Thai Experts Got The Warning Hours Before

[camerata]

My heart goes out to all the victims of this disaster.

Will be helping as much as is possible.

Though this article from The Nation makes you think!

http://www.chiangmainews.com/thenation/hea...s_15908069.html

Not closing the beaches because it would affect business in the tourist season sounds like the plot of Jaws and similar movies.

[The_Moog]

There's going to be a lot of people reading that article who think.

"I wish he hadn't said that".

[sting01]

Does the authorities knew it, and wich authorities knew it?

I was screaming 2 days ago in the main forum about that, but if I am still screaming it must be fault (that is my own 2 cents opinion), I am unsure who can be guilty.

Even in thailand, I am far to think People who have the real power (as Governor or PM ...) can do this kind of choice, if it was a choice it's more very local power who decided, but does a major can have this kind of information???? Unsure about it.

The real fault is more general, why there is no alert system existing shared amongs the countries? Why specifically in thailand there is only post rescue, and no pre alert system? That is question, the answer is so simple ... mostly it's due to a money factor (some billions per year for one problem every 100 years). Other question, does really a pre alert will have save local population life (foreigner for sure, they will follow the alert)? Or as some pointed out , if a pre alert then people will go on th beach to see .... This morning, I was in a nightmare when reading a post from a witness ... 5 mn between people on the beach notice the tsunami, and the moment it hit the beach .... still full of people .... 5 mn that is the difference btw life and death ...

I absolutely don't need to be Mr whoknowall, but in my place there is rules againt earthquake when you build a new house (Your OWN house), if you dn't follow them (even if you live alone), the authorities wil come fine you, and destroy the house (in more you wil have to pay for the worker who will destroy it). People, or human race, sometimes need to be helped to understand things are dangerous.

[Erwin1011]

I can only hope that this is NOT true, but I fear it might be.

If so, I hope it will spread worldwide !

[andyadam]

According to the scientific stuff, it took the wave around 1hr 50mins to reach Phuket (almost the same time as it took to get to Sri Lanka, I might add) Which authority knew??

They had 50 minutes to act, how much could they have done, yes they knew about the quake but did they know about the tsunami?

All said and done, what good does it do pointing fingers, it will not undo the damage or bring people back.

[Crash999]

All said and done, what good does it do pointing fingers, it will not undo the damage or bring people back.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well said.

[Darknight]

Warning rejected to protect tourism

Published on December 28, 2004 The Nation

Minutes after the earthquake hit northern Sumatra at 7.58am on Sunday, officials of the Meteo-rological Department, who were at a seminar in Cha-am, convened an emergency meeting chaired by Supharerk Tansrirat-tanawong, director-general.

They had just learned that the Bangkok office had reported a quake measuring at 8.1 on the Richter scale, which was much lower than the

level officially recorded later.

“We didn’t think there would be subsequent seismic waves, because a similar quake of 7.6 on the Richter scale, which hit Sumatra on November 2, 2002, did not affect Thailand,” said a member of the department who asked not to be named.

Moreover, the quake this time hit west of Sumatra and officials thought the island might offer a natural shelter, preventing any waves from breaking towards Phuket and its vicinity, he said.

With slightly less than one hour before the waves came ashore, Supharerk said, the department officials did not expect a tsunami. There are just four people on the department’s 900-person staff who are earthquake experts, he said. Also, a tsunami had not hit Thailand in more than 300 years.

But sources said they did discuss the likelihood that a tsunami could hit Thailand’s Andaman Sea coastal towns. This was also played down.

“The very important factor in making the decision was that it’s high [tourist] season and hotel rooms were nearly 100-per-cent full. If we issued a warning, which would have led to evacuation, [and if nothing happened], what would happen then? Business would be instantaneously affected. It would be beyond the Meteorological Department’s ability to handle. We could go under, if [the tsunami] didn’t come,” said a source who attended the meeting.

“We hesitated for a while whether we should issue a warning or not. It was discussed but we didn’t have a chance to do it.”

Supharerk denied that tourism factored into the discussion at the 11th hour. “I think we have done our best,” he said.

Precisely at 9am that Sunday, waves as high as 3 to 10 metres hit the main southern coastal provinces of Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi and Ranong.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation

[gburns57au]

I think a lot of agencies will be trying to cover their collective backsides over this. even if a tsunami was expected, I dont think anyone could have imagined the magnitude that has resulted.

as stated before.....what has happened has happened, no amount of talk or blame will change that....the important thing now is the recovery process and to make sure that the expected deseases dont kill more people.

