Maybe Up To 6000 Dead, Tidal Waves Slams Thailand

[chingy_]

i live in hawaii before, we been through tsunami many time, the population are well aware what to do if a huge tsunami hit, North Shore got hit a few time, Waikiki was under water a few time.

[Pak Chong]

This from the PHUKET GAZETTE..Theres nothing like being prepared is there?

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Police to boost water safety

Pol Maj Gen Ronnarong Youngyuen: ‘Starting on December 29, the five Phuket Marine Police patrol boats will begin working around the clock, and should be able to respond to any distress calls within 20 minutes.’

PHUKET: The Phuket Marine Police will be put on 24-hour patrol over the holidays in order to ensure the safety of tour boats, respond to distress calls and thwart any terrorist incursions.

The announcement came at a press conference yesterday at the office of the Phuket Marine Police Office at Saphan Hin. Pol Maj Gen Ronnarong Youngyuen, Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau, said Phuket branches of the Phuket Marine Police and Tourist Police would go on special alert.

“Starting on December 29, the five Phuket Marine Police patrol boats will begin working around the clock, and should be able to respond to any distress calls within 20 minutes,” he said.

“We will be more strict on speeding boats and ensure that the 148 vessels registered to ferry tourists are not overcrowded.

“We are also ordering all branches of the police to collect intelligence about potential terrorist activities, because in the past we were too lax about this,” he added.

[mowlem]

CNN report at 00.21 am Thai time

Officials in Bangkok said 117 people are reported dead on the resort island of Phuket, and another 60 people on the island of Phi Phi.

Twenty-eight were killed in the coastal city of Krabi.

East of Phuket, 86 people were killed in Phangnga, and north of the resort island, in Ranong, 23 people were killed.

[NCFCbuff]

Spoke to some friends in Chiang Mai earlier, they seem to be fine, but have not talked to the g/f yet!

[Steve2UK]

are the mobile services really down or why cannot i contact my friend? anyone knows a way to get in touch with him??

am still scared to death...

can anyone tell how many peolpe died in Patong and if they were thais or farang?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Viktor, it's very understandable that you are worried and upset - and I hope that your friend is safe.

I ALSO hope that you will think again about the last question you asked. The victims are ALL people. It's a tragedy - no matter if they are Thai or farang.

Shame on you.

[mowlem]

BBC website:

Thailand resorts hit by floods

At least 257 people died and 1,000 were injured after the massive sea surges caused by an earthquake smashed into Thailand's western coast.

The tourist resort of Phuket was devastated.

At least 257 people died and 1,000 were injured after the massive sea surges caused by an earthquake smashed into Thailand's western coast.

The worst hit areas were on beaches near Phuket, with reports of divers and sunbathers being swept out to sea.

Hotels were under water after 5m-10m (16 to 33 feet) waves hit the coast and there were reports of tourist bungalows being carried away by the water.

Tourists spoke of their disbelief at the scale and speed of the disaster.

"The beach is a disaster now with all of the local restaurants and beach chairs businesses totally destroyed," one reader in Phuket told the BBC News website.

One hotel worker in Phuket said the tide of water flooded the hotel lobby and pulled furniture onto the street.

"As I was standing there, a car actually floated into the lobby and overturned because the current was so strong," Boree Carlsson told Reuters news agency.

Thai officials said the toll was expected to rise because scores of people were still missing.

There were particular fears for divers, since the tidal wave hit when hundreds of tourists and instructors were in the water for a Boxing Day dive.

Up to 80 divers were reported to be trapped in the famous Emerald Cave, which divers can only reach by swimming underwater.

On the island of Koh Phi Phi, made famous as the location for the 2000 film "The Beach", officials spoke of widespread damage and islanders and tourists being airlifted to safety.

One report from the island said 200 bungalows had been swept out the sea.

Tourism is one of Thailand's most important industries, with hundreds of thousands of Western and Asian tourists drawn to its beaches each year.

In neighbouring Malaysia, at least 20 people were reported killed after the tidal waves hit. Most of the dead were in the holiday resort of Penang.

[Ajarn]

I grew up in a California beach town near San Francisco, directly on the San Andreas Fault Line, and there were always earthquake drills, but never any discussion of tidal waves. The only publicized water safety issues were sharks and riptides. Many years later, there was some warning of a tidal wave in SF, and many many people (not me) went down to the beach to watch... Nothing happened, thankfully. That's the only warning I can remember during my lifetime there...

