False Tsunami Alarm Sends Residents Running

[george]

TSUNAMI PANIC: False alarm sends residents running

SOUTH THAILAND: -- Several hurt in road accidents as locals flee after third faulty signal in a year. Frightened villagers in six Andaman coastal provinces yesterday headed for the hills in panic when sirens went off at the hands of a “careless” American technician, officials said yesterday. Several people were injured in a spate of road accidents as residents fled Krabi, Phuket, Ranong, Phang Nga, Trang and Satun provinces. No fatalities were reported.

This is the third time since last year’s tsunami that the National Disaster Warning Centre has mistakenly sounded the alarm. The first two mistakes were caused when the centre’s senior staff overreacted.

“Please accept our apologies,” said ACM Anupan Snidvongse Na Ayudhya, deputy director of the centre.

“We [the warning centre], as the authorised agency, have to take responsibility even though it was the carelessness of the staff of the American company hired to set up the system.”

Anupan said representatives of Raydant International Co were called in to set up the warning system and demonstrate it to staff ahead of an official rehearsal tomorrow.

But an American technician accidentally pushed the alarm button because he thought it was a testing button. He tried to cancel the alarm but it was too late, Anupan said.

Jim Hannes, head of Raydant’s engineering department, said the company would take responsibility for all damage caused by the mistake.

When the sirens sounded in the six provinces hit by the killer waves, residents assumed that another tsunami was coming and fled to high ground.

“We all rushed to higher ground in the vehicles available and left all our clothes and belongings at home,” said Ampol Klongyuan, 61, from Baan Tubnua in Ranong. Ampol survived last year’s tsunami by climbing up a tamarind tree with his two nephews.

Anupan said the siren went off just once, but other residents said they heard it twice, along with warning messages in several languages.

“We heard [from the speakers] that ‘the giant wave is coming, please go to the safe places’ not only in Thai, but also in English and other languages that I didn’t know,” said Surat Khunchan, from Baan Nam Khem in Phang Nga’s Takua Pa district.

Along with the sirens, the system was programmed to send out warning messages in Thai, English, Chinese, French, German and Japanese.

The villagers of Baan Nam Khem, which was hard hit by the tsunami, hid for hours until officials in pickup trucks told them the coast was clear. Eight people were reported injured in road accidents in the village.

In Satun, officials tore themselves away from dinner when they heard the alarm and headed for seaside villages, particularly tsunami-ravaged Baan Khao Jed Look, to evacuate villagers.

Rony Pramongkij, a sea gypsy from Phuket, fled to a shelter at a small temple one kilometre from her home. She urged the authorities to be more careful about sounding the alarm.

--The Nation 2005-12-15

[Gumballl]

<snip>

The running Thais are now primed for the Olympics.

Edited December 15, 2005 by george

[george]

Tsunami warning towers test on December 16

PHUKET: The 15 operational tsunami warning towers on Phuket will be tested in conjunction with the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) on December 16 at 1:30 pm.

The government has also assigned the NDWC to run tests in Ranong, Phang Nga, Trang, Krabi, and Satun Provinces, again at at 1:30 pm.

Boonchai Somjai, head of the Phuket Provincial Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, told the Gazette, “Islandwide, all in all, 15 towers will be tested. However, three towers, at Koh Lone, Rawai and Kata are not yet complete.”

In addition, evacuation drills will be held at Patong Beach and Bang Tao-Le Phang Beach. The tests and drills are expected to create more public confidence in the system.

People who live in locations where the tests are to be run are urged to remain calm when the alarm sounds.

--Phuket Gazette 2005-12-14

[terdsak_12]

Peter and the wolf comes to mind!!!

[Gumballl]

thanks for the edit george.... thanks for the reminder to mind my language.

[LaoPo]

Some of you make jokes about the false alarm......BUT...if this happens a few more times, nobody will 'trust' the system anymore AND will stay put when a REAL alarm goes off....

A horrible scenario how many more people will die? (again)

LaoPo

Edited December 15, 2005 by LaoPo

[Simbo]

Fancy those Satun officials being torn from their dinner. Unforgivable !

[george]

TSUNAMI alert SYSTEM / BIG SCARE ON ANDAMAN COAST

False alarm panics six provinces

A false alarm caused by tsunami sirens being activated by mistake jolted the nerves of the six Andaman coastal provinces yesterday, sending panic-stricken residents running for higher ground.