[etxkgh]

http://www.chiangmainews.com/thenation/hea...s_15908069.html

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2004/12/28...s_15908069.html

Warning rejected to protect tourism

Published on December 28, 2004

Minutes after the earthquake hit northern Sumatra at 7.58am on Sunday, officials of the Meteo-rological Department, who were at a seminar in Cha-am, convened an emergency meeting chaired by Supharerk Tansrirat-tanawong, director-general.

They had just learned that the Bangkok office had reported a quake measuring at 8.1 on the Richter scale, which was much lower than the

level officially recorded later.

“We didn’t think there would be subsequent seismic waves, because a similar quake of 7.6 on the Richter scale, which hit Sumatra on November 2, 2002, did not affect Thailand,” said a member of the department who asked not to be named.

Moreover, the quake this time hit west of Sumatra and officials thought the island might offer a natural shelter, preventing any waves from breaking towards Phuket and its vicinity, he said.

With slightly less than one hour before the waves came ashore, Supharerk said, the department officials did not expect a tsunami. There are just four people on the department’s 900-person staff who are earthquake experts, he said. Also, a tsunami had not hit Thailand in more than 300 years.

But sources said they did discuss the likelihood that a tsunami could hit Thailand’s Andaman Sea coastal towns. This was also played down.

“The very important factor in making the decision was that it’s high [tourist] season and hotel rooms were nearly 100-per-cent full. If we issued a warning, which would have led to evacuation, [and if nothing happened], what would happen then? Business would be instantaneously affected. It would be beyond the Meteorological Department’s ability to handle. We could go under, if [the tsunami] didn’t come,” said a source who attended the meeting.

“We hesitated for a while whether we should issue a warning or not. It was discussed but we didn’t have a chance to do it.”

Supharerk denied that tourism factored into the discussion at the 11th hour. “I think we have done our best,” he said.

Precisely at 9am that Sunday, waves as high as 3 to 10 metres hit the main southern coastal provinces of Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi and Ranong.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation

Edited December 28, 2004 by etxkgh

[rockhardbkk]

It would have been alot better to inform tourists of what might happen than to do nothing and have all these people perish. Typical Thai lack of foresight and it really pisses me off NOBODY said anything when they could have easily put put out a bulletin and saved lives.

[chingy_]

the weather minister should resign, no question ask.

[tracer0]

the weather minister should resign, no question ask.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He shouldnt only resign, they should boot him out and the other 4 idiots.

difference between 7.4 and 9.0 is 10000 times more power.

Even with their wrong numbers it should have beenn 50-75 times more power.

Do we now get compensation froim the goverment for screwing up(g)?

Other thing is I am totally pissed off by local governments announcing wave warnings for every minor quake following (there have been at least 20 quakes since that day, no fakes, but issuing an alarm for everyopne of them???

I got pain in my feet from walking up and down the mountain and no shoes in Kamala.

I am lucky to be alive but I should like to stick the whole government in my shop and clean it out by HAND. I had to swim 3 m down, 5 m up to get through a door to my second floor, everyting on first floor destroyed.

[caughtintheact]

I suspect that the recent storm which was billed as a potential disaster and turned out to be a dud probably influenced this decision. It's easy for the Monday morning quarterbacks to second guess, but I wonder what they really would have done had they been in the decision making chair?

[cdnvic]

Warning rejected to protect tourism

Published on December 28, 2004  The Nation

But sources said they did discuss the likelihood that a tsunami could hit Thailand’s Andaman Sea coastal towns. This was also played down.

“The very important factor in making the decision was that it’s high [tourist] season and hotel rooms were nearly 100-per-cent full. If we issued a warning, which would have led to evacuation, [and if nothing happened], what would happen then? Business would be instantaneously affected.

The Nation

What's the penalty for 2000+ counts of criminal negligence causing death?

cv

[LivinLOS]

One cynic on another forum pointed out that if an alarm was raised and no quake came the losers (economically) would have been predominately Thai Chinese and presumably powerful... The losers (in life) in not calling a warning are predominately indiginous Thai and Farang.

[sting01]

One cynic on another forum pointed out that if an alarm was raised and no quake came the losers (economically) would have been predominately Thai Chinese and presumably powerful... The losers (in life) in not calling a warning are predominately indiginous Thai and Farang.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

“The very important factor in making the decision was that it’s high [tourist] season and hotel rooms were nearly 100-per-cent full. If we issued a warning, which would have led to evacuation, [and if nothing happened], what would happen then? Business would be instantaneously affected. It would be beyond the Meteorological Department’s ability to handle. We could go under, if [the tsunami] didn’t come,” said a source who attended the meeting.

