Thai 'nut' warned of tsunamis

2005-01-11 12:03

Bangkok - Until two weeks ago, Smith Thammasaroj was a prophet without honour. As chief of Thailand's meteorological department in 1998, he was accused of scare-mongering when he warned that the country's southwest coast could face a deadly tsunami.

He retired from his post under a shadow, dismissed as a crackpot, accused of causing panic and jeopardising a critical tourist industry that grew up around the tropical resort island of Phuket.

Today, Smith is being lionised for his foresight after the devastating December 26 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 150 000 people around the region, including 5 300 in Thailand, where another 3 600 are listed as missing.

Less than a week after the tragedy, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra appointed Smith as a vice-minister and put him in charge of the newly established National Disaster Warning Office, which will work with local and foreign seismologists to establish a tsunami early warning system.

Lives could have been saved

Now when Smith speaks, people listen. And he has a new message: the United States must take some of the blame for the grievous number of casualties caused by the calamity.

Smith said he believed that if the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre had acted quickly enough, many lives could have been saved.

After the giant waves hit southern Thailand, the centre had more than an hour to alert India, Bangladesh and the Maldives, "and if they warned those countries, they could have saved thousands of lives," he said.

Workers at the Hawaii centre have said they tried in vain to warn Indian Ocean nations about the possible effects of the earthquake, but they were not equipped to monitor that part of the world and didn't even have phone numbers for the right officials.

Smith has been equally critical of his own country's meteorologists. He said earlier that staff at the Meteorological Department working on December 26 knew what was coming, but failed to act because they were ignored earlier.

The country's Meteorological Department has said it knew about the December 26 earthquake and the possibility that it could trigger a tsunami about an hour before waves began slamming ashore.

But they said they had no way to determine the size of the waves - and therefore the threat they posed - and were reluctant to issue a warning without such information because it could harm the country's tourism industry and anger the government.

"In 1998 when I warned everyone concerned after a major earthquake in the region that we had to prepare for a tsunami, everyone criticized me for damaging the tourist industry and someone even said I was insane," Smith said on Tuesday.

"But now I can die in peace because what I warned has came true. Still, I feel sorry that I could not help save the lives of thousands of people."

Thailand is hosting a meeting for countries of the region Jan. 28-29 on establishing a tsunami warning system. - AP

- SAPA