Tsunami Warning Buoy For Phuket Now Dead In The Water

[apetley]

If there is this much procrastination over the changing of a battery in a buoy what chances of a nuclear power plant ever being built?

[fantuzi]

Gee I just saw this brief article in the Sydney Morning Herald, then looked up ThaiVisa to see if it's in the news here yet, and instead I see this article! This is what I just read at 4.15AM here:

August 11, 2009 - 6:59AM A huge 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit off the Andaman Islands in eastern India, triggering a tsunami alert across the Indian Ocean, the US Geological Survey reported Tuesday.

I hope some alerts can be made in Phuket in time.

Mustafa!You have skipped on the better part of the story in SydneyMorningHerald - about Thai Government:

"Thai Government is aware of this and "They are MONITORING the situation""

I think,they have special agent soaking his feet in sea water of PatongBeach.

[Gary A]

It appears that Thailand has dodged the bullet, no tsunami. Had this turned into another disaster, what is left of tourist industry would have been destroyed by the lack of a battery. Is this a deliberate attempt to destroy the country?

[dale8]

Hello, do they know if it was the battery or maybe the pirates took it and are holding it for ransom. There was a recent earthquake that this bouy could have offered a lot more information. Public safey should be a high priority for the Thai government, and it is hard to know if the battery is a special type. Cheers.

[geriatrickid]

The failure of the Thai government to fulfill its pledges and promises of doing the utmost to ensure the safety of visitors following the last tsunami tragedy speaks volumes as to the complete contempt and disdain that this government has for both the visitors it says it wants and for its own people.

It's bad enough that it required the generosity and kindness of the US taxpayers to pay for the device, but to neglect it for all this time, is inexcusable. I am surprised the Scanadanavian press hasn't picked up the story considering all the people that died from that region last time.

The tipping point is getting very close for this government as to having foreign governments put up red flag warnings. The various embassies have already delivered very strong statements in respect to the increasing crimes reported against their respective citizens and now this. Is this government oblivious to the world outside of Bangkok?

And yet I'm not surprised..................

Edited August 11, 2009 by geriatrickid

[snowflake]

Feel sorry for you guys over there but I guess what we need is another Tsunami and then they might take it more seriously. Maybe the US should just withdraw the whole thing and tell the Thais/rest of Asia to make their own!!!

Cant maintain the thing, well, would like to hear who would blame who after the next tsunami... Would sound like a kindergarden: He did it! No, he did it! No, he did it!

I am sure that if the Thais can not maintain the buoy, tell the rest of the world and more countries would be happy to donate some cash for the purpose...

10M... What does he want now? The new E-class benz??? I agree with a previous poster who said that the navy is out there, just pop a dingy in the water and then let them handle it! I guess they do it more than once a week with other buoys...

[Thai at Heart]

If there is this much procrastination over the changing of a battery in a buoy what chances of a nuclear power plant ever being built?

It's not the construction that would worry me, since that would involve massive padded tenders and hundreds of overseas engineers, it would be Somchai Simpson and Pooyai Burns that would be the problem once the thing was running.

[JUDAS]

If there is this much procrastination over the changing of a battery in a buoy what chances of a nuclear power plant ever being built?

No no no, it'll be fine. After all, a nuclear power plant is not battery powered

[Scott]

Another incompetent gov't in a long line of incompetent gov'ts.

Next time they drag a boat load of Rohingyas out to sea, maybe they could take a battery with them and change it on the way back.

(Oh, that's right, they don't do that either).

[brahmburgers]

If there is this much procrastination over the changing of a battery in a buoy what chances of a nuclear power plant ever being built?

It's not the construction that would worry me, since that would involve massive padded tenders and hundreds of overseas engineers, it would be Somchai Simpson and Pooyai Burns that would be the problem once the thing was running.

