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| Sunday, 12 March 2006 |
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Thailand warns of unusual underwater tremors BANGKOK, Saturday (AFP) Thailand warned Saturday of a series of unusual underwater earthquakes in the Andaman Sea, urging caution along its southern coast where the tsunami hit in 2004. The National Disaster Warning Center said that between March 9-11 it had detected 31 quakes ranging in magnitude from 4.0 to 5.3 near the Andaman Islands, some 500 kilometers (300 miles) east of the southern Thai province of Ranong. The epicenters have been in an area where underwater volcanoes sometimes erupt along a fault line, it said in a statement. "It could cause a major eruption of underwater volcanoes, and that could trigger a tsunami that would damage Thailand," the statement said. The center's director Plodprasop Suraswadi told Thai television that such a large number of tremors in three days was cause for concern, but said scientists have no way of predicting the chances of another tsunami. "We must warn people to be cautious, but they should not overreact or panic. It's a abnormal signal that we have detected," he said. The center asked the public to listen for further updates, and asked ships off the Thai coast to report any unusual changes in the sea. Some 5,400 people were killed in Thailand during the December 2004 tsunami which claimed more than 220,000 lives worldwide around the Indian Ocean. |
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