Tsunami lawsuit 'unfounded'
2005-03-08 19:31
Bangkok - Thai authorities weren't negligent when they failed to issue warnings ahead of December's Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 5 000 people in the country, a foreign ministry official said on Tuesday.
Ministry spokesperson Sihasak Phuangketkeow was speaking in response to reports that a lawsuit has been filed in New York by victims of the tsunami against the Thai government, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and France-based Accor Hotel group, which ran the Sofitel resort on hard-hit Khao Lak beach in the southern province of Phang-nga.
Negligence was alleged against Thailand's meteorological department and the US agency for failing to give advance warning of the tsunami. The Sofitel hotel wasn't adequately prepared for the disaster, the lawsuit said.
"Our position is that the (Thai) authorities were not malfeasant in any way in regard to what happened," Sihasak told The Associated Press. "As far as the authorities and officials are concerned, they did their job, they did not make any errors."
Sixty plaintiffs
Almost 5 400 people were confirmed dead in Thailand after the earthquake-driven tsunami devastated 11 Indian Ocean countries on December 26 2004. Nearly 3 000 people remain missing in Thailand.
A website for the plaintiffs' lawyers said the suit was lodged in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York last Friday. A copy of the complaint posted lists about 60 plaintiffs.
Sihasak said Thai legal experts were studying the case closely, but that the government had received no notification of the lawsuit beyond what it had seen in the press.
He said Thailand didn't have the facilities to predict a tsunami, but has made plans since the disaster to set up an early warning system.
The official death toll from all areas affected by the tsunami ranges from 173 324 to 182 340. The number of missing ranges from 107 853 to 129 897 - with most presumed dead.
- AP