Tsunami Pushes Phuket Further Into Sea: Expert

[george]

Tsunami pushes Thailand's Phuket further into sea: expert

BANGKOK: -- The Dec. 26 tsunami may have pushed the Phuket Island farther out to sea, survey engineers from Chulalongkorn University of Thailand has said.

"In fact, I have to say the quake deformed all land near the Andaman Sea, not only Phuket," said engineer Itthi Trisirisatayawong, who heads a team surveying the geographic effects of the quake and subsequent tsunami.

A team report based on a mathematical computer model suggested Phuket was expected to move southwest by 15 centimeters, which has prompted military experts from the Royal Thai Survey Department toconduct an immediate inspection to verify the projection.

Changes in land and island positions occur naturally by a half millimeter a year, however, these change, if verified, will be very huge, Itthi was quoted by Bangkok Post newspaper as saying onThursday.

North of Phuket, another change was witnessed at Ranong's Tambon Ratchagrud where villagers found a one-kilometer crack in the ocean floor. And a steady stream of air bubbles is surfacing 500 meters offshore in Laem Son Bay.

The area is near the passive Ranong fault, which had been inactive for years, said Muang Ranong district chief Chanat Kaewbamrung.

"It is possible that the tsunami has revived the dormant Ranongfault. When a fault active, it releases bubbles," said Lerdsin Raksasakulwong, director of Geology Office of the Mineral Resources Department.

--Xinhuanet 2005-01-20

[pedro01]

Tsunami pushes Thailand's Phuket further into sea: expert

    BANGKOK: --  The Dec. 26 tsunami may have pushed the Phuket Island farther out to sea, survey engineers from Chulalongkorn University of Thailand has said.

    "In fact, I have to say the quake deformed all land near the Andaman Sea, not only Phuket," said engineer Itthi Trisirisatayawong, who heads a team surveying the geographic effects of the quake and subsequent tsunami.

    A team report based on a mathematical computer model suggested Phuket was expected to move southwest by 15 centimeters, which has prompted military experts from the Royal Thai Survey Department toconduct an immediate inspection to verify the projection.

    Changes in land and island positions occur naturally by a half millimeter a year, however, these change, if verified, will be very huge, Itthi was quoted by Bangkok Post newspaper as saying onThursday.

    North of Phuket, another change was witnessed at Ranong's Tambon Ratchagrud where villagers found a one-kilometer crack in the ocean floor. And a steady stream of air bubbles is surfacing 500 meters offshore in Laem Son Bay.

    The area is near the passive Ranong fault, which had been inactive for years, said Muang Ranong district chief Chanat Kaewbamrung.

    "It is possible that the tsunami has revived the dormant Ranongfault. When a fault active, it releases bubbles," said Lerdsin Raksasakulwong, director of Geology Office of the Mineral Resources Department.

--Xinhuanet 2005-01-20

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Expect Thai air to come out with new pricing to cover the extra distance...

[george]

Tsunami revives passive Ranong fault near Phuket

BANGKOK: -- A one-kilometre crack has opened in the ocean floor north of Phuket, Thailand, sparking fears that the dormant Ranong fault has been revived following the Dec 26 undersea earthquake, reports Xinhua.

At Tambon Ratchagrud in Ranong district, north of Phuket, villagers have found a one-km crack on the ocean floor from which a steady stream of air bubbles are surfacing 500 metres offshore in Laem Son Bay.

The area is near the passive Ranong fault that has been inactive for years, said district chief Chanat Kaewbamrung.

"It is possible that the tsunami has revived the dormant Ranong fault. When a fault becomes active, it releases bubbles," said Lerdsin Raksasakulwong, director of the mineral resources department's geology office.

The island of Phuket may also have moved southwest by 15 cm as a result of the tsunami, according to a report based on a mathematical computer model.

Every year 0.5 mm changes in land and island positions occur naturally. "But the earthquake deformed all the land near the Andaman Sea, not only Phuket," survey engineer Itthi Trisirisatayawong was quoted as saying in the Bangkok Post.

-- Indo-Asian News Service 2005-01-20

[chingy_]

you call that a distance crack, wait till California break-off

[george]

Phuket moved, or maybe it didn't

PHUKET: -- There is no proof that Phuket has shifted 15 centimeters to the southwest following the December 26 earthquake, according to Dr Adichart Surinkum of the Geotechnic Division of the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).

“Evidence is still being collected and displacement modeling is continuing to determine if movement took place,” he told the Gazette today. “Surveying all the areas involved and determining any movement will take around six months.

“Movement – if found – will not be limited to Phuket, or Thailand but to all countries in the area of the earthquake,” he added.

“Coastlines and watercourses could change after such an event,” he warned.

Dr Adichart scotched suggestions that bubbles seen rising to the water’s surface in the Ratchagrud District of Ranong Province are from deep underground.

“They are methane bubbles from decaying plant matter just under the surface of the sand. The earthquake has ‘shaken’ up the area and the gas is being released,” he said.

The DMR has said that 49 provinces – including Phang Nga and Krabi – are at risk from sinkholes.

The announcement from the DMR warns that a loud noise from beneath the ground or the sudden release of water often heralds a new sinkhole.

The DMR advises that anyone in the vicinity of a suspected sinkhole as it forms should retreat some 100 meters or more and stop all excavation or drilling work in the area until the scene is declared safe.

Sinkholes are caused when the rock – typically limestone or carbonate rock – below the surface of the land is dissolved by groundwater circulating through it, although this process usually occurs over a long period of time.

As the rocks are dissolved, caverns form underground. The surface remains intact until it can no longer support its own weight and the “roof” collapses. Sinkholes may vary in size from as little as 1 meter to as large as a house.

The DMR is continuing to look into the phenomenon.

--Phuket Gazette 2005-01-22

[sbk]

There was a sinkhole reported in Nakhon Si Thammarat a few days after the tsunami.

Of course, that could have been a typical pothole

[erikr_]

actually there is a university in Holland that follows the region with satelites. They actually have the wave on satelite image as it travels towards thailand and they have found from the before and after images that phuket has moved 10cm! during the tsunami.

It has been the university of Delft that did the research, and I will look deeper into the matter and report when I have new info

[astral]

actually there is a university in Holland that follows the region with satelites. They actually have the wave on satelite image as it travels towards thailand and they have found from the before and after images that phuket has moved 10cm!  during the tsunami.

It has been the university of Delft that did the research, and I will look deeper into the matter and report when I have new info

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just like the Thai's to be on the ball............ after someone else notices.

Don't look too deep in case it move again, and you get trapped.

[Sphere]

No worries, we will soon have a crackdown on cracks and all will be fine.

:-)