Very good point about Nuclear. I'm among the voices in the wilderness that have been howling about the many reasons Thailand should not go nuclear link. Thais overseeing the complexities of a N.plant is scary indeed. There's also potential for terrorist involvement, there's handling of spent fuel rods, there's inevitable decommissioning and then keeping the grounds off-limits for tens of thousands of years. The mind boggles.

As for the buoy, it doesn't matter whether it's functioning or not.

What happens when it's triggered by an incoming tsunami? does a red light go on in some office somewhere (is the light bulb in working order? Is anyone on hand to notice the light? What if the light goes on during lunch break?)

Does the buoy trigger siren blasts along beaches? If so, are the sirens maintained in working order?

Even if the mechanics of the alert system all worked according to plan, I submit that Thais, who are all inured to loud sounds, will just go on with whatever they're doing and simply tune out the added loud noise. This would be particularly true if there were one or two false alarms.

[brahmburgers]

Why a replacement battery?

Put in a solar charger, by golly. There are solar chargers that float (the technology exists, but don't bother telling Thai authorities, as they won't believe it until years later when they see farang countries using it). The device is inner-tube shaped (so it gets sun's rays from any direction) and dunks itself just under the water's surface when high winds or stormy seas are detected - then bobs up again when seas are calm.

The above is in ernest. The mention below is tongue in cheek:

A way to get some productivity from some of the thousands of gov't personnel who have been assigned to inactive posts: Set up a little floating platform next to the buoy with a peddle wheel, which recharges the battery. If you're a bad boy within The Ministry of Inactive Posts (making paper airplanes when you should be reading comic books, for example), then you get assigned 'five hours peddling at the buoy.'

Edited August 11, 2009 by brahmburgers

[skiman1]

If there is this much procrastination over the changing of a battery in a buoy what chances of a nuclear power plant ever being built?

It's not the construction that would worry me, since that would involve massive padded tenders and hundreds of overseas engineers, it would be Somchai Simpson and Pooyai Burns that would be the problem once the thing was running.

Very good point about Nuclear. I'm among the voices in the wilderness that have been howling about the many reasons Thailand should not go nuclear link. Thais overseeing the complexities of a N.plant is scary indeed. There's also potential for terrorist involvement, there's handling of spent fuel rods, there's inevitable decommissioning and then keeping the grounds off-limits for tens of thousands of years. The mind boggles.

As for the buoy, it doesn't matter whether it's functioning or not.

What happens when it's triggered by an incoming tsunami? does a red light go on in some office somewhere (is the light bulb in working order? Is anyone on hand to notice the light? What if the light goes on during lunch break?)

Does the buoy trigger siren blasts along beaches? If so, are the sirens maintained in working order?

Even if the mechanics of the alert system all worked according to plan, I submit that Thais, who are all inured to loud sounds, will just go on with whatever they're doing and simply tune out the added loud noise. This would be particularly true if there were one or two false alarms.

These dullards building and running a Nuclear plant is indeed a very scary thought. I read on another post that a possible Tsunami could have hit Phuket at 05.44 this morning and that nobody was about in Phuket at that time - no alert at all.

I guess it is the Falangs fault for not waking the clowns up - and also Falang fault for not paying tea money to change battelee in buoy - bad falang now must pay money for batalee

[Serpico]

The tsunami was bad enough for tourism.

This news is going to turn off many travelers and travel agents.

I mean, they can't even change a dead battery on the donated multi million system?

Sheesh.

[arnoldjr]

Yet another example of the incompetence of these people. Risk millions of lives because it is not "in the budget" when major civil projects are being skimmed at a rate of that or more per job. Even if we built their entire country for them it would be in ruins in one year. Two if the battery didn't run out. Sorry folks but i think i could train a monkey to do a better job than these retards.

[Mosha]

BBC this morning reported a quake between the Indian islands and the Myanmar coastline. A tsunami alert was raised but later cancelled. Hearing that Thailand is not maintaining this vital piece of equipment is of a major concern. These people want to run a nuclear power station.