Local people and tourists in parts of Krabi, Phangnga, Phuket, Ranong, Satun and Trang ran for their lives when they heard the sirens go off around midday. Panicking motorists collided with other cars and some people were injured.

Boonchai Somjai, head of Phuket's Disaster Prevention and Mitigation office, said the alarm was sounded without any notification from the National Disaster Warning Centre's Control and Transmission unit in Nonthaburi.

The Nonthaburi unit said a technician had accidentally pressed an alarm button, setting off sirens in the six provinces.

Plodprasop Suraswadi, the centre director, offered his apology and admitted a technician had wrongly pressed the warning button instead of the system-test button.

Jim Hanas, chief engineer at Raydant International Company contracted to provide tsunami warning solutions, promised compensation in cases where the false alarm had caused car accidents.

Local authorities told angry residents the siren was a test-run ahead of an actual drill tomorrow in the six provinces.

The sirens are fitted to warning towers built in tsunami-risk locations, mostly near popular beaches.

In Krabi, throngs of people in tambon Ao Nang, Muang district, were caught in disarray as they raced to higher ground.

Similar scenes were also observed on Phi Phi island. Many foreign tourists were sunbathing when the siren sounded, causing a commotion. The sound was accompanied by evacuation instructions in different languages.

Kawee Sukanthamet, head of Krabi's Disaster Prevention and Mitigation office, said local radio stations helped calm people by telling them it was a false alarm.

--Bangkok Post 2005-12-15

[lampard10]

It's better to have four or five false alarms that people react to than no alarm at all. Or even an alarm that people do not react to. You are right of course about the Peter and the Wolf syndrome. Some are going to get complaceent and maybe start ignoring it, but I think on the whole people will still react after the disaster of last year.

[Ricardo]

Agreed .. Better safe than sorry !

Good luck there was a farang around, to take the blame

[Dickie_Doo]

a “careless” American technician

No Thais to blame then. Phew!

"Dek liang kae" incidentally is the Thai idiom for 'Cry wolf'

[donna]

the REALLY dumb thing is that i live on a small island on the beach. when the alarm goes off, the trucks all go screaming along the road telling everyone who lives inland about the tsunami, but us people on the beach only hear about it when our concerned friends ring us!

[Jai Dee]

DISASTER WARNING CENTER APOLOGIZED TO PUBLIC OVER YESTERDAY'S FALSE ALARMS

The National Disaster Warning Center has apologized to the public and explained that the alarms and warnings sent out by the warning towers yesterday were caused by misunderstanding during a system test.

National Disaster Warning Center Director Plodprasob Surassawadee (ปลอดประสพ สุรัสวดี) and Raydant International's Chief Engineer Jim Hannes yesterday held a press conference to apologize to the public on the alarms sounding from 39 tsunami warning installations, which caused chaos amongst people in the area. The incident was caused when a technician pressed the wrong button while a test was being conducted.

Vice Director of the National Disaster Warning Center Anuphan Sanitwong (อนุพันธุ์ สนิทวงศ์) yesterday asked people not to panic as the center would also disperse warnings through the mass media in instances of disasters.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 15 December 2005

[astral]

Not to worry.

By the time a real Tsunami comes again the whole system will be derelict.

Only the very old will know what to do, and will not be able to run anyway.

Where I lived in the UK they used a siren to call out the fire brigade.

To me it was just a siren, but I remember my mother speaking of the fear

in evoked. She had lived through WWII when those sirens foretold an

Air Raid.

[sonnyJ]

It's better to have four or five false alarms that people react to than no alarm at all. Or even an alarm that people do not react to. You are right of course about the Peter and the Wolf syndrome. Some are going to get complaceent and maybe start ignoring it, but I think on the whole people will still react after the disaster of last year.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lambard, I agree with you. Peter & the Wolf factor though worries me.

What about the alarm system? How is it promised to work?

How long time on average, before the wave hits the coast? Surely depends on the place of the underwater eruption. So, how are the possible places estimated in the disaster scenarios? On my understanding big eruptions are very unlikely near the coast of Thailand. Usually them happen around Sumatra. (please correct me if I'm wrong).

I understand that the sea will withdraw far from the normal beach line long time before the wave hits the beach. And this being a physical fact, in order to create a big wave.

