Students and teachers at Phangnga’s Takua Pa area have been getting ready for disasters ever since the tsunami in the Indian Ocean entirely destroyed Rajaprajanugroh 35 School.
Prach Sawangpong, a professor at Rajaprajanugroh 35 School who is the sailing school’s emergency response coordinator, said the school’s staff and students were happy that the tsunami struck on Dec 26, 2004– which happened to be a Sunday– so the school’s grounds were largely empty.
The college is only connected by Highway 4 from the ocean, and it is close to Bang Sak Beach. When the tides struck, the only thing left position was the pole, he said.
” ]Because of the tsunami, ] we had to transfer not just all 800 students to other schools in Krabi, Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat, but also our teachers, so studies could continue while the school was rebuilt”, he said.
In March 2005, the new university was finished. Although it was rebuilt in the same area, there were some modifications to make sure that students and staff were safe in the event of another wave.
The building that houses schools is presently located on higher ground, above the highest level of the storm waves that struck in 2004, he said, while the kids ‘ dormitories are then located on the top floor of one school building. The place where the original tower stood, however, has been turned into a sports pitch.
One of the 240 schools that participated in the Sturdy Schools initiative is Rajaprajanugroh 35 School. The UN Development Programme ( UNDP ), in partnership with the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, the Office of Basic Education, and the Thai Red Cross, created the program to assist schools in creating their own emergency responses.
The university’s administrators have also updated the university’s structure and stockpiled emergency items like food and drinking water. They have even set up a land to preserve animal, he said.
” We furthermore regularly conduct storm removal training. We can choose the chisel for another emergencies, such as floods or perhaps large shootings”, he said, adding that he hoped the institution could be a model for disaster preparedness.
The storm killed 5, 395 citizens in Phangnga, Krabi, Phuket, Ranong, Trang and Satun.
Tawan Sai-on, 21, a native of Takua Pa area, said he lost almost all of his household, except his mother, who managed to hold on to him as he climbed a mango tree to avoid the huge waves.
He enrolled for his undergraduate studies and decided to major in Risk and Disaster Management as a result of the disaster. Now, he is in the final year. ” I would like to use my knowledge to help people in my hometown”, he said.
Tawan: Better alerts needed
Local residents are more likely to survive because they are more likely to be familiar with the area, according to Mr. Tawan, who noted that while there are evacuation signs and sirens to warn people in the event of a tsunami, they are more likely to be aware of the situation.
” We need to have a system that can immediately warn and direct tourists to a secure location,” he continued.
The Earthquake Research Centre of Thailand’s founding director, Professor Pennung Warnitchai, said disaster preparedness must be increased because there are active fault lines there that could lead to yet another significant earthquake in the future.
Pennung: Review govt guidelines
One of them, he said, is the Arakan fault in west Myanmar, which last triggered an earthquake about 260 years ago.
A strong earthquake along the fault, in the opinion of the center, could cause a tsunami of the same magnitude as the one from 2004. Fortunately, the centre said a major earthquake along the fault isn’t likely to take place for another 200-300 years.
” ]However, ] we still need to keep our guard up”, he added.
While Thailand has improved its earthquake and tsunami early warning systems, the number of siren towers remains insufficient, he said. Only those who are within a 1-kilometer radius will be able to hear the warning signal at their current frequencies.
” Thailand should develop text notifications through cellular networks”, he said.
Additionally, he said, the government needs to regularly review the official evacuation procedure.
Over half of the evacuees failed to reach higher ground in time when the center used a computer model to simulate the tsunami warning, which was sounded when the center used a computer model. The majority of the safe zones were located 3 to 4 kilometers away from the beach.
The government should think about establishing safe zones in other buildings that have been deemed tsunami-proof since the 2004 disaster because going to the top of high buildings isn’t an option in the area.
” We need to prepare before a disaster happens again”, he said.