[Pak Chong]

I have friends in the diving community there but cannot contact at the moment. It would seem that those people in the Similans on larger liveaboard boats are safe and experienced large swells only. People diving closer to shore and snorkelling in shallow areas were at greater risk. We can only wait.

[phazey]

I know this is not Thailand related, but just to fill you guys in:

We fealt the quake in Burma about 8:30 local time - i've had reports from a friend that the tsunami swept up to at least the mergui archipeligo and caused extensive damage.

Thats all i've got for the time being - but i've sailed there before and the place is littered with beach villages and fishing boats.

My thoughts go out to those affected.

[Richard W]

I have some friends on Koh Tao. Does anybody know if the earthquake caused any damage in the gulf of Thailand?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

no, but waves were breaking in chiang mai.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you actually READ what I said, I asked about damage due to the earthquake not the tidal wave.

Earthquakes can make the ground shake and hence cause damage!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Was the farang injured in Chiangmai injured by this earthquake? The report said the epicentre was in Burma, but there's no such earthquake on the list at Magnitude Greater Than 2.5 Earthquakes From Around the World. Of course, it may just have been a small earthquake.

[Richard W]

Now for all the "Chicken-littles" out there saying: "The government should do this and the government should do that; have a lok at this website, and see how many siesmic events there are just in the last week..... Which one is the one that will cause the disaster we had today ???? Maybe the one in 100 years or the one in 1000 years?

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/[/url]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The BBC (or more precisely the seismologist they got from Edinburgh) was saying that this fault last had a major earthquake in 1833, i.e. 171 years ago. Last time the tsunamis did most damage in Madagascar as the epicentre was further east; this time the waves reached Somalia.

[camerata]

INET posted this on their home page today:

"Foreign inquiries about tidal waves hitting southern provinces of Thailand and islands in the Andaman sea, please contact the lifeline/emergency center at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel: +66-2643-5262 or +66-2643-5000 ext 5003 and 5502. Fax: +66-2643-5256. http://www.mfa.go.th/

Our Internet services in those areas are not affected."

[george]

Earthquake death toll mounts

BANGKOK: -- The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami which shook South East Asia without warning on Sunday morning is continuing to mount. So far more than 160 people have been killed and thousands injured, a government disaster center said.

The Narenthorn Center of the Public Health Ministry put the death toll at 57 in Phang Nga, 40 in Phuket, 35 in Krabi, 25 in Ranong, 7 in Satun, and 4 in Trang.

Navy inspection flights following the natural calamities found nearly 4,000 people still stranded on the Phi Phi island, the chief of staff of the Royal Thai Navy, Admiral Surin Rerng-arom, said.

Helicopters and ships had been sent to pick up the stranded tourists and local residents from Phi Phi and several other islands in the vicinity, he said.

Communications in the area are difficult due to the changeable seas. More tsunamis (walls of water) are also expected as a result of anticipated aftershocks, he added.

The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) has sent two C130 aircraft with some 40 doctors, nurses and other personnel have flown to Phuket and set up an emergency unit at the airport.

RTAF personnel will coordinate with the Phuket relief centre officials to provide speedy assistance to the victims. PM orders evacuation of earthquake vicitims

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has ordered relief officials to provide immediate assistance to earthquake victims in Thailand’s three southern resort provinces.

Phuket was hardest hit by the earthquake, but Takua Pa district in Phan-ga province and Phi Phi island off Krabi province were also badly shaken.

The epicentre of the earthquake was near the Indonesian island of Sumatra Island, or more precisely at 3.4 latitude and 9.5 eastern longitude, according to Vivat Intarapanich, chief meteorologist in southern Thailand.

The earthquake occurred at around 8.00 am and was felt in Phuket and several southern provinces. The tremors lasted around ten minutes as cars, electric cables and house windows were visibly shaken. Total damage caused by the earthquake is still unknown.

The Prime Minister told journalists that he had been informed of the earthquake while campaigning for a Thai Rak Thai party candidate in Khon Kaen province.

Mr. Thaksin said he had ordered the military, police and other government officials to send assistance to the affected areas and help stranded victims.

