BANGKOK – Following this week’s massive earthquake and tsunami scare that sparked evacuations in almost 30 countries, it was revealed that Thailand’s entire tsunami warning system was nothing more than a single Twitter account.
The revelation was made by the opposition Democrats at a special news conference this morning, when spokesperson Buranat Samutrak showed what he claimed was incontrovertible evidence that the nation’s ฿6 billion tsunami warning system, installed by the Thaksin Shinawatra administration following the tsunami of December 2004, was just one person tweeting updates from a mobile phone.
“This is a perfect example of how Thaksin and his government exploited the nation’s fears and the tragic events of 2004 to line his own pockets,” Buranat said.
However, the Yingluck government was quick to deny any wrongdoing and instead praised the effectiveness of the warning system. Pheu Thai spokesperson Prompong Nopparit noted that the international media had hailed the event as a “successful test” of the system and that many media outlets had praised Thailand for learning the lessons of 2004.
“We managed to get hundreds of thousands of people away from the coast in less than 15 minutes, well in time to be safe from any tsunami, which we are grateful never materialized,” he said. “The fact that the Democrats would take this great achievement from the Thai people and make it an issue shows that they are bankrupt of ideas.
The Democrats countered by demanding to see a fully audited report from the Office of Accounting and Oversight regarding how the tsunami warning funds were spent from 2005-2006. According to opposition claims, most of the money was used suspiciously for “feasibility studies” on committees that were composed of Thaksin cronies and allies.
Furthermore, the Democrats produced a chart showing an alleged pyramid of information that included all Thai media outlets and provincial government bureaus, leading to a single Twitter account under the name ThaiTsunamiWarning. According to their timeline, ThaiTsunamiWarning was a lone civil servant who copied and pasted AP news updates and changed the wording slightly.
When pressed by reporters, Buranat admitted that the system, while evidence of corruption, was “surprisingly effective.”
“The point is not the fact that one Tweeter can serve as a warning system in this day and age,” he stressed. “The point is the Thaksin government somehow spend ฿6 billion figuring this out.”
Nevertheless, according to a Suan Dusit poll taken yesterday, the Yingluck government was seen as having increased credibility in the wake of the successful tsunami warning drill.
In related news, the government announced progress in its ฿350 billion flood prevention project, citing the establishment of an “advanced flood warning system” budgeted at ฿4 billion.
