Thai hotels 'not prepared' for another tsunami

Phuket, Thailand: A leading meteorologist, who warned a tsunami could strike Thailand seven years before one hit, said on Tuesday that coastal hotels and resorts are still unprepared for another killer wave.

"At the moment, they [hotels] do not even have a map or instructions to tell the guests what do" in a tsunami, Smith Thammasaroj said on Tuesday, a day after thousands of Thais and foreigners gathered on beaches to mourn the dead from the tragedy on December 26, 2004.

He said tourist facilities along the Thai coast, where the tsunami killed nearly 5,400, have not yet hooked into the well-functioning National Disaster Warning Centre which would give them quick notice of an approaching tsunami or other disaster.

Thailand's lack of preparedness for the tsunami has raised the possibility of lawsuits by some foreign victims, but no major legal action has yet been launched. Smith has said that Thai officials knew of the oncoming tsunami but hesitated in sounding an alarm.

Smith, the centre's deputy director, headed Thailand's meteorological department when he was accused of scare-mongering after he warned in 1998 that the country's southwest coast could face a deadly tsunami.

Criticised then for causing panic and jeopardising the critical tourist industry around the tropical resort island of Phuket, Smith retired under a shadow. He was rapidly returned to government service when his prediction proved accurate.

"Hotels are investing billions of baht [Thailand's currency] to rebuild, but they don't want to spend some 500,000 baht [Dh44,775] more to buy a small warning system and link into the government system to warn their guests," Smith said, adding that there was no legal requirement for them to do so.

"We've done rehearsals. We've practised. We have flyers. We have signage and information in each hotel room to inform the guests," said Asnee Kankaew, resident manager of the Holiday Inn Resort Phuket.

The tsunami destroyed the first floor of the hotel on Phuket's popular Patong Beach, and some guests died.

"The government installing a system is a waste if the public still does not have knowledge about the system, and there is no party assigned to educate people on how the system works," Smith said.

"Several hotel guests have complained ... no map, no signs, not even a brochure ... People who sleep in the rooms will not hear the warning from sirens if the hotel has not installed a warning system in their rooms," Smith said.