To prevent is better than mending

Editorial: To prevent is better than mending - translated and summarized from Matichon, July 27, 2005

After practicing tsunami evacuations many times in the six Andaman provinces, it went into actual practice late on the night of July 24. Mr. Plodprasob Surasawadee, director of the National Warning Disaster, specified there was an earthquake in the Nicobar Islands and asked people to move to safe places, but there was no tsunami.
The warning to people this time is regarded as effective because it is fast and serious at about the time of nearly midnight when people slept and could panic. This warning may upset both Thais and foreigners, but it is common and it is not correct to blame the authorities who make the warning. It is regarded as lucky to people that still survive because if the tsunami came, no one would have complained.
It is known that it is still difficult to make an advance forecast for tsunami warnings from earthquake. Anyway, the geology scientist [Mr. Plodprasob] did the good job. Not only Thailand, but also CNN reported the news around the world.
No carelessness calls to mind that humans must behave carefully. People sometimes do not know about natural disasters and when info exists, although well prepared, we still not heed the danger. So we should have optimism about earthquake warning in Nicobar and think it is a test for all authorities, social organizations, local administrative organizations, the mass media and people in six Andaman provinces. This should be an evaluation of weak points or deficiencies. At the same time, we need to improve the instruments to be accurate in early warning including coordinating disaster warning organizations with other countries, otherwise what they drills or actual warnings might not be as successful as it should be.