Thais shelve tsunami study in face of lawsuit

Thailand has shelved a detailed tsunami study in reaction to a lawsuit filed in the United States on behalf of 100 foreign tourists who perished in the disaster.

Of the estimated 300,000 people swept away by the earthquake-powered giant waves on Boxing Day, more than 5300 victims died on Thailand's Andaman coast - half of them visitors.

The seismologist in charge of the Government probe said yesterday that his report would be kept from public scrutiny, and its conclusions would never be put in writing.

Samith Dhammasaroj told a Bangkok press conference that it was his patriotic duty to prevent leaks of information which might be used to substantiate the charges of "serious lapses" filed against the Government of Thailand in a New York district court last week.

The litigation, brought by the families of 60 named victims from Austria, Germany, France and the Netherlands plus 40 unnamed victims, points to a 75-minute delay between the scientific measurement of the earthquake off Sumatra and the moment that huge waves pounded the coastline of Thailand.

It accuses the Thai Government and United States Government forecasters in charge of the Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii of failing to warn thousands of people at risk.

The Accor corporation, owner of the luxury Sofitel resort - one of two dozen hotels that were destroyed in Khao Lak - is blamed for negligence because it did not equip its premises with warning devices.

Samith, who was ridiculed during the 1990s when he twice warned Thailand about the possibility of tsunamis striking its beaches, was appointed by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to set up an early warning system and to investigate what transpired in Thailand during the Boxing Day calamity.

The chief of the meteorology department was summarily sacked.

After the disaster, the scientist had agonised in public about his inability to reach officials and raise the alarm.

The lawsuit argues that an alert from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, even though it underestimated the intensity of the quake, should have spurred Thai scientists into action.

But Thailand's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Sihasak Phuanketkeow insisted: "Thailand and its Government agencies did not fail to perform their duties."

There still are no warning systems or surge sensors in place in the Indian Ocean.

- INDEPENDENT