Thailand vows probe on lack of alert

Thailand will set up a panel to find out why no warnings of the deadly tsunami were issued, which might have saved thousands of lives, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said.

Thaksin admitted Thailand's response to one of the worst natural disasters in living memory has been disorganised in a country that rarely faces anything worse than flooding during the annual monsoon.

Chief meteorologist Suparerk Tansriratanawong told reporters on Monday that Thailand had not been hit by a tsunami in more than 300 years, and his 900-strong meteorological department, which has four earthquake experts, had no reason to expect one.

But the English-language Nation newspaper this week quoted an unnamed member of the department as saying that a tsunami alert was not issued for fear of hurting the important tourist industry during the peak season if it turned out to be a false alarm.

"If we had issued a warning that would have led to evacuation, what would happen then? Business would be instantly affected," the source was quoted as saying.

No Asian country issued a warning of the tsunami which killed more than 124,000 people.

Thaksin said he had appointed earthquake and tsunami expert Samith Dhammasaroj to lead the establishment of a national early-warning system for all natural disasters.

Samith told Reuters he had sent out warnings to southern provincial governors when he was chief meteorologist in 1993 that they might be "dangerously hit" by deadly tsunamis, and issued another warning in 1998, after a tsunami hit Papua New Guinea.

"Nobody heeded my alert. Some provinces have banned me from entering their territories. They said I was ruining their tourism image," he said.

Samith said he hoped to have a plan ready in a month and added a national drill would be conducted once it was in place.