All is said here .... Saddly it was what I stated 3 days ago ... for only result to got insult fonr some Darknight ...

What a shame if it's really true and proven ... Due the amount of deads, is it possible the "LA Haye" Court can judge it? I didn ot check that yet, but it could be something good ... at least it will be not the usual blabla about God, holy book and other : it's Mother nature ...

It's writing timing about 1 hour ... but it was question of minutes for so many people ... the time to climb 3 or 4 stairs, the time to go in highter places .... it does not take hours, but minutes if your life is in the balance.

IF (and I type it in big case because we must be sure it's a reallity), someone have delay warming for economical reason, he should be considered as a mass murder.

A personnal point, that is typical of Thailand, noboddy care, I am sure the local residents who are alive must laught about it, it was like a new attraction park ... and for free of charges. The authorities don't care also, like for HIV they will fake the cost and ask for money abroad from the ugly foreign governments (at least it will contribuate to elevate the living standart of some marvellous people who rule this country). Also, here in Bangkok, if I compare with what happened in France 4 years ago, noboddy seems concerned appart the still ugly/smelly farangs. The mass consider they can not stop to play Ragnarok or other games, not stop to be beautiful also ...

The only one who was concerned, and acted well, and that is not the first time, is His majesty the King. But we are spoken about Koh Phi Phi, or Koh Phuket ... because we know people there , but what about Trang? I have read nothing much about this province, what about Ranong? I have still hear nothing about those places, well no many farangs there, so no real interest it is not?

3 days ago, I was asked to read the Holly bible about tsunami, I did not found something about it (usualy I prefer to read Salomon Book/cantiq), I just enjoyed the description of the Ante-Christ. About belief, my grand father (who was a white thai from nort of Vietnam) have explain me the following when I was young :

for the thai tribes, a natural cathastrophe mean the Divinities consider the country ruler did not do what is good. He told me that's why the mass in vietnam never supported the Emperor Bao Dai (bad harvest, flood and that year after year). Who knows, maybe my thai grandfather was right, maybe not.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

According to the scientific stuff, it took the wave around 1hr 50mins to reach Phuket (almost the same time as it took to get to Sri Lanka, I might add) Which authority knew??

They had 50 minutes to act, how much could they have done, yes they knew about the quake but did they know about the tsunami?

All said and done, what good does it do pointing fingers, it will not undo the damage or bring people back.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The sheer logistics would have needed an army to put into effect any helpful action, and the time alone was another insurmountable factor. Thai bureaucrats are not notorious for unilateral decisions on major matters. Mid silly season didn't help either. Thank you Andy for such a common sense contribution.

[PvtDick]

One cynic on another forum pointed out that if an alarm was raised and no quake came the losers (economically) would have been predominately Thai Chinese and presumably powerful... The losers (in life) in not calling a warning are predominately indiginous Thai and Farang.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why even repeat this racist nonsense? The Thais -- to their credit -- do not demonize Thai-Chinese. When tourism is down ALL Thais, whether they are Thai-Chinese, Thai-Thai, Thai-Laotion, Thai-Mon, Thai-Burman, or whatever, suffer. Thais largely do not differentiate between the various groups, they are all "Thai" -- do you want them to start doing so, a la Malaysia and Indonesia, where periodic racist riots see Chinese homes and businesses destroyed?

[LivinLOS]

No I repeated it prefaced with the comment that it was a cynical point of view..

However the fact stands up that the chain and major hotels are predominately owned by powerful Thai Chinese families.. Those would have been the losers of a false alarm.. The general population (in fact much higher ratio of farang than in general population but thats beside the point) bore the brunt of no warning.

[usatrader]

I would hope this is no more than the untrue finger pointing of cynism, political intreg or malasis of Buracratic confusion and not as implied, a FUBAR, malody of cancerous greed.

That is all

[Limbo]

According to the scientific stuff, it took the wave around 1hr 50mins to reach Phuket (almost the same time as it took to get to Sri Lanka, I might add) Which authority knew??

They had 50 minutes to act, how much could they have done, yes they knew about the quake but did they know about the tsunami?

All said and done, what good does it do pointing fingers, it will not undo the damage or bring people back.

