Powered By Blogger

Freitag, 16. März 2018

WAHRHEIT UNTER VERSCHLUSS


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 

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.

##############

"Explorations in Thai Tourism" - Eric Cohen, University of Jerusalem, Israel, Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. , UK, 2008



Keine Kommentare:

Kommentar veröffentlichen