LAST NIGHT: Thai Tsunami Drill A Minor Disaster

[george]

Thai tsunami drill a minor disaster

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's participation in a Pacific Rim tsunami-warning drill last night ran into telecommunications problems, delaying text-message warnings via mobile phones by several minutes, a senior technocrat said.

Unesco's Hawaii-based Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission staged a simulated tsunami warning, supposedly triggered by a magnitude-8.8 earthquake off the eastern coast of the Philippines, and sent the alert to 26 Pacific-rim countries to test regional disaster preparedness.

The test was the first of its kind since the warning system was installed in the Pacific about 40 years ago.

While Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop hailed Thailand's response to the tsunami drill as "successful," leading tsunami expert Smith Dharmasaroja was less bullish.

"It was not 100 per-cent successful," Mr Smith, chief adviser to the National Disaster Warning Centre of Thailand, said in a telephone interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"We had some difficulties with telecommunication links, so the SMS messages were delayed by five minutes or more," said Smith, speaking from Prachuab Khiri Khan province on the Gulf of Thailand.

The test warnings were also sent by fax to hotels and broadcast on television.

Smith noted that the Thai cabinet would need to be informed about the telecommunications snafu as would His Majesty the King, who keeps his summer palace in Hua Hin in the province.

The king lost a grandson, Phumi Jensen, in the December 26, 2004, tsunami that hit six provinces on Thailand's western coast, killing 5,400 people, half of them tourists. This morning's drill did not include that area, which is on the Indian Ocean.

Smith noted that there was no great likelihood of a killer tsunami hitting the Gulf of Thailand but added that, nonetheless, Thailand should be prepared for the possibility.

He added that Thailand's domestic tsunami-warning system on the opposite, Andaman Seacoast was now 99% complete with only a few remote islands excluded from the network.

But Thailand still lacks tsunami buoys, deemed an important part of setting up a truly efficient warning system.

"Usaid has offers to provide Thailand with the buoys for free, but we still need cabinet approval because we will also need a maintenance budget," Smith said.

--DPA/Bangkok Post 2006-05-17

[jdinasia]

hmmm the last waves hit at 900 miles(or KM/hr cannot remember but for the math it doesn't matter) an hour? No automatic warning Bouys? That means people are in the loop ... so 10 minutes to get the info (possibly a gross underestimation) and 20 minutes to get to higher ground (DEF a gross underestimation!!) and an extra 5 minutes of lag time .... better hope that the next major quake is over 500 miles(or KM) from the coast ....

realistic figures would suggest it better be more than 1200 miles(or KM) away!! Not good!

[LaoPo]

Thai tsunami drill a minor disaster

But Thailand still lacks tsunami buoys, deemed an important part of setting up a truly efficient warning system.

"Usaid has offers to provide Thailand with the buoys for free, but we still need cabinet approval because we will also need a maintenance budget," Smith said.

--DPA/Bangkpok Post 2006-05-17

LaoPo

[Drew345]

I was at the Tsuanmi Warning System test in Phuket last year. The sounding of the alarm was delayed by 50 minutes, from 5 minutes after the quake to 55 minutes after the quake, so that Taksin could rush in and make a speech to the crowd gathered for the test. Talk about having people in the loop! I think it was still declared a success.

Drew

[gentman]

Can someone enlighten this forum how the tsunami-warning works ie. reached the general public? Will everyone get an sms warning on their mobiles that a tsunami wave may be on the way?

[astral]

Can someone enlighten this forum how the tsunami-warning works ie. reached the general public? Will everyone get an sms warning on their mobiles that a tsunami wave may be on the way?

I thought the Thai mobile telephone system was already swamped,

without Tsunami SMS's??????????

[slackula]

Can someone enlighten this forum how the tsunami-warning works ie. reached the general public? Will everyone get an sms warning on their mobiles that a tsunami wave may be on the way?

There are warning sirens scattered along the coastline in Phuket.

[jdinasia]

According to the OP/article SMS were sent ... so I would guess SMS ... Sirens .... anyway at all to get attention

[PeaceBlondie]

I thought the SMS messages were between the international warning center in the Pacific, to the authorities in each country. They tried to use e-mail, I think, in the recent earthquake that hit the South Pacific earlier this month.

I'm tempted to make a joke, but it's too serious a matter. I did notice in Phuket this week that the beach road downtown has obvious tsunami blue-white warning signs for evacuation, much as the gulf coast of Texas has for hurricane evacuation. While on the beach there, I was only waiting to feel any tremor, and you'd have seen this old man sprinting uphill like Carl Lewis.

[gentman]

I've just read this article :

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060517/3/2ko43.html

Edited May 17, 2006 by gentman

[John K]

So the warning comes on Thai time?

[jdinasia]

I've just read this article :

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060517/3/2ko43.html

from the article ....

In Thailand, where more than 5,000 people died in the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the government heard the message fine but a plan to issue a public alert by text message failed as phone networks ground to a halt.

Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop and a string of high-ranking officials presiding over the drill were left red faced as SMS alerts limped in as much as 15 minutes late.

