THAILAND: Media role in tsunami alert system

The National Disaster Warning Committee nominates the media to help warn people when distater situations emerge

Bangkok Post
Wednesday, January 19, 2005

By Ranjana Wangvipula

The media has been urged to respond to disasters more quickly and effectively in future in a new national plan aimed at installing an alarm system along the country's west coast and on islands in the Andaman Sea.

The national plan is aimed at the provision of effective systems to warn of disasters, including earthquakes, mudslides, tidal waves, or oil spillages.

The National Disaster Warning Committee, led by veteran meteorologist Smith Dharmasarojana, has been assigned with carrying out the work after the Meteorological Department failed to raise the alarm when last month's tsunami struck.

Mr Smith yesterday provided a progress report during a forum organised in conjunction with broadcast and print journalist associations.

Participants at the forum agreed that the media, particularly television and radio reporters, had to play a more active role in future in disseminating timely and accurate information when disaster situations emerge.

''Journalists must be more proactive in providing information when a disaster strikes. It seems that the media is presently reactive,'' said economist Varakorn Samakoses, rector of Dhurakijpundit University.

Some television channels were criticised for their sluggish response to the initial warning by the government's top geologist.

Some even failed to switch from their regular entertainment programmes to live coverage of the devastation emerging in the South.

Somsak Potisat, chief of the Mineral Resources Department, learned of the undersea earthquake and subsequent tsunami about 8am on Sunday Dec 26 while he was exercising near his home.

Mr Somsak rushed to phone a radio station, and then asked a TV channel to immediately break the news to the public.

''I was told another programme was on air and that it couldn't be interrupted until 11am. I explained that it would then be too late and requested that the channel provide running messages ... ,'' he said.

Mr Somsak said he had no idea when the channel broadcast a warning, but he did not see any kind of coverage of the event until 11am.

''One problem in Thai journalism is that it is stuck in an old mindset. It only aims to spread the news to the people without attempting to warn of any potential disasters,'' Mr Varakorn said.

Senior iTV reporter Kitti Singhapad pointed out that meteorologists had to prove that they could provide a credible advance warning so that the media could respond to the call for it to be more proactive in spreading the information.

Mr Kitti admitted it was difficult to halt revenue-generating entertainment programmes if a television channel was not prepared for such occurrences, when it made sense for news reports to take over should a disaster situation emerge.

Mr Smith received little response when in 1998 he warned of the tsunami threat. Indeed, he was ridiculed by some officials and people in the tourism sector.

However, Mr Smith is pinning his hopes on the national disaster warning plan, which will include the issue of media cooperation.

In six to 12 months, Mr Smith said, ''news trumpeting towers'' would be built along coastlines and on islands in the Andaman Sea to warn of tidal waves.

Mr Smith's committee would decide whether or not the tidal waves would cause disastrous consequences and would raise the alarm through the towers, which would be equipped with a satellite data receiver and sirens that could be heard within a one-kilometre radius.

''Television and radio pools, as well as cell phone companies, must be ready to send out warnings,'' Mr Smith said.

He hoped the operators could immediately switch from their regular services to the alert at the request of the committee.

Date Posted: 1/19/2005