'resorts To Blame' For Inadequate Tsunami Warning System

QUESTIONS ARE finally being asked in public about the effectiveness of the Andaman coast tsunami warning system.

More than three years after the tsunami, it is not possible for any resident or visitor to Phuket or any other coastal province to feel as though they are adequately protected.

Phuketwan can reveal that only two Andaman resorts have signed up so far to provide the comprehensive but costly warning service on offer from the National Disaster Warning Centre.

The beach warning tower system that stretches along the coast is imperfect but probably adequate, combined with television and radio, during daylight hours.

But the question that needs to be asked repeatedly is this: what happens if a second tsunami comes at 3am, everybody is asleep, and the radios and television sets have been switched off for hours?

Dr Plodprasop Surasawadee, assistant minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, was quoted in the Bangkok Post as saying on Phuket on Wednesday: ''Now, the NDWC is no different from a deserted toilet.

''It cannot be used. The centre has no budget, no manpower and no decision-makers.''

-- for more, go to phuketwan.com