NEW TSUNAMI WARNING BUOY FOR PHUKET
The tsunami detection buoy currently in the ocean off Phuket will be replaced as soon as possible the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) said.
NDWC Deputy Director Somsak Khawsuwan told that the mission will take place as soon as conditions at sea would allow it.
‘We can not wait until the end of the monsoon season’ he said.
Launched in December 2006, the buoy stopped transmitting data mid-June this year as its battery ran out.
Strangely enough, the buoy, which was built in the US, powered up again last month and resumed sending on the 5th of August, just five days after a large earthquake occurred north of the Andaman Islands.
According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the buoy is now operating in an ‘emergency mode’ using a back-up battery which will run out some time this month or the next.
Backed by a 48 million Baht budget, the NDWC has ordered one new DART buoy from the US-based NOAA and has a designated contractor for the replacement mission.
According to the plan, technical experts from the NOAA will help replace the existing buoy with a new unit.
The old unit will be brought ashore for maintenance and redeployed a year later, at which time the second unit will be brought ashore for maintenance.
Source: Phuket Gazette
