Thailand's tsunami early warning system is almost complete and should be finished before the peak tourist season begins in November, a top disaster management official said Tuesday. So far 78 towers have been installed along the coast of six provinces on the Andaman Sea, where the Indian Ocean tsunami killed some 5,400 people in December 2004, said Pakdivat Vajirapanlop, assistant director of the National Disaster Warning Center.
"There is only one location left in the Andaman Sea where installation of the last tower should be finished by the end of the rainy season in October," he told AFP.
Thailand's peak tourist season begins after the annual rains stop.
Tourist officials have predicted that arrivals this year will mark a return to pre-tsunami levels in the provinces that had been devastated by the deadly waves.
Most of Thailand's tsunami dead were foreign holidaymakers, and the government sees the warning system as a key way of reassuring tourists of their safety after the 2004 tsunami killed 220,000 people in a dozen countries.
The government has also begun installing warning towers around the country to alert people to other natural disasters, including floods and mudslides that often occur during seasonal rains.
The two-year plan to instal the towers around the country, expected to finished by 2007, cost 338 million baht (8.8 million dollars).
The government is installing 46 towers around the Gulf of Thailand, which was not affected by the tsunami.
Another 19 will be installed in northern and central provinces, including Bangkok, to broadcast warnings of flash floods and mudslides.
The National Disaster Warning Center, which was created after the tsunami, will coordinate weather and other information from different agencies. It will decide when to issue an alert.
"It will help protect loss of lives from natural disaster," Pakdivat added.
Source: Agence France-Presse
