Phuket officials play down broken tsunami buoy fears

[webfact]

Phuket officials play down broken tsunami buoy fears
Suthicha Sirirat


Vice Governor Chokdee today played down concerns raised in rsponse to Facebook community Phuket SOS posting a notice that tsunami-warning buoy 23401 had stopped transmitting data. Image: Facebook / Phuket SOS

PHUKET: -- Vice Governor Chokdee Amornwat today (July 25) played down concerns in response to repeated requests for updates on what was being done to repair a tsunami-warning buoy that stopped transmitting data in March.

“We checked with Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and received confirmation that they have been working on this and investigated why the buoy stopped sending data since March 22,” he said today.

V/Gov Chokdee said he had received repeated requests for updates following Facebook community “Phuket SOS”, which also uses the name “Phuket Quake Watcher” (click here), posting that tsunami-warning buoy 23401 was no longer operational.

“Phuket Quake Watcher recently posted on their Facebook page that tsunami-warning buoy no 23401, which is located about 1,100 kilometres west of Phuket, was not working. It has not sent back signal for the past 80 days,” V/Gov Chokdee said.

However, V/Gov Chokdee did not note that Phuket SOS posted the notice on June 21 – one day after The Phuket News reported that the National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) was aware of the situation but would have to wait until November, after the southwest monsoon had passed, before it could launch a mission to replace the damaged buoy. (See story here.)

“The NDWC will solve the issue by checking with other buoys in the area that are connected with the same system, especially the tsunami-warning buoys of India and Australia, which are near buoy 23401,” he said.

“Officials can also rely on the water-depth monitoring system off Koh Miang (Off Thai Muang in Phang Nga Province – click here) to confirm any tsunami activity and warn residents and tourists of any impending disaster,” he added.

Full story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-officials-play-down-broken-tsunami-buoy-fears-58394.php


-- Phuket News 2016-07-26

[Rorri]

Since then, IOTWS Regional Tsunami Service Providers comprising data from Australia, India and Indonesia tsunami-warning networks have been the principal source of tsunami advisories for the Indian Ocean."

I wonder why Thailand's "highly respected" system is not mentioned... wait, could it be that the othe systems actually work. SHAME again on Thailand, showing again they just don't give a sh#t about safety.

Edited July 25, 2016 by Rorri

[Shot]

“We checked with Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and received confirmation that they have been working on this and investigated why the buoy stopped sending data since March 22,” he said today.

Translation: It doesn't work.

[colinneil]

Stopped working on march 22nd, still nothing being done WHY???

Sheer incompetence thats why.

Safety safety something that is not in the forefront of minds here.

Well maybe sometime in the future we will get around to fixing it.

[dbrenn]

Stopped working on march 22nd, still nothing being done WHY???

Sheer incompetence thats why.

Safety safety something that is not in the forefront of minds here.

Well maybe sometime in the future we will get around to fixing it.

It will take another tsunami, with thousands more killed, to get it fixed.

Mai pen rai.

[waldroj]

Please, some sanity!

No one is at any greater risk because Station 23401 is not operating!

As Chokdee notes, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services has a number of "operating" Tsunami Monitoring buoys positioned along the boundaries of the Indian, Australian, and Eurasian plates, and adjacent to the Thai buoy, see http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=23401.

The closest Indian buoys are Station 23219 (approx. 500km North, moored in 2,900m of water) and Station 23227 (approx. 300km South, moored in 3,800m of water).

In the event of an undersea earthquake in this region, these buoys would provide the necessary warning just as quickly as the Thai buoy (if it were operational)! Depending on where to event occurred, this could give Thailand about 30-60 minutes warning for a nearby event!

It is completely understandable that the authorities are not rushing to remedy to situation. It is important for people to understand the enormity of the task, and the costs involved.

The Thai buoy is moored in approx. 3,000m of water, and is located about 1,000km WNW of Phuket. To replace this buoy under these constraints requires considerable preparation of a replacement buoy (if they even have one available) and its moorings, and a significant expedition involving a suitable vessel that can get to and from the site (to deploy a new buoy and recover the old one). And, after you have everything else sorted out, it especially requires good weather and reasonable sea conditions to safely undertake the work!

As for Chokdee's other statement that “...Officials can also rely on the water-depth monitoring system off Koh Miang...to confirm any tsunami activity and warn residents and tourists of any impending disaster...”, well I suggest that this is not quite correct. I suspect that this Royal Thai Navy system is for measuring tides (NOT detecting Tsunami) - so all it could do (assuming it even survives a tsunami event) is record the event as it passes, and then only provide a few minutes "warning" at best)!

Incidentally, the map below shows the location of the epicentres of all earthquakes (of magnitude 7 or greater) occurring in the region since 1900 (from USGS - https://www.usgs.gov/). The Red dot was the magnitude 9.1 event that caused the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami!

[SOTIRIOS]

.....thousands killed or their lives destroyed.....

.....'sorry all the money's been spent'.......???

[gandalf12]

Since then, IOTWS Regional Tsunami Service Providers comprising data from Australia, India and Indonesia tsunami-warning networks have been the principal source of tsunami advisories for the Indian Ocean."

I wonder why Thailand's "highly respected" system is not mentioned... wait, could it be that the othe systems actually work. SHAME again on Thailand, showing again they just don't give a sh#t about safety.

I could be wrong but I seem to remember that the system in place in Thailand was rated as "useless" by world authorities who deal with such warning system. After that it was stated that the system would be upgraded and tested for effectiveness. Never heard if it was made fit for purpose though

[lvr181]

“Officials can also rely on the water-depth monitoring system off Koh Miang (Off Thai Muang in Phang Nga Province – click here) to confirm any tsunami activity and warn residents and tourists of any impending disaster,” he added."

Oh, really? The water level has suddenly dropped (or worse still it has suddenly and dramatically increased) - lets tell everybody. You have 2 mins(?) to make it to high ground! Wow! Kob khun krap.

[Psimbo]

Since then, IOTWS Regional Tsunami Service Providers comprising data from Australia, India and Indonesia tsunami-warning networks have been the principal source of tsunami advisories for the Indian Ocean."

I wonder why Thailand's "highly respected" system is not mentioned... wait, could it be that the othe systems actually work. SHAME again on Thailand, showing again they just don't give a sh#t about safety.

I could be wrong but I seem to remember that the system in place in Thailand was rated as "useless" by world authorities who deal with such warning system. After that it was stated that the system would be upgraded and tested for effectiveness. Never heard if it was made fit for purpose though

The system has gone down more times than a Bangla bar girl!

[clockman]

Nice little earner for somebody?

[Thechook]

Geez people they are clearing the deck chairs so people don't get hurt in a tsunami, don't need these western buoys, they have ladyboys.

[waldroj]

The Thai tsunami monitoring program was only ever a knee-jerk reaction by the government after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami (at a time when other nations were also independently setting up their own tsunami warning systems rather than cooperating on a shared-responsibility system).

In the aftermath of the 2004 event, a pile of money was thrown at the Thai Met Department for them to buy two warning buoys.

But (and this is the critical issue), no extra money was made available to TMD for the essential ongoing maintenance.

At that time I discussed the risks of this with the DG of TMD. He made it quite clear that they never wanted to take on the project in the first place, as they had neither the resources nor the personnel to provide this ongoing maintenance.

It was 8 years before Thailand finally got an operational alert system up and running, but it continues to be plagued by equipment failure as a direct result of inadequate planning from the very outset, and a continuing lack of sufficient maintenance funding.

It really is a case of getting what you pay for (or, in this case don't pay for)!