as importantly, notified when alerts come to an end.
The two events, coming so close together more than seven years after the December 26, 2004 tsunami in which 5400 residents and tourists were killed in Thailand, have galvanised officials into action to fix obvious flaws in the existing disaster plan.
A seminar organised by the Phuket Real Estate Association yesterday heard that some old buildings on Phuket could be affected by earthquakes stronger than the 4.3 shake but that modern buildings on Phuket were mostly built to withstand much stronger earthquakes.
That's what you call 'a shake-up'.
Posted by James on April 26, 2012 18:56