[jaideeguy]

Highly unlikely scenario!!

Geography is not a strong subject here, as i just refered to a map to confirm that IF a tsunami was generated in the Philippines, most [except for a little of the southern area] would be shielded by Viet Nam and Borneo. Maybe I'm wrong, but has there ever been a tsunami in the Thai gulf?? Why not run the test in the most prone areas, like the Andaman coast, where it has happened and may happen again?

[som nom naa]

great!!!!!im dead already!!!a tsunami hits phillapines and then gulf of thailand.....im on sleepy koh tao.....didnt hear anything about last nights drill till now

a great success no doubt!!

[nikster]

I've just read this article :

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060517/3/2ko43.html

from the article ....

In Thailand, where more than 5,000 people died in the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the government heard the message fine but a plan to issue a public alert by text message failed as phone networks ground to a halt.

Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop and a string of high-ranking officials presiding over the drill were left red faced as SMS alerts limped in as much as 15 minutes late.

... reminds me of my attempts at sending SMS from my European phone while in Thailand. It worked about half the time which lead to some entertaining misunderstandings as I was not aware that it would only work half the time.

Jokes like "let's hope the next Tsunami doesn't hit in the middle of a mobile price-war" would come easy but I refrain because, indeed, we all know people who lost their lives there. Mobile phone networks are not designed for guaranteed connectivity, and SMS in particular make no guarantee of timely delivery - so the results aren't too surprising. More surprising is that the people in charge don't know about these technical limitations.

In the meantime, don't sleep at sea level and watch out for retreating water and you should be fine.

[dezeure]

Can someone enlighten this forum how the tsunami-warning works ie. reached the general public? Will everyone get an sms warning on their mobiles that a tsunami wave may be on the way?

Yeah you probably get a message on your phone in THAI, that no single tourist or 85% of farangs can't read, whicht probably will translate into something like "a tsunami just hit you about 5 minutes ago" (due to the delays cause Toxin needs to rush to the area before the message gets sent...)

Woaw and I just wrote a very long sentence but at least I understand what it says

Cheers,

[nikster]

great!!!!!im dead already!!!a tsunami hits phillapines and then gulf of thailand.....im on sleepy koh tao.....didnt hear anything about last nights drill till now

a great success no doubt!!

Well.. it was a drill. Limited to specific areas. I don't think they wanted to panic the entire gulf of Thailand...

[sriracha john]

AIS network collapse mars drill

The network collapse of mobile phone operator Advanced Info Service (AIS) marred Thailand's first full-scale drill for the tsunami early warning system, as short text messages could not be sent to alert officials. A source close to the National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) blamed the hour-long communication breakdown on the AIS network failure.

Officials have to send short warning messages to alert more senior people, including Plodprasop Suraswadi, the centre director, and Smith Dharmasaroja, chairman of the National Committee on Natural Disaster Warning, after detecting signs of a tsunami. If a tsunami can be confirmed, further messages would be sent to the prime minister, key cabinet members and provincial governors.

The drill, lasting less than two hours, took place in Prachuap Khiri Khan's Pran Buri district and Nakhon Si Thammarat's Khanom district.

In the drill, an earthquake measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale was said to occur in the northwestern Philippines at 9am. Four minutes later, the NDWC received information from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii.

Officers were supposed to send urgent messages to high-ranking commanders and make contact with the media in case a live warning broadcast was needed.

Twenty-four countries, including Thailand, joined the Exercise Pacific Wave 06 exercise yesterday.

The source said the communication failure worried Mr Smith, who said a back-up message system was needed in case the main one failed.

Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop, who chaired the event, said the drill, while hampered by communication problems, was still impressive.

...he went on to say that AIS, previously owned by the PM, was STILL the "go-to, first-rate" network... and that it was purely coincidental that they were awarded the contract, during a time when they WERE owned by the PM, to provide network coverage for the tsunami warning system ...

Thailand set up the NDWC last year after the tsunami on Dec 26, 2004 claimed 5,400 lives. The simulation was conducted by the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System, an agency under Unesco. Thailand spent two million baht on the programme. ...but DPM Suwat was quick to point out that only a reasonable portion of that went into the PM's pocket...

- BP

Edited May 18, 2006 by sriracha john

[bendejo]

The network collapse of mobile phone operator Advanced Info Service (AIS) marred Thailand's first full-scale drill for the tsunami early warning system, as short text messages could not be sent to alert officials.

Call it Taksin's Revenge.

So even if a tsunami is detected, really now, what are the chances of spreading the news and having people take shelter from it in sufficient time? The worst it could be is like what happened in the Maldives, where (or so I hear) there is no high ground to run to. It's much like radar: a missile is coming our way and we'll be hit in 20 seconds.

But then it's like the way the planet is currently wired for seismic activity: the USGS can detect the smallest amount of activity anywhere in the world (I have the impression the system was originally implemented to monitor nuclear explosions) but in most cases not much can be done. I guess in a case like Merapi they can detect an increase in activity and warn that it is possible it will increase even more.