--TNA 2004-12-26

[george]

Thailand is considering evacuation of foreigners from Phuket

PHUKET: -- “Thai authorities want to send a small plane with representatives of the foreign and emergencies ministries and the Russian embassy to the island,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said. He said that would help to receive “complete and objective information about the scale of the tragedy on the island. Mobile communication is broken.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry, which has set up a center for monitoring the tidal wave disaster in the Indian Ocean, has no information about Russian sufferers yet.

--ITAR-TASS 2004-12-27

[jaloochapurr]

just for the record, there are warning systems in place in Hawaii. Thease systems depend on the use of bouys that are placed in certain areas. The bouys measure a small rise in the level of the water as it would feel if you were on a boat. Not all earthquakes will cause a huge wave to hit like this, so blaming someone for not warning is silly. Let all just pray for all those who were affected and hope for the best later.

[george]

Tsunami kills 310 in Thailand

PHUKET: -- An unprecedented tsunami has sowed chaos in Thailand's southern tourist playground, tossing cars around and bursting into luxury hotels on Phuket, killing 310 people.

Witnesses spoke of a wave three stories high which destroyed small hotels on the mainland and injured more than 5,000 people.

The government ordered the evacuation of stricken areas, which included the main beaches of Phuket, popular with Western and Asian tourists and currently at the height of the Christmas holiday season.

Disaster officials said 117 people died in Phuket on Sunday, including 35 foreigners. Nearly 700 people were injured and 214 missing.

Another 16 foreigners were among 36 dead in nearby Krabi, a hospital official said.

"We are in chaos," said Somsak Sunwansujarit, deputy director of the disaster department which put the total death toll at 310.

Helicopters and ships were sent to assess the damage in a region of exotically shaped limestone islands scattered in the turquoise waters of the Andaman Sea and popular with snorkellers and divers among Thailand's annual 12 million tourists.

Rescue workers evacuated about 70 Thai and foreign divers from the famed Emeral Cave and several dozen were found and evacuated from around other islands, officials said.

Two Thais were killed at Emeral cave, a major attraction for divers who have to swim underwater to its tiny beach.

The Thai state news agency said more than 4,000 foreign and Thai tourists were stranded on Ko Phi Phi, the tiny island made famous by the 2000 film "The Beach" starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Thailand ITV television showed tourists huddled on the island's devastated beach front, while others helped the injured to rescue helicopters.

Belgian tourist Christian Patauraux said he saw many dead.

"There are a lot of dead bodies and a lot of injured. I'm not sure when the next ferry is coming. Everything has been flattened," he told Reuters.

RESORTS, HOTELS SWAMPED

The tsunami struck the west coast of Phuket, right along its main beaches, lined with luxury hotels and resorts.

"I just couldn't believe what was happening before my eyes," Boree Carlsson told Reuters from a hotel 500 metres from Phuket's Patong beach.

"As I was standing there, a car actually floated into the lobby and overturned because the current was so strong," said the 45-year-old Swede, who wrapped himself around a pillar to avoid being swept away.

"The water was up to my chest and I was holding onto my friend's hand because he can't swim," he added.

The tsunami, triggered by an earthquake measured at 8.9 magnitude by the U.S. Geological Survey, which called it the worst tremor for 40 years, also struck the Thai mainland provinces of Phang Nga, Krabi, Satun, Trang and Ranong.

In the Phang Nga tourist spot of Khao Lak, a collection of about 20 small resorts of up to 40 rooms was wiped out, a hotel worker there said.

"Before the wave hit, I saw sea water fall back around 100 metres from the beach and some minutes later there was a three-storey high wave moving toward the beach and everything collapsed," he said.

Stunned Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the tsunami was unprecedented. "Nothing like this has ever happened in our country before," he said.

Thaksin said Thai Airways would add extra flights to allow tourists to leave Phuket for the capital Bangkok.

"Right now there are lots of tourists and we don't have enough space for them to stay," he told reporters after arriving to assess the damage on Phuket.

The tsunami, triggered by a quake off Indonesia's northern Aceh province on Sumatra, killed thousands of people as far away as Sri Lanka and India as well as Thailand.

--Reuters 2004-12-26

[onethailand]

As a farang (well, sort of), I thought that the natural place to find information would be places like the Bangkok Post and the Nation.

