Disaster towers 'to be sped up'
The government is speeding up a plan to install towers with loudspeakers in 144 disaster-prone areas in 57 provinces, spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee said yesterday.
A government committee and the National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) have been working on the scheme, which they believe will help to avoid extensive deaths and property damage. Towers will be set up in northern, northeastern, central and eastern regions next year and link with warning systems of related agencies such as the NDWC and the Meteorological, Mineral Resources, Water Resources, Public Relations and Royal Irrigation departments. This would allow the government to warn residents living in areas at risk of flash floods and landslides of the approaching danger and to get them evacuated. The system will have a central control and data-transmitting station in Bangkok with networks linking to all related agencies. The windproof, unmanned towers will be 30 metres high. A digital tuner will receive radio waves via satellite and a loudspeaker of 121 decibels will warn residents within one kilometre.
Piyanart Srivalo The Nation
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