UN Thailand :: Media Monitoring

Impact on Thailand

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   - Livelihood recovery
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     rehabilitation
   - Disaster preparedness

Six Months On

Challenges and achievements six months after the tsunami

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Media Monitoring

Sources: Bangkok Post, The Nation, MCOT, ThaisNews

06 July 2005:

Thailand-Japan sign disaster management exchange deal on Wednesday
Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) will sign a bilateral deal on the Promotion on Fire Defense and Disaster Management Exchange. The new deal with Japan who has more experiences and advanced technology to cope with natural disasters should help boost Thailand's potential and efficiency in disaster prevention, mitigation and management.

06 July June 2005:

Thailand's month-old tsunami early-warning system's first test
An earthquake off Sumatra coast occurred at 8.52am gave Thailand's month-old tsunami early-warning system its first real test. The National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) gathered and analysed data from several seismic stations in the region before notifying local authorities at about 9.10am to be on alert. Television stations ran a flash-bar public announcement at 9.26am. At 10.35am, the tsunami alert was called off.

06 July 2005:

Marine animal farmers damaged by Tsunami received help from government
According to a senior officer, 536 water animal farms (fish, prawn and pearl farming) in Phuket were affected by the December Tsunami, accounting for more than 199 million baht. Since June the 18th, the affected farmers were paid compensation of 20,000 baht each for those who registered their businesses and 14,000 baht for unregistered farmers, worth a total of over 9 million baht.

07 July 2005:

Land disputes are major problems
Academics singled out land disputes as one of the most serious issues facing tsunami victims, particularly sea gypsies who face land disputes with both state agencies and business groups. The government is urged to investigate the process of issuing land title deeds to settle land ownership wrangles.

07 July 2005:

More than 1,700 Death certificates been issued in 6 months
Between Jan 24 and June 30, the Thai Tsunami Victims Identification (TTVI) centre had issued death certificates for 1,426 victims from Phangnga, 129 from Krabi and 204 from Phuket. Currently, about 10-16 corpses are being identified a day, down from 50-60 corpses a day in the period straight after the tragedy. This had been attributed to the fact that fewer relatives are now showing up with evidence. The 1,833 bodies have yet to be identified.

07 July 2005:

No fixed early warning statements
A meeting was held to make sure that authorities and agencies concerned share a common understanding that early warning statements to be issued for residents in areas at risks of a natural disaster will not be fixed, but changable according to relevant situations.

07 July 2005:

Birth control programmes suggested to Tsunami victims
Psychiatrists suggested that local residents affected by the tsunami continue their birth control programmes for a certain period of time to prevent newborns from any impact from their parents' depression or other psychiatric problems caused by the last disaster.

11 July 2005:

Bt138m sought for 62 warning towers
The committee tasked with setting up an advance warning system for tsunamis will ask the Cabinet for Bt138 million to build 62 warning towers in six Anadaman coastal provinces. The early warning system will link the National Disaster Warning Centre's Control and Transmission Centre in Nonthaburi to the towers along the Andaman coastline: 16 in Phang Nga, four in Phuket, 12 in Krabi, 11 in Trang, 14 in Satun and five in Ranong.