Thailand: Tsunami-Bericht unter Verschluss
REDAKTION 17. März 2005, 12:09
Hintergründe warum es keine Flutwarnung gab, sollen nie
veröffentlicht werden - Phuket 750 westliche Touristen identifiziert Bangkok -
Wegen der Klage von mehr als 60 europäischen Tsunami-Opfern in den USA könnte
die thailändische Untersuchungskommission ihre Erkenntnisse über die Hintergründe
der Katastrophe unter Verschluss halten: Der Bericht werde vermutlich niemals
veröffentlicht, sagte der ehemalige Direktor des thailändischen
Meteorologischen Instituts und Ermittlungsleiter, Smith Thammasaroj, der
Tageszeitung "Nation". Warum es keine Flutwarnung gegeben hat Die
Ergebnisse seien mittlerweile Teil eines Justizverfahrens und könnten
"viel Schaden verursachen". Er wolle den Klägern keine Informationen
liefern, so Thammasaroj. Der thailändische Ministerpräsident Thaksin Shinawatra
hatte Smith damit beauftragt herauszufinden, warum es keine Flut-Warnung
gegeben hatte, obwohl die Stärke des auslösenden Seebebens am 26. Dezember
bekannt gewesen war. Vergangene Woche haben mehr als 60 Europäer bei der
US-Justiz Klage gegen die Behörden der USA und Thailands sowie gegen die
französische Hotelkette Sofitel eingereicht. Die Kläger stammen aus
Deutschland, Österreich, Frankreich, den Niederlanden und der Schweiz. Sie
werfen den Behörden Fahrlässigkeit vor. Bei der Flutkatastrophe wurden im
Dezember in Südostasien rund 300.000 Menschen getötet. Eingebrachte Klage
beinhaltete Beweissicherung "Nicht vorlegen praktiziert derjenige, der
etwas zu verbergen hat", sagte Opferanwalt Herwig Hasslacher, der
gemeinsam mit Ed Fagan und dem Wiener Anwalt Gerhard Podovsovnik die
Tsunami-Opfer vertritt, am Mittwoch in einer ersten Reaktion. "Wenn sie es
nicht veröffentlichen wollen, bekommen sie vom Gericht den Auftrag." Am
Freitag hatten die Anwälte in New York eine Klage auf Beweissicherung
eingebracht. Damit sollen Fakten über Versäumnisse bei der Warnung vor der
Flutwelle gesammelt werden. Leichen von 750 westlichen Touristen identifiziert
Auf der thailändischen Insel Phuket sind anhand von Gentests indessen die
Leichen von 750 westlichen Touristen identifiziert worden, die bei dem Tsunami
am 26. Dezember 2004 ums Leben gekommen waren. Von den 5.355 Opfern auf der
Insel seien rund 3.000 dem Anschein nach westlicher Herkunft, sagte der
französische Militärarzt Yves Schuliar in Paris. Die Identifizierungen könnten
noch mehrere Monate dauern. (APA) -
derstandard.at/1977303/Thailand-Tsunami-Bericht-unter-Verschluss
Informationen, die geschäftliche Interessen bedrohen
"Während der gesamten 1990er-Jahre warnte der Meteorologe
Smith Thammasaroj, damals Leiter des thailändischen Wetterdienstes, wiederholt
vor dem Risiko eines Tsunamis an der Südwestküste des Landes. Jahrzehntelang
hatte er die Beziehung zwischen Seebeben und diesen gigantischen Wellen
untersucht und er war so besorgt, dass er empfahl, die Strandhotels in den
Küstenprovinzen Phuket, Phang Nga und Krabi an das staatliche
Tsunami-Frühwarnsystem anzuschließen. Seine Warnungen wurden jedoch als
schädlich für den Tourismus angesehen, man versetzte ihn in den Ruhestand und
schlug seine Empfehlungen in den Wind. Vor dem Tsunami hatte man Smith
Thammasaroj, dem man Panikmache vorwarf, sogar den Aufenthalt in einigen
Provinzen verboten, die er zu schützen versuchte.
Am 26. Dezember 2004 führte ein unterseeisches Erdbeben vor
Sumatra zu einem gewaltigen Tsunami in eben den Regionen, denen seine Warnungen
gegolten hatten – Hunderttausende starben, um die 10.000 allein in Thailand.
Eine Möglichkeit, uns gegen unliebsame Informationen zu
wehren, besteht darin, ihre Quellen zu attackieren.“
J. Macy, Ch. Johnstone - „Hoffnung durch Handeln“,
Junfermann Verlag, Paderborn, 2014
Thai meteorology chief who got it right is brought in from the cold
Wed 12 Jan 2005 00.02 GMT
Until two weeks ago
Smith Thammasaroj was a prophet without honour. As the head of Thailand's
meteorological office in 1998, he was accused of scaremongering when he warned
that the south-west coast could face a deadly tsunami.
He retired under a
shadow, accused of causing panic and jeopardising the tourist industry that
grew up around the resort island of Phuket.
Today Mr Thammasaroj
is being hailed for his foresight after the Boxing Day tsunami, which killed
5,300 people in Thailand,
with a further 3,600 still missing.
