Reacting to disasters

[FarangFarang]

There's an OpEd piece in the Bangkok Post today titled, Reacting to disasters, that I thought was interesting. Here's an interesting quote from the article:

But what we've seen since last Friday has been a mess. After it was confirmed that a tsunami had hit the Japanese east coast, Burin Vejbanterng, the director of Thailand's Meteorological Department's Seismological Bureau, told the media that the quake would cause 3 to 4-metre-high waves to hit the southern province of Narathiwat by early Saturday morning. The official's remark was retracted by the department only a few hours later. The department then issued a statement saying Thailand would not be affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Although this was a small confusion, it reflects a big flaw in the state's emergency response system. What will happen if such "bemusement" takes place when the country faces a real disaster? And this is not the first time the government has failed to respond professionally in a time of crisis.

When the bird flu outbreak flared up in late 2003, the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry covered it up until early 2004, when the first human case of avian influenza was confirmed. Livestock officials later conceded that they chose to keep quiet for fear that reports of the outbreak would affect Thai poultry exports.

When there was a global outbreak of H1N1 influenza in 2009, Public Health officials kept the fearful public speculating for days, before confirming that two Thais had contracted the virus after returning from separate trips to Mexico.

I've actually thought about disaster scenarios after watching some end of the world flicks like 2012. How would Thailand deal with a disaster of such magnitude? What if international aid was unavailable (because they had their own disasters to deal with)? Is Thailand prepared to deal with any sort of major disaster without assistance from others?

What if a 8.9 earthquake hit Bangkok? Who would coordinate rescue efforts? Who would get food and water into the city?

[PiAnt]

More trick questions.

[CiaranM]

Is Thailand prepared to deal with any sort of major disaster without assistance from others?

anybody who's been here for longer than 2 weeks knows they answer to that question !!!

What if a 8.9 earthquake hit Bangkok? Who would coordinate rescue efforts? Who would get food and water into the city?

if a 8.9 eartquake hit Bangkok there'd be **** all left to rescue !!!

japan has (or perhaps had) supposedly the best defences against a tsunami and buildings built to withstand earthquakes .... look at the mess there !!

[English_Bob]

I was staggered that the tsunami was even rumoured to be approaching Thailand - let alone an official announcement.

As soon as I learnt where the earthquake occured I considered damage to Japan and also Hawaii and Papua New Guinea. I didn't need to look at a map or ask an expert - it's just common sense.

As has been said a million times before, most of Thailand's ills could be solved with better education.

[admin]

I was staggered that the tsunami was even rumoured to be approaching Thailand - let alone an official announcement.

As soon as I learnt where the earthquake occured I considered damage to Japan and also Hawaii and Papua New Guinea. I didn't need to look at a map or ask an expert - it's just common sense.

As has been said a million times before, most of Thailand's ills could be solved with better education.

I can't even imagine how the director of Thailand's Meteorological Department's Seismological Bureau could say such a thing. I can understand if he was trying to be on the safe side after Phuket's tsunami disaster but this is really absurd. The fact that he gets to keep his job is beyond me.

[koolbreez]

There's an OpEd piece in the Bangkok Post today titled, Reacting to disasters, that I thought was interesting. Here's an interesting quote from the article:



I've actually thought about disaster scenarios after watching some end of the world flicks like 2012. How would Thailand deal with a disaster of such magnitude? What if international aid was unavailable (because they had their own disasters to deal with)? Is Thailand prepared to deal with any sort of major disaster without assistance from others?

What if a 8.9 earthquake hit Bangkok? Who would coordinate rescue efforts? Who would get food and water into the city?

The government still doesn't have a fully functioning tsumani warning system in place promised after the 2004 incident....lololol. How can any disaster plan be in place if they don't know which countries the emergency relief funds are coming from yet. Thailand operates after the fact, just as so many other countries do.

Japan has the best earthquake engineering, and design, in the world, but they had no plan for a tsunami, which caused the major damage. You can see buildings swaying in Tokyo, and no damage, but one tsunami ruined the back-up power for a major nuclear plant, and wiped villages off the face of the earth. That was not planned for. There was a warning system, but still not enough time for most to get to safety it happened so fast.

Now there is speculation that the nuclear disaster might have been avoided if the regulators hadn't been payed off with respect to where the back up deisel power generators were placed. This same type of corruption is what would cause unheard of destruction if Bangkok was hit with this big of an earthquake. I would venture a guess that no buildings in Bangkok are earthquake resistent, let alone built to basic building codes.

Most of Thailand's ills could be solved if there was a total all out revolt against corruption, and graft. As is exampled by the floods last rainy season, and how much of the money for disaster relief actually reached the people affected? It's speculated that less than 10% of the first batch of money got to the people that needed it.

[Crustyjuggler]

Whatever happens make sure you book your ticket home before Thai airways catch on to another impending scam..

[Geee]

ok we have Japanese fallout in Sacramento today....

[PiAnt]

ok we have Japanese fallout in Sacramento today....

You do get about a bit mate don't you?