The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry announced yesterday that it was including 1,406 villages in 22 provinces in its national earthquake relief plan.
Minister Suwit Khunkitti called on the public to not panic over the relief plan, saying that the Kingdom was in no way situated on or near the world's major earthquake faults.
The ministry and the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) are jointly planning to implement a longterm disaster relief plan to cope with possible quakes in the future.
Detailed risk analysis has been done in 192 villages in Kanchanaburi, 174 in Chiang Mai, 134 in Chaing Rai, 83 in Phrae, 54 in Mae Hong Son, 127 in Tak, 68 in Nan, six in Kamphaeng Phet, 37 in Lampang, 56 in Lamphun, 62 in Uttaradit and 56 in Chumphon. Though the ministry has identified 1,406 villages, it says the complete survey is only 40 per cent complete.
"Early announcement of the plan and locations are needed because earthquakes can be devastating, even though they are not as frequent as flash floods and landslides," Suwit added.
As part of another joint project, other natural disasters and relief plans already in place will be studied further.
The first phase of the plan will be implemented in villages in the North and Northeast next year, and in the West, the Central and the South in 2012.
So far, villages in Chiang Rai situated on a major fault line, which was hit by a 6.5 Richterscale quake 2,000 years ago, have been put in the highrisk category, though not yet earmarked for immediate evacuation.
DMR senior official Suwit Khosuwan classified areas in the North leading to the West that were hit by major quakes hundreds of years ago as the "Red Zone". Another red zone is the 155km stretch from Chiang Mai's Fang district, through Chiang Rai's Mae Khong and Mae Chan districts leading to Laos.
Other highrisk areas are Kanchanaburi's Dan Chedi Sam Ong (Three Pagodas) district, which was hit by a 6.4 Richterscale quake around 1,000 years ago, and the Si Sawat district, which was hit by a 7.0 Richterscale quake 7,000 years ago.
An official said the 3.7 Richterscale quake on June 13 had caused a 3.4metre dent in the Srinakharin Dam, though the main structure was still intact and could withstand a 7.0 Richterscale tremor.
Egat will soon evaluate the strength of the Srinakharin dam, as well as the Ratchaprapha Dam in Surat Thani, Sirikit Dam in Uttaradit and Vajiralongkorn Dam in Kanchanaburi.