The earthquake and tsunami that devastated the capital and surrounding villages of Central Sulawesi should have served as a warning to the region and, indeed, much of the world. It is unfortunate that the reaction to the tragedy has been largely just a shrug. Indonesian and foreign experts have proved that a faulty warning system and unprepared citizens caused many, probably a large majority of the estimated 5,000 deaths. None of it had a noticeable effect in Thailand -- and it should have.
The long and short of the recent Sulawesi catastrophe is that the warning systems didn't work. Not only had most of the tsunami-detection buoys ceased to function by 2012. The remaining few buoys that did work combined to send signals to anti-disaster offices on the Indonesian shore that there was no danger from the earthquake which, in fact, caused the three surges that overwhelmed people and property a quarter of an hour after the earthquake. And not only was the Sulawesi hardware functioning in the most dangerous manner, the people onshore were completely unprepared.
Fast forward now to Thailand. At 8 o'clock this morning and every Wednesday, officials in a few places -- chiefly in Phuket province -- will hold an anti-tsunami drill. Or so they call it. Instead of a piercing siren, as originally designed, the officials each Wednesday at 8am play the national anthem. Then they write in their book that they held a tsunami-alert practice. Of course the national anthem is also played throughout Thailand and over all public broadcasting stations at 8am, rendering the so-called "tsunami alert" effectively useless.
In any case, it has turned out that when the next tsunami surge occurs in southern Thailand, there probably won't be a warning. That was supposed to change after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami killed 275,000 unwarned, unaware people, chiefly in Indonesia and Thailand. What actually happened is arguably worse than nothing.
The sad story is that in 2005-6, with international help, Thailand installed a then-modern system of "tsunami buoys". These have long been used in the central Pacific and off Japan, and they are effective. They detect underwater and surface surges, and fire off electronic warnings. An onshore network of disaster equipment -- including those sirens -- and officials immediately swing into action, alerting everyone near the ocean to seek higher ground. Evacuees will follow trails and roads clearly marked, easily identified blue and white, multilingual signs: "This way to safety".
A year ago, in a required progress report, the deputy director-general of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department stated that 80% of this system was down. "Around 2,000 pieces [of equipment] needs to be maintained," said Kobchai Boonyaorana. Batteries were not replaced. Large hardware had ceased to function. The public relations officer at the department noted cheerily that there are other ways to warn people, such as by TV and radio.
Oct 13, which falls this Saturday, is designated by the United Nations as International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction. The UN General Assembly, with Thailand voting positively, mandated in 1989 a day to "celebrate how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters". One hopes the government's Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department will not take the word "celebrates" literally.
The post-2004 reaction to the Boxing Day disaster was professional and timely. By 2006, the country had a working, well-oiled disaster-mitigation system, particularly regarding the immense if relatively rare danger from a post-earthquake, surging sea.
Ten years later, most of the blue signs are gone, only some sirens work, the offshore, buoy-based system is -- to be kind -- unreliable, and lives are put at risk by pretending once per week that the normal playing of the national anthem is an anti-tsunami drill.
Last week, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha stressed the importance of visitor safety. He should make fixing the tsunami warning system a priority.