The Post has a history of not updating things, as someone earlier posted the website only reflects the print issue. And nothing has changed, there is still nothing on the Post site.

The Nation, however, at least put up a few updates, kudos to them. But, to be honest, I was not pleased to see the lack of activity on the Post website.

I had a domain registered long ago to try and combine all these news sources, but to be honest I have another online business which is much more lucrative so I let the idea die out, but kept the domain name.

Now, I've got a reason to use it - at least I can try to help where I can. I've got CNN on TV, and Jor Sor 100 on the radio, trying to keep up with the latest reports coming in- though it's now 2 am and there isn't likely to be much more information until morning so perhaps I'll try to get a few hours sleep.

The website is http://onethailand.com - there are no ads, no design, no nothing because the site hasn't been up for a couple of years - but hopefully some people will be able to quickly obtain the information they need. The latest information at this time is the online injury and death lists for Vachira Phuket Hospital.

If anyone has any suggestions for other sources of information, please let me know by PM so I can quickly analyze and put up on the site. This is my way of giving back something to the country and people who have treated me so kindly over the past 11 years that I have lived here.

[gregor200]

just found following story about KataNoi

----------------------------------------------

Paradise was ripped asunder yesterday, washed away by a series of freak waves that left the Thai holiday island of Phuket dealing with its biggest disaster in modern times.

At least 168 people and more than 1000 were injured officials, said.

The Government ordered the evacuation of the stricken areas, which included the main beaches of Phuket, popular with tourists and at the height of its holiday season. The tsunami tossed cars around like toys and swept into luxury hotels.

At Wachira Hospital, in Phuket City, doctors and nurses were struggling to cope with scores of injured people.

There, Canadian Don Howie was sitting and counting his blessings. He had bandaged arms and legs, and an amazing story to tell.

The 57-year-old had gone snorkelling at Kata Noi beach about 9am yesterday.

The first Mr Howie knew of the impending disaster was when a gigantic surge sucked the water from under him.

"The sea suddenly surged out for about, oh, 200 metres," he said. "There was nothing left but sand. Luckily, I was left standing on the rocks where I had been looking at the fish and coral.

"Anyone swimming in the middle of the beach must have been dragged well out to sea."

But before he and other snorkellers could react, the first of the series of huge waves pummelled them and swept them from the rocks. Mr Howie suffered cuts and abrasions to his arms and legs as he was swept against the rocks, but kept his head above water enough to survive a dramatic ride into the beach.

He was able to note that one of the waves seemed to him to sweep along the beach sideways.

His wife, Beverly, watching from their third-floor beachfront hotel room, could only look on in mounting horror.

The second wave was the largest, she said.

"I'd say it was about 15 feet (five metres). The water just smashed everything in its path. It came up over the beach, over the road running along the beach front, behind the main part of the hotel, and swept away large four-wheel-drive vehicles.

"Water surged into the hotel lobby of our wing, on the other side of the road, and smashed the windows of shops fronting the street."

Mr Howie and other survivors were quickly moved up a hill to a safe height, where doctors among the vacationers tended to their wounds.

Many people were carried off to hospitals and clinics on the back of pick-ups as rescuers moved through the sandy debris that choked local bars and restaurants.

Others were not as lucky. Several foreign divers were killed when they were hit by tsunamis while about 70 were exploring the famed Emerald Cave off southern Thailand, police said. Rescue workers were trying to extract the survivors.

Australian tourists watched in horror as walls of quake-generated water swept ashore on the resort island.

Australian Raeshell Tang and her husband Mark watched from their hotel room as the tsunami raged ashore at Phuket.

"We just went out on to the balcony to see what the day was going to be like and there it was in front of us - the tidal wave," she said.

Early reports said one tourist had been killed and five were missing after the huge wave struck.

She said many people had suffered cuts and bruises after being caught in the tsunami.

"There were lots of people with many deep cuts," she said. "Lots of blood everywhere." Another Australian tourist in Phuket, Fiona Rudkin, said some tourists were washed away.

"We've just heard that there's been people on the beach that have been washed away," she said.

The wall of water had also done great damage in the town, she said.

West Australian state MP John Hyde described the scene in southern Thailand as one of devastation.

"Just out of nowhere, suddenly the streets are awash and people just running and screaming from the beach," he told ABC television.

"All the windows are blown in. (There's) debris everywhere."

