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Hotels ‘still not ready’ for another disaster

Published on December 27, 2005 - Ninety-nine per cent of hotels and resorts in the areas affected by the tsunami still do not have any guidelines for guests to study, or plans to evacuate them, Smith Dharmasaroja, chairman of the Committee for the National Disaster Warning Administration, told The Nation yesterday, one year after the wave killed more than 5,395 people in Thailand.

“There is no law requiring them to do it,” said Smith, who is credited with making the prediction years ago that southern Thailand was under threat of a tsunami, only to be laughed at by most people. “This is the responsibility of hotel and resort owners. But they’re not happy about my suggestion.”

Smith said he had written to the governors of the six tsunami-hit southern provinces saying that many resorts could easily set up a computer link with the disaster-warning centre in Bangkok, but they had all ignored his advice.

“These hotels and resorts should tell their guests they’re staying in a tsunami-prone area and there are several steps that should be kept in mind in case of emergencies. But we don’t have [such measures]. Ninety-nine per cent of the establishments don’t have them. Perhaps it’s time to write a letter to the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.”

On the subject of the region’s readiness to handle future disasters, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday sounded an optimistic note, however, saying, “Whatever lies in the future, we shall be prepared for it.”

Meanwhile, the Best Western Palm Galleria resort, which opened two weeks ago in Phang Nga’s Laem Pakarang, does not have a warning system for guests. Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova is currently staying there for the ceremony marking the anniversary of the tsunami.

Smith also confided that no report about the role of the Meteorological Department would ever be written as it could be used by relatives of those killed to sue the Thai government for damages, despite the fact that Thaksin ordered an investigation in January.

A source at the department told The Nation that a meeting was held on the morning of December 26, just one hour before the wave struck, but it was decided that no warning should be issued for fear of disrupting the tourism industry, if the tsunami did not materialise.

However, Smith now claims that the result of the unpublished investigation

was not conclusive enough. “Do you want foreigners to sue us? Anyhow, I can’t reveal it because we can’t conclude it was their fault. People in the department would not confirm the allegation that they met early that morning and decided not to issue a warning. If we could prove it, we could prosecute them. But as you know, telling thieves to admit to their crime without having evidence is impossible.”

The director-general of the Meteorological Department, who was removed after the tsunami by PM Thaksin, was quietly reinstated a few months ago.

Smith added that some German relatives of those killed are still considering

whether to sue the Thai government by using other evidence showing that between 1993 and 1999, Smith had in fact written letters to senior government figures warning them to prepare for a tsunami hitting Thailand, something Smith deemed imminent at that time.

Local media ran Smith’s letters, but Smith said those relatives can’t use it because it’s no proof that such an original letter, which he has kept himself, exists.

“The Germans are not like Thais, when they sue they don’t sue for ten or twenty thousand baht, and if I was a traitor, I would have given the letters to them already.”

Pravit Rojanaphruk
The Nation
Phang Nga