[MyphuketLife]

I am amazed, but at the same time not... What fools, its a battery, if my 1 year old can open a remote, remove the battery, put it back in, put the cover back on the remote... Why can't a goverment replace a battery on a buoy, granted its a bit harder than a remote but COME ON?

If they open a nuclear power plant I will leave this country the same day. I honestly think its a miracle anything in this country works.

[Meridian007]

As for the buoy, it doesn't matter whether it's functioning or not.

What happens when it's triggered by an incoming tsunami? does a red light go on in some office somewhere (is the light bulb in working order? Is anyone on hand to notice the light? What if the light goes on during lunch break?)

Does the buoy trigger siren blasts along beaches? If so, are the sirens maintained in working order?

Even if the mechanics of the alert system all worked according to plan, I submit that Thais, who are all inured to loud sounds, will just go on with whatever they're doing and simply tune out the added loud noise. This would be particularly true if there were one or two false alarms.

If the alarm even works! The last Test (that I can find) was a year ago, and coupled with the false alarms and occasional suspension of tests, I feel that the whole system may not be up to the task. I would love to live somewhere around Phuket or Krabi, but until this issue is solved I am leery of even visiting there.

[Mobi]

Two relevant points here:

1. The buoy was donated and installed by a farang government. So it is nothing to do with Thailand, and they bear no responsibility for the maintenance of farang equipment in international waters.

2. They will lose face if they acknowledge that a farang government had to donate the life-saving buoy, which one day may save Thai lives. It's something they should have done themselves, but were too mean and incompetent to do it. Therefor they distance themselves from the whole affair, and don't wish to have any involvement in it's maintenance.

Engendering hatred and resentment towards foreigners and saving face, are much more important to the Thai ruling Mafia than saving lives.

TIT

[robbiecia]

Dear Government of Thailand

Who on earth runs this country?

Mickey mouse and the seven dwarfs?????????? With security provided by the keystone cops??????????

The US gave you an 18 million dollar piece of equipment for you to run and maintain. (with a battery)

Are you telling me you can't even handle that?

Edited August 11, 2009 by robbiecia

[farangpattaya]

600 km = 60,000 meter x THB 75 = THB 4,500,000 for approx. 600 km electrical wire

plug it in the nearest beerbar which is running 24/7

and for the remaining THB 5,500,000 the utility bills can be paid for this century.

[visareal]

When the news about the dead battery reaches anyone in relevant "authority" in Thailand, they ask themselves one important question:

"What's in it for me?"

If they can't answer that question, they do nothing. Hence the two-month impasse.

most brilliant analysis so far....of all the dead cells in the kingdom.

[JetsetBkk]

Feel sorry for you guys over there but I guess what we need is another Tsunami and then they might take it more seriously...

Nah - they'll just make more rake-offs from the new tranche of charity donations and reconstruction work.

[visareal]

It appears that Thailand has dodged the bullet, no tsunami. Had this turned into another disaster, what is left of tourist industry would have been destroyed by the lack of a battery. Is this a deliberate attempt to destroy the country?

...nah, it is a deliberate attempt to get rid of those of us who add nothing to their private coffers besides "complaining"

here daily tourists? where? where?where?

[TAWP]

1. so it's not running and sending signals since June 16th - 2 months now - because the battery ran out ? and that's one year benefit because normally the battery runs for just one year....

2. the ca. 10,000 Tsunami deaths and missing people in Thailand aren't worth anything anymore ? How do they explain this to the families who lost loved ones during the Tsunami?

3. How does Thailand explain this to the other Asean countries and tourist organizations, worldwide ?

A bitter shame for the Abhisit government since they have the responsibility; how do they explain this to HM the King who lost a grandson ?!

It's simply unbelievable.

LaoPo

Yes, I say we imprison every politician that was involved in the cock-up in any way and put them away for atleast 5 years, deal?

