Bangkok - The Thai capital should brace itself for a major earthquake, a cabinet minister said on Wednesday as he called for a review of the country's safety measures and disaster warning system after Indonesia's devastating temblor.
Suraphong Suebwonglee, minister of information and communications technology, said the magnitude-9.0 earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island on December 26 - which shook buildings here - showed Bangkok was not immune.
The earthquake triggered a tsunami that devastated areas across the Indian Ocean and killed more than 153*nbsp;000 people, including more than 5 000 in southern Thailand.
"Several buildings in Bangkok are not designed to resist earthquakes because we thought earthquakes are not our problem," Suraphong told reporters. "But today, we cannot think the same way we did in the past. Things that never happened might happen one day."
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| 'We cannot think the same way we did in the past' |
High-rise buildings in Bangkok shook after the Indonesian quake. The epicentre was 1*nbsp;250 kilometres from the Thai capital.
A fault line runs through eastern Myanmar, which borders Thailand's Kanchanaburi province about 110 kilometres south-west of Bangkok, and a big quake there could have a major impact on the capital of more than 10 million people, the minister said.
"Myanmar is earthquake prone and has had quakes measuring 4 to 6 in the past, so you can imagine what would happen to Bangkok if a quake up to 9 hit that area. So it is time to think about safety measures and reviewing our disaster warning system," Suraphong said.
Suraphong, who supervises the meteorological department, said the agency must be upgraded and more seismologists trained. The agency has been criticised for not issuing a warning about a possible tsunami after the December 26 quake, and its head has been removed.
An official who was ridiculed for warning of a possible tsunami several years ago is now being praised for his foresight.
| 'So it is time to think about safety measures' |
Samart Chokanapitak, chief of the irrigation department that oversees more than 300 large dams and dozens of major hydroelectric power projects across Thailand, said the dams were designed to withstand an 8.5 earthquake.
"The irrigation department has checked the dams after the major earthquake in Indonesia, and we have found no damage so far," he said. - Sapa-AP
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