Phuket To Drill For 'Night Tsunami'

[webfact]

Phuket to drill for 'night tsunami'

Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket (DDPM-Phuket)

chief San Jantharawong explaining plans for the tsunami evacuation drill.

PHUKET: -- Those hoping for a lie in on Phuket’s west coast yesterday were disappointed when the Thai national anthem was played at 8am on all 19 of the island’s tsunami warning towers.

Meanwhile, it was also revealed that the island’s first “night tsunami” evacuation drill would take place in Kamala later this month.

Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) Phuket chief San Jantharawong said yesterday’s test showed all the towers were working.

The anthem will be played at 8am on the 1st and 15th of each month from now on. The towers are designed to be heard from up to 1km away, though their effectiveness is reduced in built-up areas.

Mr San also announced that a tsunami drill would take place in Kamala at 8pm December 14.

Students, tourists, residents, business operators and related organizations are expected to take part, Mr San said.

Assembly points for the drill have yet to be decided, but evacuation routes will be clearly signposted, he said.

Phuket Vice-Governor Nivit Aroonrat said Kamala was selected as it would be easy to conduct an effective drill there.

Regarding the possibility that hotel guests would be alarmed when the warning towers went off, Mr San said it was dependent on the hotels warning them.

Although there were no regulations to force them, hotels should also have their own alarm systems set up for the guests, he said.

“Probably in the future there will be regulations on tsunami warnings,” he said.

For the sixth anniversary of the tsunami, DDPM-Phuket will hold a “Command Post Exercise” at DDPM College on December 22 and 23.

There will also be a full-scale marine rescue and patient evacuation exercise at Saphan Hin and Phuket International Airport on December 24.

All related organizations will take part in the exercise, including the Royal Thai Air Force’s Institute of Aviation Medicine and the National Disaster Warning Center.

-- Phuket Gazette 2010-12-03

[webfact]

Phuket ‘night tsunami’ drill update

PHUKET: -- The center of operations for Phuket’s first “night tsunami” drill will be Rajaprachanukroh 36 School in Kamala.

The drill, to be held on December 14, will begin at 8pm.

The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) has confirmed more than 200 volunteers will take part, and Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha will preside over the exercise.

To sound the alarm on the night, the DDPM will use the same warning used by the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) tsunami warning towers – but sounded through speakers at the school only, and not through the NDWC towers on the beach.

The school, built after the 2004 tsunami, is about 100 meters from the beachfront.

Once the alarm is sounded, about 180 school students as well as people living or operating businesses nearby will move to the highest levels of the school buildings.

DDPM officers and emergency medical treatment teams will then search the area for simulated victims and report to the control center set up at the school.

The “night tsunami” exercise comes before a full-scale marine rescue and patient evacuation drill at Saphan Hin and Phuket International Airport on December 24.

-- Phuket Gazette 2010-12-04