Scientists have played down fears that the world will end on Friday, saying no scientific evidence exists to support the forecast.
Scientists take part in a seminar entitled ‘End of the World 2012. True or False?’ at Chulalongkorn University’s faculty of science yesterday. PATTARAPONG CHATPATTARASIL
The scientists met in a forum at Chulalongkorn University's faculty of science yesterday to discuss the prediction, which is based on the Mayan calendar.
The Mayan calendar finishes one of its great cycles this year, which has fuelled theories about the end of the world on Dec 21, 2012.
Physics lecturer Pong Songpong said many theories had been spun about what might bring about the apocalypse on Friday, ranging from a solar storm and massive, widespread earthquakes to a geomagnetic disturbance or even a meteor crashing into Earth.
But Mr Pong said none of these theories are backed up by science.
He said people have been worried that a deadly solar storm would be triggered by this year's solar maximum, the period of greatest activity in the Sun's 11-year cycle. However, the solar maximum occurred without incident on Oct 23, Mr Pong said.
"Did you feel anything?" he asked.
"You could still watch television and use the phone. That is because we have developed technology to protect these systems from such solar effects."
In the past, solar storms have damaged electricity and telecommunication systems around the world.
For instance, the whole of Quebec province in Canada suffered a 12-hour blackout as a result of a solar flare in March 1989, and several satellite-based communications systems around the world experienced problems after a July 2000 flare.
National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) scientist Buncha Thanaboonsombat said that while aviation businesses could be affected by solar storms, current technology allows for flares to be predicted at least 90 hours in advance.
Paiboon Nuannin, physics lecturer at Prince of Songkla University's faculty of science, said some people predicted solar activity will trigger massive earthquakes on Friday.
"That is not true," he said.
Only six recorded earthquakes in history have been matched with solar activities, he said, pointing out that dozens of earthquakes measuring between 4 and 6 on the Richter scale are recorded around the world every day.
"It can therefore be concluded that there is almost no association between earthquakes and solar activity," he said.
Mr Paiboon said earthquakes can be predicted with statistics, but he warned against speculation with groundless information, as it could spark panic.