Perth tourist Simon Morse said he saw people being swept along the street.

"People were getting swept along still on their motorbikes on their sides," he told an ABC reporter.

"There were cars that had been picked up by the storm surge and they were getting pushed down the road, taking things out as they went."

Outside Wachira Hospital, one of three public hospitals on the island, officials were posting the names of people who had been admitted for treatment on large boards. A crowd of about 100 people, most of them locals, were waiting anxiously for news of relatives.

It will be days before authorities on the island can gauge the full impact of the disaster. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is trying to determine whether any Australians were killed or injured around the region in the earthquake's aftermath.

A department spokesman said inquiries were being made urgently about the welfare of Australians in the region but so far there had been no reports of casualties. "We still don't know at this stage," he said. The spokesman said relatives of Australians who were in the region could contact the department on its hotline, 1800 00 22 14 for assistance.

[eljeque]

Stunned Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the tsunami was unprecedented. "Nothing like this has ever happened in our country before," he said.

My girlfriend tells me that 30 years ago, in Tah Loom Pook that somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,500 people died in a typhoon.

[andyadam]

On the ITV news at 6 they gave a web address for the names of dead and wounded but the GF must have written it down wrong, anyone know????

She wrote down

cms.narenthorn.or.th

Doesn't work!??

[mrvietnam2001]

What's on yahoo over here:

Asia Quakes' Tsunamis Kill Nearly 10,000

4 minutes ago Top Stories - AP

By LELY T. DJUHARI, Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years struck deep under the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Sumatra on Sunday, triggering tidal waves up to 20 feet high that obliterated villages and seaside resorts in six countries across southern Asia. Nearly 10,000 people were killed in the devastation.

Canadian Press

Slideshow: Indonesia Quake Sparks Fatal Tidal Waves

Asian Quakes' Tsunami Kill More Than 8,000

(AP Video)

Tourists, fishermen, homes and cars were swept away by walls of water that rolled across the Bay of Bengal, unleashed by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake. The tsunami waves barreled nearly 3,000 miles across the ocean to Africa, where at least nine people were killed in Somalia, witnesses said.

At least 4,185 killed in Indonesia, the country's health ministry said.

In Sri Lanka, 1,000 miles west of the epicenter, more than 3,000 people were killed, the country's top police official said; that number, however, does not include the unconfirmed 1,500 deaths reported by rebels who control part of the country.

Elsewhere, about 2,300 were reported dead along the southern coasts of India, at least 289 in Thailand, 42 in Malaysia and two in Bangladesh.

But officials expected the death toll to rise, with hundreds reported missing and all communications cut off to towns in the Indonesian island of Sumatra that were closest to the epicenter. Hundreds of bodies were found on various beaches along India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, and more were expected to be washed in by the sea, officials said.

The rush of tsunami waves brought sudden disaster to people carrying out their daily activities on the ocean's edge. Sunbathers on the beaches of the Thai resort of Phuket were washed away. A group of 32 Indians — including 15 children — were killed while taking a ritual Hindu bath to mark the full moon day. Fishing boats, with their owners clinging to their sides, were picked up by the waves and discarded.

"All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation.

The U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites) measured the quake at a magnitude of 8.9. Geophysicist Julie Martinez said it was the world's fifth-largest since 1900 and the largest since a 9.2 temblor hit Prince William Sound Alaska in 1964.

The epicenter was located 155 miles south-southeast of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province on Sumatra, and six miles under the seabed of the Indian Ocean. There were at least a half-dozen powerful aftershocks, ranging in magnitude from almost 6 and 7.3.

On Sumatra, the quake destroyed dozens of buildings — but as elsewhere, it was the wall of water that followed that caused the most deaths and devastation.

Tidal waves leveled towns in Aceh province on Sumatra's northern tip. An Associated Press reporter saw bodies wedged in trees as the waters receded. More bodies littered the beaches.

Health ministry official Els Mangundap said 1,876 people had died across the region, including some 1,400 in the Aceh provincial capital, Banda Aceh. Communications to the town had been cut.

Relatives went through lines of bodies wrapped in blankets and sheets, searching for dead loved ones. Aceh province has long been the center of a violent insurgency against the government.

