送交者: 行不得也 于 2005-1-05, 03:46:04:
Thailand fires chief meteorologist
Inquiry launched into why no tsunami warning was issued
Tuesday, January 4, 2005 Posted: 5:15 AM EST (1015 GMT)
BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) --
Thailand has fired its chief
meteorologist and opened an
investigation into why his
department failed to issue a
tsunami warning which might have
saved thousands of lives, Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
announced.
"When a quake measured at 8.9-9.0 on
the Richter scale struck in Sumatra, it
was widely known tsunami can happen.
But why weren't there any alerts? I really
want to know the truth," Thaksin told
reporters Tuesday.
A day after deadly waves devastated the
country's Andaman Sea coast,
Meteorological Department chief
Suparerk Tansriratanawong had told
reporters Thailand had not been hit by a
tsunami in more than 300 years and had
no reason to expect one.
But the English-language Nation
newspaper quoted an unnamed
member of the department last week as
saying a tsunami alert was not issued for
fear of hurting the important tourist
industry at the peak season if it turned
out to be false.
During the investigation, to be led by
Information & Communications
Technology Minister Surapong
Suebwonglee, Suparerk will help set up
a national early warning system for all
natural disasters, a government
spokesman said.
No Asian country issued a warning of the
Dec. 26 tsunami, triggered by a
magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Indonesia,
which killed nearly 150,000 people as it
crashed ashore around the Indian
Ocean.
Thai expert says he tried to warn the
government a deadly tsunami might be
sweeping towards tourist-packed
beaches, but couldn't find anyone to take
his calls.
Samith Dhammasaroj said Monday he
was sure a tsunami was coming as
soon as he heard about the massive
December 26 earthquake off Indonesia's
Sumatra island that measured
magnitude 9.0 -- the world's biggest in
40 years. (Full story)
"I tried to call the director-general of the
meteorological office, but his phone was
always busy," Samith said as he
described his desperate attempts to
generate an alert which might have
saved thousands of lives.
"I tried to phone the office, but it was a
Sunday and no-one was there," said the
former chief of the meteorological
department now charged with setting up
an early warning disaster system for
Thailand.
"I knew that one day we would have this
type of tsunami. I warned that there
would be a big disaster," he told
reporters.
"Everyone laughed at me and said I was
a bad guy who wanted to ruin the tourist
industry," he added.
The tsunami took just 75 minutes to hit
the beaches and islands of Thailand's
Andaman Sea coast, 600 km (375 miles)
from the earthquake's epicenter.
Hotels on Thailand's Andaman Sea
coast were packed when the tsunami hit,
killing at least 5,187 people, including
more than 2,400 foreign tourists, many
from Scandinavia, drawn to its sand,
warm seas and coral reefs to escape the
long northern winter.