[visareal]

The battery required is not expensive, but the mission to replace it would require a budget of at least 10 million baht, he said.

Hopefully another confusion of meaun, saen and lahn baht. I know it is complicated, I do it all the time.

hurry! hurry! hurry! open all the donation line ...plead like hel_l worldwide for more dfonations.....farangs are stupid , you, know.....

[visareal]

Thailand, the hub of incompetence?

..yes, of intentinal and grossly negligent incompetence...

[MyphuketLife]

The more I think about this the more it angers me, such disregard for human life. Wasn’t the last Tsunami bad enough to make them realize they should have an alert system that WORKS? It amazes me even more knowing that an IMPORTANT persons grandson died during the last Tsunami, a person that might not of died if an alert system was in place. You would think that the Thai's in power would take that to heart, and do everything they can to ensure history did not repeat it's self.

Edited August 11, 2009 by MyphuketLife

[Thai at Heart]

THEY DON"T GIVE A dam_n

[TPI]

Tsunami warning buoy for Phuket now dead in the water

Despite responsibility for maintenance of the

buoy, Thailand has been unable to provide it.

With a dead battery, the buoy is no longer operative.

Then US Ambassador to Thailand Ralph Boyce

(left) and former Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Nitya

Pibulsonggram in front of the DART buoy before its

deployment off Phuket in late 2006. File photo.

PHUKET CITY: -- The tsunami direct detection buoy launched from Phuket in 2006 is inoperable because the Thai agency responsible for maintenance has not been able to replace its battery, the Gazette has learned.

The Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) buoy was put into place 600 nautical miles northwest of Phuket early in December 2006.

After its deployment, maintenance of the buoy fell to the Thai government.

Funded by the US government’s USAID program, the buoy was the first of its kind deployed in the Indian Ocean.

It is linked to a highly-sensitive pressure sensor on the seabed that measures the mean height of the water column above.

This information is relayed to a satellite that links to the US government tsunami warning center in Hawaii.

Supplied as part of US$16.6 million in funding for the US Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS) Program, the buoy gave Thailand for the first time the ability to detect directly any tsunami waves before they hit land. That ability is now history, the victim of a dead battery.

According to the US Government’s National Data Buoy Center, the buoy sent out the last of its 15-minute-interval signal messages on June 16 this year.

Chotenarin Kerdsom, who heads the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket Office (DDPM-Phuket), confirmed that the buoy’s battery is dead.

“The original battery was designed to power the unit for one year, but fortunately it ran for two years. If we install a new battery it will resume sending its signals,” he said.

The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) that is now responsible for maintaining the buoy has yet to get budget approval to install a new battery, he said.

“They will have a chance to get a budget in fiscal 2010, but it will require approval from the Budget Bureau,” he said.

The buoy is not under Thailand’s complete ownership. The signals it transmits are first received at the US Government’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii before re-transmission to Thailand, Mr Chotenarin explained.

The battery required is not expensive, but the mission to replace it would require a budget of at least 10 million baht, he said.

The buoy is in international waters and the round-trip mission would take at least five days using a large ship, preferably under escort of a Navy vessel to protect it from pirates, he said.

Until the existing buoy gets a new battery, the NDWC will have to rely primarily on seismic information when deciding to issue a tsunami alert, he admitted.

-- Phuket Gazette 2009-08-10

YOU IDIOT"S, what were you thinking!!!!!Run away to mother now!!

[oevna]

There has been a lot of criticism of the Thai government over this issue, and with good reason. This type of situation is the result of a government where the officials are not at any real risk of losing their positions when failures like this occur. This should be a big red flag to the Thai people that whoever was responsible for this is not fit to hold office. Electing competent officials who take care of serious responsibilities like this will pay off. The Thai people just dodged a very big bullet here with the 7.6 magnitude earthquake in the Indian Ocean yesterday (which I am certain has something to do with this issue being raised). If this doesn't show them the need for change, I don't know what will.