Thailand to make evacuation plans after underwater tremors

[Dover]

Sun Mar 12, 6:49 AM ET

Thailand to make evacuation plans after underwater tremors

BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand will prepare evacuation plans for tourists and residents on the southern coast hit by the 2004 tsunami following a series of underwater tremors in the Andaman Sea.


"The situation is worrying and we want to alert local authorities and people so that they can prepare for an evacuation" if a big quake strikes, said Samit Thammasarot, the head of the National Committee on Natural Disaster Warning.

"More quakes could cause a major eruption of underwater volcanos, and that could trigger a tsunami again," he said Sunday, urging people living on the Andaman coast to be cautious.

But Samit said the government so far had no plans to issue an evacuation order.

The committee said that between March 9 and 12 it had detected 39 quakes ranging in magnitude from 4.0 to 5.3 near the Andaman Islands, some 500 kilometers (300 miles) west of the southern Thai province of Ranong.

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