Some of the worst devastation was in Sri Lanka, where a million people were displaced from wrecked villages. Some 20,000 soldiers were deployed in relief and rescue and to help police maintain law and order. Police chief, Chandra Fernando said at least 3,000 people were dead in areas under government control.

An AP photographer saw two dozen bodies along a four-mile stretch of beach, some of children entangled in the wire mesh used to barricade seaside homes. Other bodies were brought up from the beach, wrapped in sarongs and laid on the road, while rows of men and women lined the roads asking if anyone had seen their relatives.

"It is a huge tragedy," said Lalith Weerathunga, secretary to the Sri Lankan prime minister. "The death toll is going up all the time." He said the government did not know what was happening in areas of the northeast controlled by Tamil Tiger rebels.

The pro-rebel www.nitharsanam.com Web site reported about 1,500 bodies were brought from various parts of Sri Lanka's northeast to a hospital in Mullaithivu district, 170 miles northeast of the capital, Colombo.

About 170 children at an orphanage were feared dead after tidal waves pounded it in Mullaithivu, the Web site said.

No independent confirmation of the report was available, but TamilNet — another pro-rebel Web site — said some guerrilla territory was badly hit. "Many parts ... are still inaccessible and it was difficult to provide damage estimates or death tolls there," it said.

In India, beaches were turned into virtual open-air mortuaries, with bodies of people caught in the tidal wave being washed ashore.

"I was shocked to see innumerable fishing boats flying on the shoulder of the waves, going back and forth into the sea, as if made of paper," said P. Ramanamurthy, 40, who lives in Kakinada, a town in Andra Pradesh state.

The huge waves struck around breakfast time on the beaches of Thailand's beach resorts — probably Asia's most popular holiday destination at this time of year, particularly for Europeans fleeing the winter cold — wiping out bungalows, boats and cars, sweeping away sunbathers and snorkelers, witnesses said.

"Initially we just heard a bang, a really loud bang," Gerrard Donnelly of Britain, a guest at Phuket island's Holiday Inn, told Britain's Sky News. "We initially thought it was a terrorist attack, then the wave came and we just kept running upstairs to get on as high ground as we could."

"People that were snorkeling were dragged along the coral and washed up on the beach, and people that were sunbathing got washed into the sea," said Simon Clark, 29, a photographer from London vacationing on Ngai island.

On Phuket, Somboon Wangnaitham, deputy director of the Wachira Hospital, said one of the worst hit areas was the populous Patong beach, where at least 32 people died and 500 were injured.

Another survivor on Phuket was Natalia Moyano, 22, of Sydney, Australia, who was being treated for torn ligaments.

"The water kept rising. It was very slow at first, then all of a sudden, it went right up," Moyano said. "At first I didn't think there was any danger, but when I realized the water kept rising so quickly, I tried to jump over a fence, but it broke."

On Phi Phi island — where "The Beach" starring Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed — 200 bungalows at two resorts were swept out to sea.

"I am afraid that there will be a high figure of foreigners missing in the sea and also my staff," said Chan Marongtaechar, owner of the PP Princess Resort and PP Charlie Beach Resort.

Some 200 seriously injured people, most of them foreigners, were evacuated by helicopter from the island after dark, said Maj. Gen. Winai Nilasri of the Border Patrol Police. He said the island, which was crammed with tourist facilities, was without electricity.

There was no tsunami threat for western North America or Hawaii, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Scientists said the catastrophic death toll across the region might have been reduced if India and Sri Lanka had been part of an international warning system designed to advise coastal communities that a potentially killer wave was approaching.

Although Thailand is part of the system, it has not yet been implemented for the western coast of the Thailand penninsula, where the waves came smashing ashore Sunday, the scientists said. The system relies on a network of earthquake seismic sensors and tidal gauges attached to buoys in the oceans.

Indonesia, a country of 17,000 islands, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the margins of tectonic plates that make up the so-called the "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific Ocean basin.

The Indonesian quake struck just three days after an 8.1 quake struck the ocean floor between Australia and Antarctica, causing buildings to shake hundreds of miles away but no serious damage or injury.

Quakes reaching a magnitude 8 are very rare. A quake registering magnitude 8 rocked Japan's northern island of Hokkaido on Sept. 25, 2003, injuring nearly 600 people. An 8.4 magnitude tremor that struck off the coast of Peru on June 23, 2001, killed 74.

