PHUKET: Two tsunami-warning buoys deployed in the sea to the west of this island province are being replaced with new ones as the warning system is updated.
The two buoys were placed in the Indian Ocean and the Andaman Sea after the devastating Dec 26, 2004 tsunami caught Phuket and the Andaman coast totally unawares, causing massive loss of life.
A ceremony to launch the vessel to install the new buoys was held at Phuket deep sea port in tambon Wichit, Muang district, at 1.50pm on Tuesday.
Boontham Lertsukhikasem, director of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, presided, with R/Adm Suchart Thampithakvej, deputy commander of the 3rd Naval Area, Narong Woonciew, the Phuket governor, the consuls-general of 11 countries and representatives of other agencies present.
The vessel was scheduled to depart at 3pm. It will be at sea for 14 days, until Nov 28, and will replace the two existing warning buoys with new ones.
The 2004 tsunami caused huge destruction along the coastline of the Indian Ocean, killing about 230,000 people. Most affected by the tsunami were Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. The disaster prompted many countries to develop tsunami warning systems of their own.
The National Disaster Warning Centre of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department supervised the installtion of two tsunami-detection buoys - the first about 965 kilometres west of Phuket in the Indian Ocean and the second about 340 km west of Phuket in the Andaman Sea.
Installation began in 2006 under an agreement on technical cooperation on tsunami warning with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States, which provided the surface buoys with electronic equipment and bottom pressure recorders. The two buoys were supposed to undergo maintenance every two years to keep them recording and transmitting data.