Key agencies to work on details if quakes occur
Four state agencies have signed a memorandum of understanding to share earthquake-related information.
The move is aimed at reducing public confusion and panic in the wake of earthquakes and make released information more current, the National News Bureau of Thailand reported yesterday.
The MoU was signed on Monday by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD), the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) and the Royal Irrigation Department (RID). These agencies would, from now on, handle data and information relating to earthquakes in a unified manner. Data from each agency’s quake-measuring stations and devices would be recorded on the same database.
Based on the accord, the DMR has already installed vibration meters on various fault lines at 36 stations and would reach 60 stations by year’s end. It would report the name of any fault line causing an earthquake. RID and the EGAT would also report the ground acceleration figures recorded at dams. The TMD will handle most of the earthquake-related calculation of figures.