The sheer logistics would have needed an army to put into effect any helpful action, and the time alone was another insurmountable factor. Thai bureaucrats are not notorious for unilateral decisions on major matters. Mid silly season didn't help either. Thank you Andy for such a common sense contribution.

At this sad moment other priorities prevail. Indeed.

In February an international conference is planned in this part of the world about how to avoid things like this happening.

I expect that designing disaster-plans and creating an organisational structure will be some of the recommendations.

The type which is common in other parts of the world: When this happens there, we immediatly do this and that here. Without any discussion, direct action.

The seismological stations in Europe and the USA measured 8.7. In Bangkok the needle stuck at 8.1 on the same scale. Now everybody agrees on 9!

Is there any specialist who can give some insight in these discrepancies?

Disaster-plans are mostly designed by specialists and they get approved in parliament. And the officials who are responsible for the implementation can execute existing plans immediatly. They don't have to discuss the matter with anybody and loose a lot of time, because the discussions are already held.

I understand that Andy is an active rescue member and as such you don't want to loose time and energy with thinking about what went wrong and what could be improved in future. You do your horrible work and you have such strong emotions that you even don't want to think and even less to talk how the death of hundreds if not of thousands could have been avoided. You are doing what you can to limit the casualties NOW!

At such a moment you leave the question if any of the death's could have been avoided to their family, their friends, their beloved ones. And that is a question they are entitled to get an answer to.

Keep up the good work Andy. I am sure that I speak for most members of this forum when I say that we are proud that we have one of our members in the front line! With all respect!

And Dr.Patpong, I agree for hundred percent: The army will certainly be part of future scenario's as anywhere else in the world.

[chuchok]

According to the scientific stuff, it took the wave around 1hr 50mins to reach Phuket (almost the same time as it took to get to Sri Lanka, I might add) Which authority knew??

They had 50 minutes to act, how much could they have done, yes they knew about the quake but did they know about the tsunami?

All said and done, what good does it do pointing fingers, it will not undo the damage or bring people back.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The sheer logistics would have needed an army to put into effect any helpful action, and the time alone was another insurmountable factor. Thai bureaucrats are not notorious for unilateral decisions on major matters. Mid silly season didn't help either. Thank you Andy for such a common sense contribution.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

At this sad moment other priorities prevail. Indeed.

In February an international conference is planned in this part of the world about how to avoid things like this happening.

I expect that designing disaster-plans and creating an organisational structure will be some of the recommendations.

The type which is common in other parts of the world: When this happens there, we immediatly do this and that here. Without any discussion, direct action.

The seismological stations in Europe and the USA measured 8.7. In Bangkok the needle stuck at 8.1 on the same scale. Now everybody agrees on 9!

Is there any specialist who can give some insight in these discrepancies?

Disaster-plans are mostly designed by specialists and they get approved in parliament. And the officials who are responsible for the implementation can execute existing plans immediatly. They don't have to discuss the matter with anybody and loose a lot of time, because the discussions are already held.

I understand that Andy is an active rescue member and as such you don't want to loose time and energy with thinking about what went wrong and what could be improved in future. You do your horrible work and you have such strong emotions that you even don't want to think and even less to talk how the death of hundreds if not of thousands could have been avoided. You are doing what you can to limit the casualties NOW!

At such a moment you leave the question if any of the death's could have been avoided to their family, their friends, their beloved ones. And that is a question they are entitled to get an answer to.

Keep up the good work Andy. I am sure that I speak for most members of this forum when I say that we are proud that we have one of our members in the front line! With all respect!

And Dr.Patpong, I agree for hundred percent: The army will certainly be part of future scenario's as anywhere else in the world.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Great post Limbo.

I cannot understand how the ratings have been increased so long after the event.

There was an earthquake a week or so ago (8.1) 1515 km (940 miles) south west of New Zealand.It did not create a ripple.

Edited December 29, 2004 by chuchok

[Foggy Bottom]

It has been interesting to watch the International media postulate that had the quake been East of the Malay Peninsula, tsunami warnings would have been issued as there is a warning system for the Pacific Rim - would this government have listened to them or simply poo-pooed them because HE TS the PM knows no tsunami has hit Thailand in 300 years?

Imagine the outcry if that had happened with the same results as this weeks events on the west coast (where no International warning system is in place).

[yuyi]

Who will take responsibility for negligent response?

