Thai PM praises tsunami warning system
Thai Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawata
|
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was reported praising the country's new tsunami warning system, which has been put
in place following the December 26 disaster.
"Although our warning system is not yet complete, we managed to alert people in enough time for them to seek
safety," he was quoted as saying.
"Even 20 minutes meant a lot for them, and now people can feel safer because they know government agencies are
monitoring the situation."
Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon said Austria was the only country that called the ministry during the night to
check on the situation.
He said that letters would go to all foreign embassies in Bangkok assuring them that the quake had not affected
Thailand.
"We have a good warning system, so we can warn tourists immediately," Kantathi told reporters.
Hotel occupancy rates here remain low for this time of year after December's tsunami scared off vacationers.
"Hotel occupancy is only at 40 percent right now, so there were not many tourists. Since our office opened this
morning I have not received any phone calls to inquire or complain about the situation," a Tourism Authority of Thailand official said.
According to the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), European tourists have just begun returning to Thailand, but
holidaymakers from places like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan still remain reluctant to visit.
"So this quake yesterday doesn't help, but I think reasonable people will see this as an extremely rare event and
not change their travel plans," Ken Scott, PATA's communications director told AFP.
Thai tourists recount panic after quake triggers tsunami scare
 AFP reported how
tourists on Thailand's southern resort island of Phuket recounted their rush to higher ground after a huge earthquake struck northwest
Indonesia, triggering tsunami warnings.
Just three months after the December 26 tsunami killed 5,395 people in the kingdom, sirens blared along Phuket's main
Patong beach area late Monday, alerting people to flee into the hills, the AFP report said.
The evacuation order for Thailand's six southern provinces followed the 8.7-magnitude earthquake off the coast of the
Indonesian island of Sumatra, which was also felt on Phuket.
In more isolated areas and on nearby islands, hotel operators heard the warning on radio or television and woke their
guests up to move them to safety.
The alert was lifted three hours after the quake hit, and by Tuesday morning tourists had returned to sunbathe on
Patong beach, the AFP report said.
Bruno's bar, just a block back from the beach, was packed with foreign tourists Monday night, but the music was so
loud that no one heard the warning until they saw people stumbling over each other to flee.
Within minutes, the bar was empty -- everyone had either dashed further inland or scrambled to upper floors of
buildings, bartender Da Torproam said.
"There were a lot of accidents too, motorbikes and cars crashing," she added.
American Paul Ouellette, 39, was in a nearby bar when the sirens went off and police drove up and down announcing the
evacuation on loud speakers.
"The whole place emptied right out. There was a little bit of panic. Everybody just headed uphill," he said.
He and a friend pushed through the fleeing crowds to return to their beachfront hotel to get their girlfriends, who
were sleeping. By freak coincidence, his friend was staying at the same hotel when the December 26 tsunami washed it out.
"What are the chances of being an American in Thailand again for a second tsunami. It's just unreal. What, 10
million to one?" Ouellette said.
The Patong Bay Garden Resort, where they were staying, evacuated about 60 people to the owner's home on a nearby hill,
general manager Rachim Thongmarkkul said.
But at the luxurious Amanpuri resort on Phuket's Andaman coast, executive manager Yin Saivipan said they did not
evacuate their 150 guests because the quake seemed too far away to cause damage.
The resort was 80 percent full, mainly with European tourists vacationing for the Easter holiday, she said. |
DISASTER ALERT!!!
