thialand newsman fired
- Thread starter samcurry
- Start date
Got it.
Tsunami-hit Thailand fires chief meteorologist
(Reuters)
4 January 2005
BANGKOK - Tsunami-hit Thailand fired its chief meteorologist on Tuesday after his department failed to issue a warning, which might have saved thousands of lives.
“The cabinet has resolved to transfer the director-general of the Meteorological Department” to the Prime Minister’s Office, chief government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair told reporters after its weekly meeting.
Suparerk Tansriratanawong would work with Samith Dhammasaroj, his former boss, to lead establish a national early warning system for all natural disasters, Jakrapob said.
His removal followed remarks by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in his weekly radio address on Saturday that the government would set up up a panel to investigate why no warning of the deadly tsunami was issued.
Suparerk told reporters a day after the deadly walls of water devasted the country’s Andaman Sea coast, Thailand had not been hit by a tsunami in more than 300 years and his 900-strong meteorological department, which has only four earthquake experts, had no reason to expect one.
But the English-language Nation newspaper quoted an unnamed member of the department last week as saying a tsunami alert was not issued for fear of hurting the important tourist industry at the peak season if it turned out to be false. No Asian country issued a warning of the tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquakes off Indonesia, which killed nearly 150,000 people as it crashed ashore around the Indian Ocean.
Hotels on the Thai coast were packed when the tsunami hit. At least 5,187 people were killed, more than 2,400 of them foreign tourists drawn to its sand, warm seas and coral reefs.
Many came from Europe, especially Scandinavia, to escape the long, dark, cold northern winter.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2005/January/theworld_January86.xml§ion=theworld
Tsunami-hit Thailand fires chief meteorologist
(Reuters)
4 January 2005
BANGKOK - Tsunami-hit Thailand fired its chief meteorologist on Tuesday after his department failed to issue a warning, which might have saved thousands of lives.
“The cabinet has resolved to transfer the director-general of the Meteorological Department” to the Prime Minister’s Office, chief government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair told reporters after its weekly meeting.
Suparerk Tansriratanawong would work with Samith Dhammasaroj, his former boss, to lead establish a national early warning system for all natural disasters, Jakrapob said.
His removal followed remarks by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in his weekly radio address on Saturday that the government would set up up a panel to investigate why no warning of the deadly tsunami was issued.
Suparerk told reporters a day after the deadly walls of water devasted the country’s Andaman Sea coast, Thailand had not been hit by a tsunami in more than 300 years and his 900-strong meteorological department, which has only four earthquake experts, had no reason to expect one.
But the English-language Nation newspaper quoted an unnamed member of the department last week as saying a tsunami alert was not issued for fear of hurting the important tourist industry at the peak season if it turned out to be false. No Asian country issued a warning of the tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquakes off Indonesia, which killed nearly 150,000 people as it crashed ashore around the Indian Ocean.
Hotels on the Thai coast were packed when the tsunami hit. At least 5,187 people were killed, more than 2,400 of them foreign tourists drawn to its sand, warm seas and coral reefs.
Many came from Europe, especially Scandinavia, to escape the long, dark, cold northern winter.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2005/January/theworld_January86.xml§ion=theworld
It is the right move on what was the wrong move. I doubt it would have saved very many lives. Tsunamis are always expected with oceanic earthquakes. People, especially vacationing people, would have ignored it. After all, it's been 100 some odd years since the last one.
A.B.Normal
New Member
Seem to remember ,not sure if it was here,where the tourists areas and tourists were warned and there was still a huge loss in those numbers. A warning to the masses would have been chaos as most in the poorer low laying areas would have had no means to evacuate.
If you recall the images from florida keys when a Hurricane is coming ,the lines of cars trying to leave ,now imagine if it were a Tsunami hitting within several hours of a warning.An Asian warning would be absolutely freaking moot in saving lives as most wouldn't even have vehicles . ,IMO.
If you recall the images from florida keys when a Hurricane is coming ,the lines of cars trying to leave ,now imagine if it were a Tsunami hitting within several hours of a warning.An Asian warning would be absolutely freaking moot in saving lives as most wouldn't even have vehicles . ,IMO.
ResearchMonkey
Well-Known Member
Are you kidding? With 10-minutes warning you coulda' walked to safety on your crutches.
A.B.Normal
New Member
Having you seen the Satellite photos? whole Islands/peninsulas were wiped clean ,where were they gonna go.
ResearchMonkey
Well-Known Member
I'll give.... those low lying islands got creamed with-out much for options. But the mainland places... yeah 10 minutes would be more then enough to escape for 95% of the people. Question is, would they have?
evac'ing 1-2 kilometers directly behind you (read:walking) is not the same as moving +7 million people hundreds of miles on a freeway.
evac'ing 1-2 kilometers directly behind you (read:walking) is not the same as moving +7 million people hundreds of miles on a freeway.
A.B.Normal
New Member
Gonz said:
Now thats what I don't understand ,I can see not wanting to report if you weren't exactly sure the wave was coming,but once the devastation was apparent in Thailand ,why didn't peolple clue in. Most of the accusations of not reporting are against those who weren't positive of a Wave.