brad brace contemporary culture scrapbook

Thailand has contracted to buy the latest special operations version of the Blackhawk helicopters from the United States with a bill amounted to 246 million U.S. dollars, the Bangkok Post said on Saturday.

According to papers filed by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency of the United States to the Congress, Thailand has requested up to six of the MH-60s helicopters, made by United Technologies Corp. unit Sikorsky Aircraft, plus 14 engines, spare parts and various support services.

The agency said Thailand requested the sale because of the need to enhance its maritime defense and disaster relief capabilities, highlighted by the tsunami search and rescue operations in December 2004 and January 2005.

The MH-60s, special operations version of the Blackhawk was a major upgrade to the Sirkorsky aircraft.

Among other improvements, it has advanced integrated cockpit, upgraded engines and transmission, forward looking infrared and terrain-following radar, additional internal and external fuel tanks and an external rescue hoist.

The Blackhawk usually has a crew of four: two pilots, a flight engineer and a gunner.

Sat Mar 11, 3:11 AM ET

BANGKOK – A series of moderate earthquakes has shaken the floor of the Andaman Sea off the southern coast of Thailand, although there is no immediate risk of a tsunami, disaster officials said on Saturday.

However, the National Disaster Warning center said Thais should monitor the news after the string of 31 earthquakes, measuring magnitude 4.0 to 5.3, hit about 400 to 600 kilometers of the southwest coast over the last two days.

The five southern provinces of Ranong, Phuket, Krabi, Satun and Phang-nga were those with the highest risk of being affected.

“We have informed people to watch out and follow the news closely,” an official said. “We‘re closely watching the overall situation.”

Scientists say undersea quakes have to measure in excess of at least 7.0 Richter in order to generate a tsunami.

BANGKOK, May 7 – Thailand’s love affair with beauty pageants was fuelled today when hopefuls for the title of Miss Universe 2005 began arriving from around the world for this year’s most important beauty competition.

Welcomed by Thailand’s former Miss Universe, Miss Apasara Hongsakul, and this year’s Thai entrant, Miss Chananporn Rosjan, the contestants descended on the Dusit Thani Hotel, the centre of this year’s pageant.

The first contestant to arrive, Miss Pham Thu Hang from Vietnam, told reporters that she was impressed by the warm reception she had received from the Thai delegation.

The main contest will be held on 30 May.

Victims Sue Thailand, U.S., Accor Over Tsunami 

U.S. and Austrian lawyers have filed a lawsuit demanding Thailand, U.S. forecasters and the French Accor group answer accusations they failed in a duty to warn populations hit by December’s Tsunami disaster, a lawyer said Monday.

The lawsuit was filed Friday at a New York district court on behalf of tsunami victims by lawyers including U.S. attorney Edward Fagan, internationally renowned for 1990s lawsuits against Swiss banks over Holocaust-era accounts. It demanded an account of their actions on Dec. 26.

“We expect a hearing within 30 days,” Austrian lawyer Gerhard Podovsovnik told Reuters.

“We don’t earn any money on the lawsuit. We want to help people,” he said. “We are suing to get information.”
The disaster left about 300,000 people dead or missing in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Maldives, Bangladesh and East Africa. Hundreds of thousands lost their homes.

The text of the lawsuit is available on the Web site www.tsunamivictimsgroup.com.

The U.S. and Austrian lawyers filed the lawsuit on behalf of around 60 named plaintiffs from Austria, Germany, France, Netherlands and elsewhere. Podovsovnik said they were also acting on behalf of at least 40 more not named.

The lawsuit suggests the Thai government and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which operates a Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii, failed to issue the requisite warnings.

“Respondent NOAA did not notify all involved countries which lay in the tsunami’s path. From public information it appears that … NOAA failed to issue an alert that would notify countries where the tsunami hit that the deadly wave was coming,” the lawsuit said.

“Published reports emerged that upon receipt of the NOAA alert and other data, the seismological and oceanographic experts of Thailand spent more than one hour talking about what the risk may or may not have been, instead of immediately issuing a warning to their population,” it said.

It also accused Thailand of failing to notify Sri Lanka that a tsunami wave was headed its way.

Among the charges leveled against Accor, the owner of the Sofitel hotel chain, was failure to equip its luxury resort and spa in Khao Lak, Thailand with state-of-the-art seismic detection and warning systems, despite its location “in an earthquake and tsunami fault zone.”

Last month, Accor issued a statement denying media reports of possible negligence in connection with the tsunami disaster. “The allegations concerning Accor are completely unfounded,” Accor said on its Web Site.

Thailand to build tsunami attraction

The Thai government has unveiled plans to build a simulated tsunami attraction in the region worst hit by the disaster to draw tourists back to the area.

Authorities have spent $4 million to prove to 1,000 media and travel agents the nation has recovered after waves ravaged its shores, killing at least 5,300 people, following the December 26 earthquake in the Indian Ocean.

About 15 Australians died in Phuket, Phi Phi Island, Khao Lak and Krabi, the west coast areas worst hit in the Boxing Day Tsunami.

Phuket’s world famous Patong Beach – now stripped of its beachfront shops – was thrown open this weekend for a beach bash complete with fireworks to show the island was ready to move on.

Speaking on behalf of the Thai Prime Minister, Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor Juthamas Siriwan told the international delegation about large-scale plans to re-market the region to foreign and local tourists.

Authorities would open a tsunami memorial museum complete with a simulated tidal wave in Khao Lak, the region made infamous by post-tsunami photos of bodies and debris floating in the water.

“It would firstly educate everyone who comes to Phuket to make them aware of how these kinds of things happen,” Ms Siriwan told reporters at a conference on the island.

“And at the same time, because tourism is an enjoyable product, we would also… like to (use technology) to make the museum more attractive and interesting by making a simulation of a tidal wave.

“I talked to the architect and they say they are going to make something like that so maybe this will be the next Universal Studios of the tsunamis in Khao Lak.”

She said the region would now be remade as an exclusive beach resort for wealthy couples and families.

“The government will concentrate on making Khao Lak even better than before,” Ms Siriwan said.

Patong would be redesigned as a “modern beach city” with hotels and shops no longer on the beachfront.

“We don’t want to repeat the same mistakes again,” she said.

Kamala beach, a badly damaged strip of coast neighbouring Patong will be developed into a traditional culture hub while Phi Phi Island, largely wiped out by the wave would be returned to a “paradise island for relaxing”.

A tsunami early warning system based on marine monitoring and SMS warnings would be in place later this month and lifeguards would be installed on all tourist beaches.

She said regional airports and roads would be upgraded and international tourists would be offered complementary domestic flights to encourage people back.

I’m back from three months in Thailand — mostly spent on a small squid-fishing island/village, as part of my ongoing multimedia project about Islands.

/:b