Someone must be held accountable for the mishandling of information that lead to the thousands of deaths in the south of Thailand. Two years ago a similar quake of less magnitude hit the same area. The Meteorological Department issued warnings of possible tidal waves for the southern coast of Thailand. The tidal waves never arrived, but the general consensus was that “it was better safe than sorry”. If one remembers, the Meteorological Department was later reprimanded by the PM for causing a disruption to the tourism industry and went on to say that Thailand has not experienced a tidal wave or tsunami for over 300 years and was not likely to experience any in the near future.

This time decisions were made based on the events of 2002. It was decided that the tourism industry should not be disrupted, as it was the policy of this PM and this government to promote tourism at all costs. In addition, this knowledgeable PM has already ensured that it was unlikely that a tsunami would hit Thailand. Therefore warnings were never issued, resulting in thousands of deaths, including a grandson of His Majesty the King. So, will anyone be held accountable for deciding that lives were worth risking for the purposes of tourism? Unfortunately the Thai word for “responsibility” or “accountability” incorporates the word for “taking blame” and “taking credit”, and it seems to be the norm for this government to take credit and neglect the blame. Credit must be given to the government for its efforts to assist the victims of this disaster, but let us not forget that if not for its arrogance, so many need not have perished.

Police Lt-Colonel Anantachai Hansasuta (Retired)

Bangkok

(The Nation Letters)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This says it all.

I find it shocking when people say that it doesn't matter if there would have been a warning or not, there would not have been enough time etc. etc.

Tell this to the dead ones, tell this to the wounded ones, which would have only needed 5 minutes to get away from the immediate danger zone. A few phonecalls with orders to evacuate the beaches to the local brown boys could have saved some of them, especially in the tourist areas, where there are enough brown boys hangig around, not so very busy anyway, playing with their walkie talkies.

It makes allways sense to try to avoid as much as possible any possible death. A warning surely would not have saved all. But if it would have saved some, wouldn't that have been worth to try it?

Yesterday I read here that people asking questions got brushed off and told to not start "blaming". Well, if we do not ask questions we will not learn, and it will happen again. And now it shows that there is indeed someone, as they suspected, whose job it was to have a look for these things and to warn, if necessary.

Today we learn that in a similar situation a warning had been made 2 years ago, after a much weaker earthquake. And this time the warning had not been made, because the scientists had been too scared to get hit again by Mr. Toxin, who in his endless wisdom declared that there are no tsunamis happening here.

Nobody can be blamed for the earthquake. Nobody can be blamed for the tsunami. Nobody can and should be blamed for that. But obviously there is somebody having a massive influence to not give a warning, to not even try to save some lifes, because that would mean to risk some business interuptions.

I think the ones which lost so much here have a right to know why there was no warning, why there was even no attempt to warn, and whom to thank.

First the chicken did not obey the orders of Mr. Toxin and got sick, and now also the tsunami ignores his orders.

Sadly, he will get away with this once again, as usual. As pointed out here by others, most Thais have other things to do, this tsunami does not get very much interest.

I wish courage to all the rescue workers, and thank them for taking up such a terrible task. My thoughts are with you!

[dr_Pat_Pong]

According to the scientific stuff, it took the wave around 1hr 50mins to reach Phuket (almost the same time as it took to get to Sri Lanka, I might add) Which authority knew??

They had 50 minutes to act, how much could they have done, yes they knew about the quake but did they know about the tsunami?

All said and done, what good does it do pointing fingers, it will not undo the damage or bring people back.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The sheer logistics would have needed an army to put into effect any helpful action, and the time alone was another insurmountable factor. Thai bureaucrats are not notorious for unilateral decisions on major matters. Mid silly season didn't help either. Thank you Andy for such a common sense contribution.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

At this sad moment other priorities prevail. Indeed.

In February an international conference is planned in this part of the world about how to avoid things like this happening.

I expect that designing disaster-plans and creating an organisational structure will be some of the recommendations.

The type which is common in other parts of the world: When this happens there, we immediatly do this and that here. Without any discussion, direct action.

The seismological stations in Europe and the USA measured 8.7. In Bangkok the needle stuck at 8.1 on the same scale. Now everybody agrees on 9!

Is there any specialist who can give some insight in these discrepancies?

Disaster-plans are mostly designed by specialists and they get approved in parliament. And the officials who are responsible for the implementation can execute existing plans immediatly. They don't have to discuss the matter with anybody and loose a lot of time, because the discussions are already held.

I understand that Andy is an active rescue member and as such you don't want to loose time and energy with thinking about what went wrong and what could be improved in future. You do your horrible work and you have such strong emotions that you even don't want to think and even less to talk how the death of hundreds if not of thousands could have been avoided. You are doing what you can to limit the casualties NOW!

