TWO tsunami warning buoys were due to sail from Phuket tonight on board the Bangkok based MV Seafdec. The huge yellow 162 million baht ''tsunameters'' will be dropped at sea as Thailand becomes better protected from a second tsunami.
The first Italian-built buoy, to be dropped 124 miles off Phuket tomorrow, carries identification advice to passing shipping in Malay and English.
The other buoy, to be dropped further north near Burma, will be 130 miles from Surin island, and carry warnings in Burmese and English.
Chaiwat Rattananikongwiput, a technical adviser with the National Disaster Warning Centre, said today on board the boat at Phuket's east coast Cape Panwa pier that eight people would go on the voyage to set up the new buoys.
''If there is an earthquake, these buoys can transmit images to the Bangkok warning centre within five minutes,'' he said.
Thailand's sole original buoy, which broke loose earlier this year, has been repaired and returned to its anchoring off the Andaman and Nicobar islands, in the Indian Ocean.
''It is working well now,'' Khun Chaiwat said. ''The presence of the three buoys should reassure people who are concerned about a second tsunami.''
The ship is expected to depart around midnight and return on Thursday.
Just this week, it was reported that soothsayers' predictions of a second tsunami have made some tourists cancel their trips to Phuket and the Andaman this high season.
Visitors from within Thailand and other parts of Asia tend to be more superstitious than Europeans and Australians, but the increasing value of the Thai baht has also frightened away some high season visitors from Europe especially.
A tsunami night drill is being held in the Phuket beach village of Kamala on December 14, with a second drill at Saphan Hill park in Phuket City scheduled for December 24, two days before the sixth anniversary of the tsunami.
About 5400 people, half of them tourists from almost 40 countries, perished in the first tsunami in Thailand. About 220,000 died around the Indian Ocean's rim. Experts say a second tsunami on that scale is extremely unlikely.
Phuket's Lost High Season: Europeans Not FlyingThe first Italian-built buoy, to be dropped 124 miles off Phuket tomorrow, carries identification advice to passing shipping in Malay and English.
The other buoy, to be dropped further north near Burma, will be 130 miles from Surin island, and carry warnings in Burmese and English.
Chaiwat Rattananikongwiput, a technical adviser with the National Disaster Warning Centre, said today on board the boat at Phuket's east coast Cape Panwa pier that eight people would go on the voyage to set up the new buoys.
''If there is an earthquake, these buoys can transmit images to the Bangkok warning centre within five minutes,'' he said.
Thailand's sole original buoy, which broke loose earlier this year, has been repaired and returned to its anchoring off the Andaman and Nicobar islands, in the Indian Ocean.
''It is working well now,'' Khun Chaiwat said. ''The presence of the three buoys should reassure people who are concerned about a second tsunami.''
The ship is expected to depart around midnight and return on Thursday.
Just this week, it was reported that soothsayers' predictions of a second tsunami have made some tourists cancel their trips to Phuket and the Andaman this high season.
Visitors from within Thailand and other parts of Asia tend to be more superstitious than Europeans and Australians, but the increasing value of the Thai baht has also frightened away some high season visitors from Europe especially.
A tsunami night drill is being held in the Phuket beach village of Kamala on December 14, with a second drill at Saphan Hill park in Phuket City scheduled for December 24, two days before the sixth anniversary of the tsunami.
About 5400 people, half of them tourists from almost 40 countries, perished in the first tsunami in Thailand. About 220,000 died around the Indian Ocean's rim. Experts say a second tsunami on that scale is extremely unlikely.
Latest Phuket high season bookings from Europe have slumped by 50 percent and the high baht and predictions of a second tsunami are biting hard into the island economy.
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"Thailand's sole original buoy, which broke loose earlier this year, has been repaired and returned to its anchoring off the Andaman and Nicobar islands, in the Indian Ocean.
''It is working well now,'' Khun Chaiwat said.
Not according to the National Data Buoy Data Center's website..........
"Station 23401 went adrift on 06/04/2010 and is no longer providing water column or Tsunami Event data. It was recovered 7/17/2010 will be restored into service when it can worked into the Kingdom of Thailand's maintenance schedule."
If it is working well surely the data would be displayed on the NDBC site.
Posted by Mac on December 15, 2010 11:41