Thailand to go ahead with own tsunami warning system
Thailand to go ahead with own tsunami warning system
Agence France-Presse, Bangkok/Phuket, Thailand
Thailand will press ahead with its own tsunami warning system, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Monday, after a regional meeting snubbed his country's offer to host a network for the Indian Ocean.
"We don't care whether other countries cooperate or not. We will go ahead and we are ready to invest, even if we are the only country involved," he told reporters.
"We have to do it to protect the lives of Thais and tourists," he added.
Thaksin spoke two days after a regional meeting on the tsunami-hit island agreed to create an interlinked system of regional warning systems, instead of accepting Thailand's proposal to build a system for the entire Indian Ocean at the Bangkok-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Center.
The plan aims to avoid a repeat of the Dec. 26 tragedy, when more than 280,000 people died after an earthquake off Indonesia sent tsunamis crashing into 11 nations.
Thaksin said the first stage of the new Thai system could be running within two months, and could be completed within 18 months.
Thailand's system would link with existing warning systems for the Pacific Ocean and an eventual system in India, Thaksin said.
The premier also said the government would create school courses to teach students about the dangers of tsunamis.
Ministers from 43 countries -- those ravaged by the tsunamis as well as donors -- agreed at the weekend to establish a warning system by mid-2006.
The countries agreed for the system to be developed under the auspices of the UN's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), which oversees the Pacific Ocean early warning system already in place.
The IOC will hold its first regional coordination meeting from March 3 to 8 in Paris.
In a related development, South Korea urged Indian Ocean nations on Monday to settle a disagreement over who will host a regional tsunami early warning system after they failed to choose a location at ministerial talks in Thailand last week.
Dho Youngshim, chairwoman of South Korea's government-run Cultural and Tourism Policy Institute and ambassador for tourism and sports, said tourists needed prompt reassurance that they would be protected from a second disaster.
"I know nothing has been agreed, I know you have postponed till next month to decide where you will have a warning system," Dho Youngshim told ministers and delegates at talks here aimed at reviving tourism in the wake of the tsunamis.
"It's very important that the countries in the affected area -- I won't say get their acts together -- but agree upon where you're going to have this so that people can feel they can plan trips to come here."