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Published on December 22, 2007

He told a seminar looking at lessons learned from the December 2004 tsunami that global warming guaranteed future natural catastrophes.

Kasem said the country needed better and more measures to warn of pending disaster.

He recommended a special agency be established to continue implementing lessons learned from the tsunami.

The country's command system to tackle natural disasters and mitigate their effects should be more systematic, he added. Past disasters, be they tsunamis, floods or landslides, have been marked by command confusion, he said.

The bureaucracy was a "day-to-day system", unprepared for emergencies, Kasem said.

Communities' ability to tackle future disasters must be strengthened because they are the first affected when disaster strikes, he said.

Kasem said government agencies should band together to design a community emergency-action system.

Pakphum Vithantirawat of Trang Sea Coastal Resources Management said fewer lives would be lost in a tsunami today, thanks to greater awareness among residents and officials along the Andaman coast. Property damage would be similar to 2004.

He asserted many areas remained unprepared in terms of disaster warning and mitigation.

Pakphum said only one location had a sea-based detection system. That needs to send information to the United States and a response takes 50 minutes.

He said more sea-based warning equipment was required, as were faster response times. He suggested data be analysed here, rather than sending it to Hawaii.

He argued disaster-warning towers were expensive and unnecessary. The government should spend money on community volunteers directly in touch with the National Disaster Warning Centre.

Bundit Theveethivarak, chief of disaster mitigation directing at the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, said besides the Andaman, Gulf of Thailand coastal areas were prepared for a tsunami.

A mathematical model showed a violent earthquake in the Philippines could trigger a tsunami that would hit 17 provinces, including Bangkok and Narathiwat.

Preventative measures are being readied. He admitted to weaknesses with the Andaman towers and confusion about disaster-warning systems. He said the government was working to improve the situation.

Mineral Resources Department geotechnic division director Adichart Surinkum said it was unlikely an earthquake in the Philippines would trigger a tsunami able to hit the Gulf coast because of its the distance from the epicentre and the land masses in between.

He said most attention needed to be paid to the Andaman Sea coast.

Meanwhile, Pakphum warned that big business continued to exploit post-tsunami land-ownership confusion.

The Nation