Govt accused of 'ignoring' disaster-warning system
After shouldering the responsibility of setting up a national disaster-warning system following the tsunami in December 2004, Smith Thammasaroj has vowed to leave the post if his project is ignored by the interim government.
"I can only wait until November 29," said Smith, chairman of the National Disaster Warning Centre, as his work to set up the remaining 144 disaster-warning towers in 57 provinces in the North, Northeast and Central region has been suspended since the coup. "I feel neglected by this government. The chairman of the Council for National Security, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, once gave his word to me that the project would be continued, but no action has been taken so far," Smith said last week. Under the former government, the National Disaster Warning Centre finished installing 80 tsunami early-warning towers in six southern provinces along the Andaman Sea coastline, and the installation of another 48 towers in provinces along coastal areas on the Gulf of Thailand should be finished by the end of the year. The plan to install another set of disaster-warning towers in the remaining 57 provinces is now ready to proceed and the centre has the total budget in hand, but the government has neglected to order a start, he said. Under the plan, if the project started today, installation would be completed within 18 months. "If the project doesn't start before November 29, the centre has to return the money to the government and the project will be delayed until an election. We are unsure whether an elected government would move on the project," he said. Smith said the project was urgent, and important for protection against natural disasters. He said that without a warning system, many provinces remained unprepared. For example, many have suffered severe flooding, causing losses of about Bt40 billion. "I tried to ask deputy prime ministers who oversee the centre, but they just said the government needed opinions from related units," he said. According to Smith, the tsunami-warning system in the six Andaman provinces has been rated as one of the top five disaster-warning systems in the world. When the overall project is finished, a satellite system will link warning towers in each region of the country and transmit warnings from its more than 2,000 cells to the smallest parts of each community, including villages, schools, hospitals and other provincial units. The system will also send warnings to neighbouring countries on the Andaman Sea, such as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Overall, the installation of the system costs only Bt388 million, Smith said.
Chatrarat Kaewmorakot The Nation
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