You can call me old fashioned or stupid or whatever. But what I'm saying is that I will depend on my knowledge and observations lot more that some alarm system, which also goes off every other month. At the night time I would be in trouble though and would have to follow the alarm 100%.

What this "mistake" brought up in my mind is that there should be more education for all of us living or visiting Thailand (other countries as well) of the signs of A Tidal Wave In Progress.

Maybe TAT should take up with this.

[Dickie_Doo]

Next breach of the fault is likely to be north of the previous ones, in line with the pattern this year.

If it nails the Nicobar and Andaman island area - any wave would be on the mainland so fast that coast dwellers would all be screwed anyway.

[sonnyJ]

Andaman, that would be still like 30 minutes away, depending of the magnitude ofcourse.

[Einstein]

Everybody can make a mistake, but the government can learn from it.

Now they know how people react on the alarm system and they can do something to prevent more panic and accidents in the future.

Maybe it a good idea to write a plan and give this to the people so they not what to do in an unlikely event.

[penzman]

a “careless” American technician

No Thais to blame then. Phew!

"Dek liang kae" incidentally is the Thai idiom for 'Cry wolf'

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I saw the guy on television, he looked quite p*ssed off and like he did not want to be there...

[udance4ever]

accidentally pushed the alarm button because he thought it was a testing button.

whoa...glad this system is just an alarm and not some nuclear warhead

[Einstein]

Everybody can make a mistake, but the government can learn from it.

Now they know how people react on the alarm system and they can do something to prevent more panic and accidents in the future.

Maybe it a good idea to write a plan and give this to the people so they not what to do in an unlikely event.

[francois]

Peter and the wolf comes to mind!!!

right, so very right ... sad:(

and obvioulsy it's none of their fault

btw, the rescue team is still training for diving ... some retirees from the french "raid" teach them ... still now

francois

ps: forgot to add; that for UN everything is set up, but nothing is working properly.

tower-guards are here but no one at night to watch ...

alarms are here and there is a control center " on the beach! " ...

responsible Thais should rather say, they are trying to make it working instead of pretending that they have now an advanced technology to give a valid alert.

Edited December 15, 2005 by francois

[britainmal]

I wonder if the "Thai experts" who made the testing switch informed the "careless American" about the system they made.

[Dickie_Doo]

A suitable Thai solution would be to let the alarm run continuously 24-7, then if a tsunami does come, folk can't complain they weren't warned.

[SHEB]

we all have a better chance of getting stabbed to death by a drunk girl friend than getting killed by responding once in a while to a false alaram. How many of you have a plan any way, or have a weather band radio to tune into. Unless your home sitting on your fat a## watching t.v. and a alert comes on you will not live any way. break fo r high ground and hope for the best.

[Scott]

I wonder if the "careless American" was the one who forgot to press the Hurricane Katrina alarm!

[astral]

A suitable Thai solution would be to let the alarm run continuously 24-7, then if a tsunami does come, folk can't complain they weren't warned.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Or they could at least run it 7-11

[capt_canada42]

Scientists voice tsunami concern ** This is from the BBC. They feel there maybe another Tsunami as all the signs show severe stress building up check out the website

Scientists studying the Sumatran region south of last December's quake

zone warn of future hazards.

< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4505818.stm >

[NordicMan]

Scientists voice tsunami concern ** This is from the BBC. They feel there maybe another Tsunami as all the signs show severe stress building up check out the website

Scientists studying the Sumatran region south of last December's quake

zone warn of future hazards.

< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4505818.stm >

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

When they warn of future hazards, is this something that is likely to happen shortly in geological time terms? E.g. within the next 50,000 years? Or is it to happen within a few human generations?

I am a lot more worried of being hit by a car than by a tsunami.

[jaideeguy]

Having lived in Hilo, Hawaii for many years.......Hilo went thru 2 major Tsunamis [1960 was the one i witnessed] and finally got 'wired' to the Pacific Tsunami Warning System and i remember the early days when the new alarm sirens went off at the slightest earth movements anywhere in the Pacific. the people [over]reacted at first when they were working out the bugs......running inland asap, but soon got used to them and now they go to prime [high] viewing places to watch the wave come in.

i might add that most of the deaths from the 1960 and 1947 tsunamis were from people going down to collect stranded fish that were left by the receding ocean, then got slammed.

the moral of this is 'don't live near the ocean'.....it'll get you!!!