Phuket Tsunami Sirens Fail To Sound In Test

[george]

Phuket tsunami sirens fail to sound in test

PHUKET: -- Three tsunami warning towers set up at Patong beach in Thailand's famous southern resort province of Phuket have undergone initial tests, but their sirens failed to activate properly.

The trial run was carried out Friday morning in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop, who visited the province to inspect the progress of preparations for the first tsunami remembrance ceremony to be held from December 25-27.

Showcasing the tsunami alert towers along the Andaman coast will be part of the event, which will be attended by an expected total of over 10,000 Thai and foreign guests.

Friday's tests failed to impress spectators since the towers did not receive and transmit the warning signals from the National Disaster Warning Centre as it should.

Attributing this to technical difficulties, the deputy premier ordered an urgent improvement of coordination between the provincial alert tower management and the National Disaster Warning Centre.

He also directed Phuket Governor Udomsak Assawarangkura to speed up restoration of the Patong beach landscape for completion prior to the disaster memorial ceremony.

According to the government plan, a total of 62 tsunami alert towers will be established along the Andaman coast.

Minister Attached to the Prime Minister's Office Suranand Vejjajiva earlier said that the warning system at all towers would undergo its first test on December 16, the day when a button would be pressed to set off the system as if the real thing is happening.

An overall budget of Bt38 million (US$950,000) has been set for the installation of the warning system along beaches in the country's six southern Andaman provinces of Phuket, Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang, Ranong,and Satun, which were devastated by the tsunami on December 26, 2004.

--TNA 2005-11-26

[britmaveric]

uh oh!!!

[Greer]

Presumably the master control for this system would be at the National Disaster Warning Centre (as implied in the report), and that I would guess they are sending some form of coded control signal by radio link to the affected areas.

This is REALLY basic control system stuff, so the fact that it didn't work is a bit of a worry.

I wonder if the problem is that they are having difficulty receiving the control commands from the NDWC via it's dedicated control links.

In thinking about this I am now wondering if it might not be much easier to use existing broadcast television transmissions to carry the control signal as well as whatever other links they have set up. I see no reason why they could not include control signals in satellite transmissions too say over UBC.

Such control signals are not detectable by the viewers, so there is no disruption to television broadcasts themselves.

It would not be difficult to insert control data into the transport stream, we do it regularly in the broadcast industry to control the replacement of commercials or to remotely switch to local programme servers etc.

It is then a simple job to put in place a master receive facility in Phuket or wherever, that will receive these signals and then send out local control signals via wired remotes or other simple and reliable means to trigger the sirens and other local alarm systems.

...just a thought.