Warning centre 'bullied'
National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) chairman Smith Dharmmasaroj lashed out at a Cabinet decision that puts the centre under Meteorological Department control.
Smith is the former director-general of the department. He said the decision was an insult because it placed a national-level agency under the control of a department."I am not being emotional but I am angry the centre is treated like this. The government should have asked us what we think before making the decision," he added. Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister Kosit Panpiemras initiated the move and Smith alleged Kosit was trying to "bully" him and the NDWC. "Or do they think the NDWC was initiated by the ousted government. Politics should not be a factor because this decision will backfire and produce no benefit," he added. Smith was asked by the Thaksin-Shinawatra government to head a warning centre following the Indian Ocean tsunami because of his experience at the Meteorological Department. Smith once made a much-criticised prediction that Thailand's Andaman coast was at risk from tsunamis. Smith said in Phuket on Thursday that information about earthquakes, tsunamis or any natural disaster should now be directed to the Meteorological Department. "My duties and responsibilities at the NDWC are over from now," he said. But Smith did not specifically say he had resigned. He said the government and the department should be responsible for natural disaster warnings following the Cabinet decision.
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