I guess the most effective warning system would be like what the US implemented in the Cold War era: a system of klaxons that would go off if there were an attack. But what kind of shelter can be prepared on shoreline to survive a tidal wave?

Then again I'm sure a lot of money was spent/made in building this system.

BTW, none of the international news sources that I saw even hinted that there was any sort of shortcomings in the test alert.

[jdinasia]

given 1+ hour to get to higher ground (time elapsed from the Indian ocean Tsunami on Boxing Day 2004 .... most places and most people could easily get to higher ground

[sriracha john]

Then again I'm sure a lot of money was spent/made in building this system.

BTW, none of the international news sources that I saw even hinted that there was any sort of shortcomings in the test alert.

To Thailand's international embarrassment, Agence France-Presse (AFP), one of the world's big three news agencies, covered it here:

SMS glitch mars testing of new tsunami warning system

Also provided:

[Scott]

This is the type of thing that needs to run smoothly. There isn't any room for mistakes. Truly sad to see this one get screwed up.

[jdinasia]

Isn't the reason for tests and drills to work out the bugs BEFORE an event?

[cobra]

Give it time, eventually a workable system will be in place,

Just have to figure what works and what doesn't

without crying wolf to to the point the system becomes useless, (like car alarms),

[penzman]

Isn't the reason for tests and drills to work out the bugs BEFORE an event?

Maybe, but having one of these officials saying publicly that it all went fine is one of the bugs that has to be worked out. This is no saving face matter, it's about saving lives.

[Jai Dee]

Thailand fails to perform in first tsunami exercise

Sluggish mobile phone signals are blamed for the country’s below par performance in the first region-wide test of the tsunami warning system in Asia Pacific yesterday.

Smith Dharmasaroja, chairman of the Committee for the National Disaster Warning Administration, said yesterday there were delays in SMS warnings sent to the public.

“The messages were delayed five or ten minutes. That period may not sound very long but in a real-life tsunami that can be disastrous,” he said.

He said signal delays were caused by busy mobile phone networks and a lack of cooperation by network operators which are experiencing signal congestion problems.

Smith added that it was vital warning centers got electronic feedback from the public as well.

“At present, we only send out warnings to destination areas. We do not know what people in those areas plan to do or how they are reacting to our warnings. Thus, we need to improve the system so we can get information and pictures back [from the public] too,” Smith said.

Tsunami warning centers in Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Pran Buri district and Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Khanom district took part in the exercise which started at 9am and lasted about an hour.

Called the Pacific Wave 06 and sponsored by UNESCO, the first phase involved bulletins being issued of a tsunami in the eastern Pacific caused by an earthquake off the coast of Chile. The second phase involved a report of an earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale north of the Philippines, 2,730 kilometers from the Gulf of Thailand.

Thailand took part in the second phase of the test. The exercise involved alerting the public of the tsunami threat via SMS messaging, national radio and TV networks, as well as evacuating people to safe areas.

The tsunami warning system in the Pacific has existed for more than 40 years but has never until now been tested regionally.

“Unfortunately, in the past, governments did not pay much importance to the disaster warning system,” he said.

According to Smith, 85 disaster warning towers will be erected in more than 10 coastal provinces along the Gulf of Thailand this year, which would also alert the public about other natural disasters, such as flash floods and landslides, which typically cost the country more than ten billion baht a year, he said.

He added that two disaster warning towers would also be erected in Chiang Mai province in the next two months.

Meanwhile, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop, who attended the exercise yesterday, said he had confidence in the ability of the National Disaster Warning Center to deal with the consequences of a tsunami.

“The warning center will be able to inform and warn the public 30 minutes before a tsunami happens,” he said.

Source: ThaiDay - 18 May 2006

[tuffy]

Can someone enlighten this forum how the tsunami-warning works ie. reached the general public? Will everyone get an sms warning on their mobiles that a tsunami wave may be on the way?

Yeah you probably get a message on your phone in THAI, that no single tourist or 85% of farangs can't read, whicht probably will translate into something like "a tsunami just hit you about 5 minutes ago" (due to the delays cause Toxin needs to rush to the area before the message gets sent...)

Woaw and I just wrote a very long sentence but at least I understand what it says

Cheers,

I have 12Call and by the amount of junk sms i get everyday from them i would never know i had an important "look out behind you, have 10 minutes to not die" message (in thai anyway)

But... at least they are working on something...i was in Phi Phi last year in march and we helped in the clean up (only for a day) but it was a pretty sobering day. Mother nature is not one to mess with and any warning is better than nothing in this case!

[tracer0]

Can someone enlighten this forum how the tsunami-warning works ie. reached the general public? Will everyone get an sms warning on their mobiles that a tsunami wave may be on the way?

There are warning sirens scattered along the coastline in Phuket.

If they donot put the phoes system in order nobody will get the warning. Living in Phuket I did get the warning via internet from a friend, I checked the web, and why anyone here in Phuket should be worried about a Tsunami from the east...

Next time they want to try an april 1st looking warning do it on the westcoast....

AND also in English. ONLY msg I ever had from AIS in English was the APEC meetings here. Shows they can do it..