___

Associated Press reporters Dilip Ganguly and Gemunu Amarasinghe in Colombo, Sri Lanka, K.N. Arun in Madras, India, and Sutin Wannabovorn in Phuket, Thailand, contributed to this report.

[onethailand]

On the ITV news at 6 they gave a web address for the names of dead and wounded but the GF must have written it down wrong, anyone know????

She wrote down

cms.narenthorn.or.th

Doesn't work!??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That probably should be ems.narenthorn.or.th - but there is no information on that site that I can find.

[CDB]

USGS: Warnings Could Have Saved Thousands in Asia

Dec 26, 12:09 PM (ET)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A warning center such as those used along the Pacific Rim could have saved most of the thousands of people who died in Asia's earthquake and tsunami, a U.S. Geological Survey official said on Sunday.

None of the countries that lost thousands -- including India, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka -- had a tsunami warning system or tidal gauges to alert people to the wall of water that followed a massive earthquake, said Waverly Person of the USGS National Earthquake Information Center.

"Most of those people could have been saved if they had had a tsunami warning system in place or tide gauges," he said.

"And I think this will be a lesson to them," he said, referring to the governments of the devastated countries.

Person also said that because tsunamis in the Indian Ocean are extremely rare, people were never taught to flee inland after they felt the tremors of an earthquake.

The 8.9-magnitude underwater quake -- one of the most powerful in history -- off the Indonesian island of Sumatra devastated southern Asia and triggered a tsunami, or seismic sea wave, of up to 30 feet high.

[cdnvic]

A technical note;

Since the traffic is high and its difficult to connect to here sometimes, until traffic dies down a bit can we all agree not to sit idle here when we aren't at the keyboard? I normally idle 24/7 when I'm away but I know alot of anxious people are coming here for news (I've looked everywhere, but cannot find a better source so far...outstanding work George, and all contributors) and idle connections mean that people can't get connected with the server's limited resourses.

Thanks

cv

[britmaveric]

Shocking - times like these make you wonder.... Regardless of the preventive nature of Tidal Wave warning systems- bit late at this juncture. Everyone needs to pull together. My heartfelt condolences to those lost/injured.

[andyadam]

On the ITV news at 6 they gave a web address for the names of dead and wounded but the GF must have written it down wrong, anyone know????

She wrote down

cms.narenthorn.or.th

Doesn't work!??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That probably should be ems.narenthorn.or.th - but there is no information on that site that I can find.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for that, the news said they would post on there after midnight but nothing yet. Have just been listening to the BBC, they think 162 tourists missing so far, I hate to think how many Thais, I have been unable to contact friends down there but as they say, no news is good news. My symathy goes to all involved.

[cdnvic]

For those of you who want to help but don't know how, the International Red Cross has launched an appeal for disaster relief funds. Here are some national affiliates:

Thai Red Cross

http://www.redcross.or.th/english/donation...fbff763d129bdac

Canadian Red Cross

http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=011441&tid=001

American Red Cross

http://www.redcross.org/article/0,1072,0_312_3870,00.html

Malaysian Red Crescent

www.redcrescent.org.my

British Red Cross

http://www.redcross.org.uk/index.asp?id=20...205157746932851

Those of you outside Thailand can call your local govt representative and urge them to provide disaster relief to the affected countries.

cv

[Johpa]

Any quake in the ocean, will change the water around it....its called the Ripple Effect....whether a tsunami is created depends on other facters...many of them geological.....when a tsunami is a large swell...it collects water as it goes...the further it travels the more it collects....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Uh, waves do not collect or even transport water. Only the energy of the wave moves through the medium, in this case water, but the water itself does not move much.

[SpaceKadet]

From the Globe and Mail:

On Phi Phi island — where "The Beach" starring Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed — 200 bungalows at two resorts were swept out to sea.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto.../International/

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

C'mon IGW, "The Beach" wasn't filmed on Koh Phi Phi Don where all the resorts are... It was filmed on Koh Phi Phi Leh, on Maya Beach. Before filming there was nothing there, now there's a lot of garbage...

[Darknight]

update

DISASTER TOLL

Sri Lanka: 3,538 dead

Indonesia: 4,185 dead

India: 2,000 dead

Thailand: 257 dead

Malaysia: 28 dead

Maldives: 10 dead

Bangladesh: 2 dead

Source: Government officials