Thailand's natural disaster early warning and alert system faces huge challenges after experts blamed poor coordination for a slow response to the earthquake in Myanmar that saw strong tremors sweep across Thailand on March 28.
Seree Supratid, director of the Climate Change and Disaster Centre at Rangsit University, says he was appointed by the Interior Minister as an expert adviser at the National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) after the earthquake.
In an interview with the Bangkok Post, Mr Seree said he had also worked at the centre in 2005 when it was just founded.
Bureaucratic loopholes
"Upon my return, I have already noticed plenty of loopholes, particularly in the work we do with partner agencies.
"Together we operate like a series circuit [in which all components are connected end-to-end to form a single path for current flow]... Information is passed from one agency to another as time gradually accrues," he said.
He suggested that it would be better if, like modern computer circuits, the agencies could operate in parallel without having to wait for each other.
"In particular, the NDWC should not wait for information from other agencies. In the event of flooding, it should not wait for information from the Meteorological Department or should other natural phenomena cause chaos, it should not wait for the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM).
"The NDWS must also look for information on its own and compare it with other agencies before issuing alerts," Mr Seree said.
"During the earthquake on March 28, text messages warning people about the earthquake took far too long to get sent," he said.
Seree: Returned to find 'loopholes'
Passakorn Boonyalak, director-general of the DDPM, previously said the department had released the first batch of messages to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) for dissemination at 2.42pm after the quake struck at 1.20pm on March 28.
The message informed recipients that it was safe to return to buildings to collect their belongings.
Trairat Wiriyasirikul, acting secretary-general of the NBTC, said the message was broadcast at 2.44pm to some 10 million mobile phone numbers, in batches of 200,000 at a time, across Bangkok and three surrounding provinces.
The same message was later resent to recipients in all 76 provinces, he added.
But Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said at a meeting on March 29 that it took far too long to get the message out, and told both the DDPM and NBTC to find a way to overcome the 200,000 per send limit as moves get underway to improve the system.
She urged them to boost this capacity to 1 million recipients per broadcast while awaiting the full implementation of the NBTC's cell broadcast technology.
Mr Seree said that it is now the NDWC's legal responsibility to be first to issue official natural disaster warnings.
If another earthquake occurs, the Meteorological Department will notify the NDWC and the NDWC will use this information to issue alerts and provide information on what actions people should take next and where to go for safety.
During the period, the Meteorological Department still needs time to analyse further details regarding the severity of the earthquake and which area will be affected before sending this additional information to the NDWC, he said.
Cell broadcast service system
"Once the cell broadcast service [CBS] system is implemented, it will allow the NDWC to send alerts to people in affected areas via cell phone towers," he said, adding that the CBS system is expected to be fully implemented on Aug 1.
The CBS system allows emergency weather and natural disaster warnings to be disseminated via mobile phone messages.
He also said the media may receive initial information about where an earthquake occurs and its magnitude from the Meteorological Department.
However, it takes some time to calculate and analyse the extent of the impacts and the NDWC will then issue alerts via the CBS system and continue to provide regular updates until the situation eases, he said.
He also stressed the need to improve the existing disaster warning system to ensure a quicker response in a crisis.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will coordinate with television channels and radio stations to broadcast alerts using the TV Pool, he said, adding that no warning was broadcast during on March 28.
Free inspections
Amorn Pimanmas, president of the Thailand Structural Engineers Association, said owners and residents at high-rise buildings in Bangkok should ask engineers to inspect their buildings after the earthquake to ease their safety concerns.
Currently, there are more than 1,000 buildings higher than 23 metres or eight storeys in Bangkok. After the March 28 earthquake, many people have been concerned about the safety of the buildings, he said.
They can seek help via Traffy Fondue, a complaints system run by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), and engineers who volunteer to conduct post-earthquake inspections will visit and give advice on how to ensure buildings are earthquake-resistant free of charge.
There are about 1,000 engineers ready to offer help free of charge, though they cannot issue any certificates for the safety inspection.
"If the property owners want certificates, they may have to hire private companies to inspect their buildings," Mr Amorn said.
He added that a group of Thai researchers have devised tools to measure building vibrations. One is now installed at the Thani Nopparat Building at City Hall in Din Daeng district and the other at a hospital in the North.
Mr Amorn said that it remains impossible to predict exactly where and when an earthquake will occur in advance, while it is also difficult to issue timely warnings about shallow earthquakes like the one that occurred in Myanmar on March 28, at a depth of just 10km.
According to scientists, shallow quakes travel fast and their impact tends to be more damaging than deeper quakes. Seismic waves from deeper underground take longer to reach the surface, losing energy along the way.
"Bangkok is about 1,000 kilometres away from the epicentre in Myanmar. But the tremors were felt in Thailand. It was difficult to issue timely warnings as we needed time to process the information first," Mr Amorn said.
Amorn: Free inspections for home owners
Itthaboon Onwongsa, deputy secretary-general of Thailand Consumers' Council (TCC), said the TCC has called for implementation of the CBS system since the October 2023 shooting at Siam Paragon -- an incident in which a mentally disturbed 14-year-old student killed three people and injured several others.
There should be no further delay in installing the system, he said, adding the system should be designed to accommodate the needs of blind and deaf people.
"The government should not leave people to struggle for survival on their own when natural disasters strike. It is duty-bound to provide its citizens with information and timely advice," he said.
Itthaboon: Don't forget those with special needs
