earthquacke in Thailand...prepare...

Ministry names villages facing quakes and announces relief plan
By The Nation

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The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry announced yesterday that it was including 1,406 villages in 22 provinces in its national earthquake relief plan.

These villages, located in 308 districts across the country, are situated on Thailand's 13 fault lines. The most worrying faults are in Chiang Rai's Mae Chan district and Kanchanaburi's Si Sawat district, including the one near the Srinakharin Dam.

Minister Suwit Khunkitti called on the public to not panic over the relief plan, saying that the Kingdom was in no way situated on or near the world's major earthquake faults.

The ministry and the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) are jointly planning to implement a longterm disaster relief plan to cope with possible quakes in the future.

Detailed risk analysis has been done in 192 villages in Kanchanaburi, 174 in Chiang Mai, 134 in Chaing Rai, 83 in Phrae, 54 in Mae Hong Son, 127 in Tak, 68 in Nan, six in Kamphaeng Phet, 37 in Lampang, 56 in Lamphun, 62 in Uttaradit and 56 in Chumphon. Though the ministry has identified 1,406 villages, it says the complete survey is only 40 per cent complete.

"Early announcement of the plan and locations are needed because earthquakes can be devastating, even though they are not as frequent as flash floods and landslides," Suwit added.

As part of another joint project, other natural disasters and relief plans already in place will be studied further.

The first phase of the plan will be implemented in villages in the North and Northeast next year, and in the West, the Central and the South in 2012.

So far, villages in Chiang Rai situated on a major fault line, which was hit by a 6.5 Richterscale quake 2,000 years ago, have been put in the highrisk category, though not yet earmarked for immediate evacuation.

DMR senior official Suwit Khosuwan classified areas in the North leading to the West that were hit by major quakes hundreds of years ago as the "Red Zone". Another red zone is the 155km stretch from Chiang Mai's Fang district, through Chiang Rai's Mae Khong and Mae Chan districts leading to Laos.

Other highrisk areas are Kanchanaburi's Dan Chedi Sam Ong (Three Pagodas) district, which was hit by a 6.4 Richterscale quake around 1,000 years ago, and the Si Sawat district, which was hit by a 7.0 Richterscale quake 7,000 years ago.

An official said the 3.7 Richterscale quake on June 13 had caused a 3.4metre dent in the Srinakharin Dam, though the main structure was still intact and could withstand a 7.0 Richterscale tremor.

Egat will soon evaluate the strength of the Srinakharin dam, as well as the Ratchaprapha Dam in Surat Thani, Sirikit Dam in Uttaradit and Vajiralongkorn Dam in Kanchanaburi.

Bigger earthquakes expected
By Wannapa Khaopa
The Nation
Published on June 30, 2010

Thai academics expressed concerns about the more severe and frequent earthquakes expected to shake the Earth in the future, while others warned people to beware even if they did not live near active faults.

Foundation for National Disaster Warning System of Thailand's chairman Smith Dharmasaroja said the huge quakes that hit Chile and Haiti early this year had been caused by strong movement of the Earth's crust and could probably affect faults nearby and lead to more frequent earthquakes.

For instance, he said, if big earthquakes occurred in neighbouring countries, they would affect Thailand's 13 active faults, making it prone to more tremors.

"The cumulative energy under the earth that can move faults is the main cause of earthquakes, and the colossal solar storm that caused a massive blackout in Canada and the US East Coast around 20 years ago, could have resulted in more severe earthquakes," Smith said.

Over the past few years, people have heard about recent earthquakes in several countries and reports about small tremors this month in Kanachanaburi raised their concerns.

In an interview with Channel 3, Smith talked about the huge quakes predicted by Kongpop U-yen, a Thai engineer who works for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa).

He said Kongpop had sent him dates between July and October when he predicted that quakes of 7-9 Richter-scale magnitude would occur.

Assoc Prof Pennung Warnitchai, a lecturer at the Asian Institute of Technology and project leader of Seismic Hazard Assessment and Mitigation of Seismic Risk in Thailand, said residents in Kanchanaburi and provinces in the North should not just beware of the areas on active faults, but also areas nearby.

"There are lots of blind faults hidden in the active faults that can cause quakes of 5 to 6 Richter-scale magnitude, and if they occur in areas where people live, there will be huge damages. People are wrong to believe that only active faults can cause seismic activity. They should not overlook blind faults. People in Kanchanaburi's Tha Muang and Muang districts will probably suffer earthquakes even though they are located far from two of the 13 active faults," Pennung added.

Adichat Surinkhum, a senior geological expert at the Department of Mineral Resources, warned people to not settle in areas facing the risk of earthquakes. "I've been told that people are moving to live in risky areas. They shouldn't do this," he said.

He added that more than 100 small tremors, in magnitude of less than 3 Richter scale, occurred in Thailand every year and bigger ones of 3 to 5 Richter-scale magnitude took place 20 times on average, which were the same frequencies as 10 to 20 years ago.

Adichat, however, does not believe that a solar storm could affect the earth's structure and cause an earthquake.

However, both he and Pennung are calling on Thai citizens and the authorities to build homes and buildings that are able to resist earthquakes.

They also recommend that people visit the earthquake.usgs.gov website to learn how to brace themselves for possible quakes.