Less than a week
after the tragedy the prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, appointed Mr
Thammasaroj as a minister and put him in charge of the newly established
national disaster warning office, which will work with local and foreign
seismologists to establish a tsunami early warning system.
Mr Thammasaroj says
the United States must take some of the blame for the number of casualties. He
believes that if the Hawaii-based Pacific tsunami warning centre had acted
quickly enough many lives could have been saved.
"I'm not angry
at them for failing to warn Thailand, because at that time they did not know
for sure, they merely said a tsunami was possible after the earthquake,"
he said .
But after the giant
waves hit southern Thailand the centre had more than an hour to alert India,
Bangladesh and the Maldives, "and if they warned those countries, they
could have saved thousands of lives.
"It's their
failure to do so that makes me mad at them," said Mr Thammasaroj.
Workers at the
Hawaii centre have said they tried in vain to warn Indian Ocean countries about
the possible effects of the earthquake, but they were not equipped to monitor
that part of the world and did not even have phone numbers for the right
officials.
Thailand's met
office has said it knew about the December 26 earthquake and the possibility
that it could trigger a tsunami about an hour before waves began slamming
ashore.
But it said it had
no way to determine the size of the waves - and therefore the threat they posed
- and was reluctant to issue a warning without such information because it
could harm the country's tourism industry and anger the government.
Mr Thammasaroj, 68,
showed no such reluctance when, as head of the met office, he made headlines in
1993 and 1998 with warnings about the dangers of a tsunami. His 1998 warning
set off a week of rumours that sent droves of people running for the hills in
southern Thailand. Furious tourism executives and government officials
excoriated Mr Thammasaroj for his judgment.
"Now I can die
in peace because what I warned has come true," he said. "Still, I
feel sorry that I could not help save the lives of thousands of people."
Dr. Smith Thammasaroj
Tsunami, a Year
Later on
NBCNews.com
Scientist who warned of tsunamis finally heard
U.S.-trained Thai also says U.S. partly to blame for high
death toll
updated 1/11/2005 4:56:02 PM ET
BANGKOK, Thailand —
Until two weeks ago, Smith Thammasaroj was a prophet without honor. As chief of
Thailand’s meteorological department in 1998, he was accused of scare-mongering
when he warned that the country’s southwest coast could face a deadly tsunami.
He retired under a shadow, dismissed as a crackpot, accused
of causing panic and jeopardizing a critical tourist industry that grew up
around the tropical resort island of Phuket.
Today, Smith is being lionized for his foresight after the
devastating Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 150,000 people
around the region, including 5,300 in Thailand, where 3,600 more are listed as
missing.
Less than a week after the tragedy, Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra appointed Smith as a vice minister and put him in charge of the
newly established National Disaster Warning Office, which will work with
seismologists to establish a tsunami early warning system.
U.S. could have helped with warning
Now when Smith speaks, people listen. And he has a new
message: The United States must take some of the blame for the grievous number
of casualties.
The 68-year-old forecaster — who earned a bachelor’s degree
in electrical and electronics engineering from the University of Vermont in
1962 — said he believes that if the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
had acted quickly enough, many lives could have been saved.
Workers at the Hawaii center have said they tried in vain to
warn Indian Ocean nations about the possible effects of the earthquake but they
were not equipped to monitor that part of the world and didn’t even have phone
numbers for the right officials.
The Hawaii center, set up in 1948, hosts the only regional
network of its kind in the world, but is set up solely to monitor Pacific Ocean
countries.
“I’m not angry at them for failing to warn Thailand, because
at that time they did not know for sure, they merely said a tsunami was
possible after the earthquake,” Smith told The Associated Press in a telephone
interview Tuesday.
But after the giant waves hit southern Thailand, the center
had more than an hour to alert India, Bangladesh and the Maldives, “and if they
warned those countries, they could have saved thousands of lives,” he said.
“It’s their failure to do so that makes me mad at them,” he
said.
Meteorologists 'afraid
to make a decision'
Smith has been
equally critical of his own country’s meteorologists. He said earlier that
staff at the Meteorological Department working on Dec. 26 knew what was coming
but failed to act because they were ignored earlier.
“They knew
exactly what was going to happen, but they ... were afraid to make a decision,
because they believed if they made a wrong forecast they would get blamed,”
Smith said.
The
Meteorological Department has said it knew about the earthquake and the possibility
that it could trigger a tsunami about an hour before waves began slamming
ashore.
But they said
they had no way to determine the size of the waves — and therefore the threat
they posed — and were reluctant to issue a warning without such information because
it could harm the tourism industry and anger the government.
Smith showed no
such reluctance when, as head of the meteorological bureau, he made headlines
in 1993 and 1998 with warnings about a possible tsunami.
His 1998 warning, which came after an earthquake-triggered
tsunami killed more than 2,000 people in Papua New Guinea, sent droves of
people running for the hills in southern Thailand. But no tsunami hit Thailand,
and furious tourism executives and government officials excoriated Smith for his
judgment.
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"Explorations in Thai Tourism" - Eric Cohen, University of Jerusalem, Israel, Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. , UK, 2008
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