At such a moment you leave the question if any of the death's could have been avoided to their family, their friends, their beloved ones. And that is a question they are entitled to get an answer to.

Keep up the good work Andy. I am sure that I speak for most members of this forum when I say that we are proud that we have one of our members in the front line! With all respect!

And Dr.Patpong, I agree for hundred percent: The army will certainly be part of future scenario's as anywhere else in the world.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for an educated contribution Limbo. Hopefully, sanity will prevail. Happy ( ish ) new year

[yuyi]

One cynic on another forum pointed out that if an alarm was raised and no quake came the losers (economically) would have been predominately Thai Chinese and presumably powerful... The losers (in life) in not calling a warning are predominately indiginous Thai and Farang.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why even repeat this racist nonsense? The Thais -- to their credit -- do not demonize Thai-Chinese. When tourism is down ALL Thais, whether they are Thai-Chinese, Thai-Thai, Thai-Laotion, Thai-Mon, Thai-Burman, or whatever, suffer. Thais largely do not differentiate between the various groups, they are all "Thai" -- do you want them to start doing so, a la Malaysia and Indonesia, where periodic racist riots see Chinese homes and businesses destroyed?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No offence meant, but where are you living? They do differentiate very much. Fortunately not demonize, but they do differentiate a lot. Being Thai-Chinese was bad for a long time, but since many years now it is good, it is even fashion.

Ask a Thai what he thinks about the people from Isaan, from the South, from the North etc. and you will get the difference.

And they are very well aware that the big business is mostly in Thai-Chinese hands. Do they care about? No, they don't, TiT.

[Darknight]

/Thread reopened, offending posts removed.

/moved to subforum Tsunami, politics and economics, comments.

You can discuss the political implications there.

Forum rules still apply , keep it respectfull.

[autonomous_unit]

...

The seismological stations in Europe and the USA measured 8.7. In Bangkok the needle stuck at 8.1 on the same scale. Now everybody agrees on 9!

Is there any specialist who can give some insight in these discrepancies?

...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am no specialist, but it is not uncommon for the magnitude of a quake to be revised multiple times. The rating is not as simple as sticking a thermometer into a ham, but rather more like trying to guage the size of a bomb from the sound as heard by different people throughout the world. Data from different listening stations is combined to estimate the amount of energy released (by considering the size, frequency, and duration of shaking). The most accurate rating will take into account ALL data worldwide, while the preliminary ratings are made from smaller samplings.

[autonomous_unit]

It hurts to ponder, but I think it is clear that a warning protocol and public education could have saved many. Recall, there was quite a bit of chatter about the quake on this web forum even just minutes after it occurred, including the location and magnitude as reported by the USGS. The info was there, if people knew how to act on it. Of course, even seismologists and oceanographers did not have enough information to predict the tsunami in any accurate way; at best they could say that there is a window of risk over a several hour period... but imagine if everyone had mentioned the possibility to their neighbor and people's attention had been perked up that morning. How many lives could have been changed just by being primed and in the right frame of mind to react?

Hindsight is 20/20, but if I had been visiting one of the islands or coastal towns (and still felt the quake and saw the online discussions) rather than being in Bangkok, I think I would have been scared and dragged "me and mine" inland for the day. Nonetheless, on my own private scale, I suspect I would have felt too unsure to actually go around alarming neighbors and instructing them to do the same, for fear of being thought a paranoid fool.

That's the kind of human nature that a warning system has to transcend. I think you need a formal system to get information spread around on short notice, e.g. "yes, that was a serious quake". At the same time, I think many people need to be already informed with the implications, e.g. "a big quake means a tsunami risk".

I don't think it is wise to have everyone's fate rest on the judgement of one person situated far away... it would be better to prepare the populace to make appropriate decisions themselves.

[LaughMuBai]

According to the scientific stuff, it took the wave around 1hr 50mins to reach Phuket (almost the same time as it took to get to Sri Lanka, I might add) Which authority knew??

They had 50 minutes to act, how much could they have done, yes they knew about the quake but did they know about the tsunami?

All said and done, what good does it do pointing fingers, it will not undo the damage or bring people back.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The good of being held accountable for your responsibilities goes without question...

If lives were lost because of negligence or indeed the fear of being incorrect was greater than issuing a warning, then it is the responsibility of all to seek prevention by means of factual information...

One can understand those seeking retribution based on the perception of technology and knowledge afforded to us today. However, the facts need to be clear...