PHUKET: Dr Amorn Pimanmas, Chairman of the Project Committee at the Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT) and alumnus of the University of Tokyo, will lead a free seminar on “Seismic Design & Building” at the Boat Lagoon Resort in Koh Kaew this afternoon. Jointly organized by the Phuket Architectural Society and the Phuket Real Estate Association, the seminar, to be held from 1pm to 3pm, is open to the public and aims to impart expert knowledge on how seismic events affect various types of constructions. Participants will also learn about the latest developments in earthquake-resistant design and building materials, as well as the best course of action during and after an earthquake.
PHUKET: Phuket Customsofficials have seized 47,000 liters of smuggled diesel hidden on board twoTaiwanese boats off the east coast of Phuket Sunday. Officials estimated thetotal value of the smuggled diesel seized at 21 million baht. The two boats, the ChingChunFa 168 and the Chi Tsai 16, were seized one to two nauticalmiles north of Taphao Yai Island, on Sunday, said Rakop Srisupa-at, director ofthe Royal Thai Customs Investigations and Suppression Bureau, who was in Phuketto announce the haul yesterday.
PHUKET: After two weeks of waiting for official requests to inspect tsunami warning towers that failed to sound the alarm on April 11, Chutichart Boonchuwit will bypass the bureaucratic hurdle and go ahead and have the towers tested anyway. Mr Chutichart, who is the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry representative tasked with ensuring that the tsunami warning towers in Phuket are operational, told the Phuket Gazette today that he was notified on April 18 that six warning towers failed to sound the alarm. “The Phuket office of Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket) informed me that tsunami warning towers at Kata Noi, Chalong, Nai Harn, Kamala, Patong and Ao Yon all failed to sound the alarm, or failed to function properly,” he said.
PHUKET: Lertsin Raksaskulwong, director of the Environmental Geology and Geohazard Bureau under the Department of Mineral Resources, yesterday called for the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) to revise its procedure for issuing tsunami warnings. Speaking at a meeting at Provincial Hall held to review Phuket’s tsunami-response procedures, Mr Lertsin said, “The events of April 11 were chaos. It seemed they asked people to evacuate [tsunami-risk areas] immediately after announcing the earthquake.
PHUKET: A week-long Phuket Pride Festival that officially began yesterday is expected to attract thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) tourists from around the region. In the latest Phuket Gazette online readers poll, we ask how tolerant is Phuket society of LGBT lifestyles compared with other places readers have lived in or visited? To have your say vote in the poll by clicking
PHUKET: After being moved forward a few weeks, the 18th Annual Phuket Bike Week was a success over the weekend, despite heavy rains that threatened to wash out festivities. Among those in attendance were Patong Deputy Mayor Chairat Sukbal, Royal Thai Navy officials and representatives of sponsor Chang beer
PHUKET: Officers from the Anti-Human Trafficking Division (AHTD) of the Royal Thai Police and Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) on Friday night inspected go-go bars in Soi Sea Dragon, off Soi Bangla in Patong, but failed to uncover any evidence of lewd behavior. Twelve officers from the AHTD Region 5 and ISOC, commanded by AHTD Region 5 Deputy Inspector Pol Lt Anan Nitirangsan, raided seven go-go bars including Exotica and the Candy Club a-Go-Go at about 10pm. The raid was to target clubs showing “nude shows” and lewd acts such as “ping-pong shows” and to arrest any club operators allowing such activity.
PHUKET: Phuket Vice Governor Somkiet Sangkaosuttirak has warned local authorities that they will suffer written warnings if they do not file updated reports on any swiftlet barns in their respective areas. Speaking at a meeting of high-ranking local officials at Phuket Provincial Hall on Thursday, Vice Governor Somkiet said officers had confirmed there are at least five swiftlet barns in areas under Phuket City Municipality’s responsibility and four in Thalang District
PHUKET: Following the evacuation of Phuket International Airport after the 8.6-Richter earthquake on April 11, several airlines on Friday expressed their confidence in how officials handle the emergency exercise. At a press conference at the airport chaired by Airport Director Prathuang Sornkham, Thai Airways representative Jittrapong Narongwanich said all airlines that use Phuket Airport remain confident in the evacuation procedures following the April 11 evacuation.
PHUKET: THE pair of powerful earthquakes that struck off the coast of Sumatra on April 11 served as the perfect ‘live test’ of Thailand’s preparedness to conduct emergency evacuation of tsunami risk areas, exposing, once again, serious shortcomings in the government’s ability to relay important information to the public in a timely fashion.