With the official inauguration of Thailand’s National Disaster Warning Centre on May 31, 2005, Thailand became the first country hit by the December 26 tsunami to launch a natural disaster early warning system.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra presided at the inauguration and declared the centre, located on Ratanathibet Road in Bangkok, open and ready for public service. Mr Plodprasop Suraswadi is Director of the National Disaster Warning Centre. Mr Smith Dharmasaroja, former chief of Thailand’s Meteorological Department and currently Vice Minister of the Office of the Prime Minister, is Chairman of the Committee for the development of Thailand’s tsunami Early Warning System.

While it will take time for Thailand to complete the installation of a fully-integrated tsunami Early Warning System complete with seabed monitors, deep-water measuring devices and surface buoy monitors, the establishment of an international-standard National Disaster Warning Centre is a critical component of such a system.

With staff on duty 24 hours, the newly-established National Disaster Warning Centre functions as a centralised information centre receiving, monitoring, processing and relaying critical information on impending natural disasters round the clock.

To facilitate timely data exchanges and updates, Thailand’s Early Warning System information network is linked into the information networks of the Meteorological Department, the Department of Mineral Resources and the Naval Hydrographic Department and receives data on seismic activity from these agencies. It is also linked into the information networks of other state agencies comprising the Department of Disaster Prevention and Relief, the Department of Fisheries, the Royal Irrigation Department, the Department of Maritime Transport and Commerce and the Electricity Generation Authority of Thailand (EGAT).

Thailand’s National Disaster Warning Centre is also linked into international information networks such as those of disaster prevention and mitigation agencies like the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii, the US Geological Survey and the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Data on the intensity of seismic or wave activity will be received and transmitted via the Early Warning System established by the Thailand National Disaster Warning Centre. Staffed by a multi-disciplinary team of experts drawn from various fields such as the natural sciences as well as crisis management, the team is responsible for monitoring incoming data, evaluating the intensity and severity of the incident and risk assessment.

In the event that there is a high probability of a tsunami incident occurring, a warning for high risk areas around Thailand will be issued. Data will be relayed immediately via satellite. Once a warning has been issued by the centre, television and radio stations will immediately cease broadcasts of on-air programmes and commence their broadcast of the disaster warning.

To achieve the widest coverage within the shortest possible time, warnings for high risk areas will also be transmitted simultaneously via the nationwide radio network, Channel 5 army television network, the state-operated television pool, as well as via SMS to some 20 million cellular phone users.

To alert tourists and residents of impending danger such as the advance of destructive waves or floodwaters, sirens will be sounded; public warnings in the form of audio-recordings in various international languages will be broadcasted from the 30-metre-high warning towers installed along the beachfront. Such alerts would be further supported by visual indicators such as red alert emergency warning lights.

While the National Disaster Warning Centre will initially focus exclusively on monitoring earthquakes and tsunamis, it is also equipped to handle, at a later stage, a variety of natural disasters such as to monitor and issue warnings for storms brewing in the Gulf of Thailand, forest fires, floods and air pollution.

The National Disaster Warning Centre Call Centre
To promote and facilitate communication exchange between the centre and the public, the National Disaster Warning Centre also operates a Call Centre to service inquiries from the public. Members of the public are also being encouraged to call in to report incidents and provide helpful information that might help to avert disasters and loss of life caused by the forces of nature.

Related article:
The Installation of Early Warning System & Tsunami Evacuation Drills in Phuket’s Patong Beach Completed
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CONTACT INFORMATION:
FOR INQUIRIES OR REPORTS
National Disaster Warning Centre Call Centre:
Hotline: #1860
Tel: +66 (0) 2859 2497, (0) 2859 2591