Tsunami report kept secret

[seafan]

Bangkok - The head of a Thai investigation into the Asian tsunami disaster will not make his findings public, in an effort to stymie a lawsuit launched by foreign victims of the tragedy, a report said on Wednesday.

Former Meteorological Department director Smith Thammasaroj said he would seal conclusions of the probe because European victims have filed a lawsuit demanding that Thai and other authorities prove they reacted adequately.

"I will not and I cannot reveal it - and the report may never be published," he was quoted by the Nation newspaper as saying. "No way, because it has become a lawsuit issue and could cause much damage."

<snip>

More than 60 victims of the tsunami disaster filed suit last week against the Thai government, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its Tsunami Warning Centre, and the French hotel chain Sofitel, which is part of the Accor group, the plaintiffs' lawyers said.

The suit on behalf of plaintiffs from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and France is believed to be the first worldwide tsunami claim.

<snip>


http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Tsunami_Disaster/0,6119,2-10-1777_1673605,00.html

[Rainscents]

1. Hummmmmmmm, I wounder what they are hiding...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

3. My guess is that they knew it was coming and failed to pass on the....

...warning to anyone along the shore. My guess is that they didn't think anything was coming of the magnitude that struck them, and they wanted to make sure that the tourists continued to spend their money on vacation.

That's pretty cynical, but that's where my head is at these days.

[Massachusetts]

7. Correct...not cynical but the SAD TRUTH.

[Mithras61]

9. According to reports just after the tsunami...

they not only knew, they decided to not pass the warning along because they were concerned that it would damage tourism if people knew it was coming.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. Man, don't you just wish

that you could really fuck something up and then blow it off like this? These people got their "morality" lessons straight from the GOP. Accept responibility for NOTHING!

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Misunderestimator]

6. Welcome to DU

[dbt]

4. Kick for the morning crew.

Tesla twirls.

[Lisa]

8. so, they put him in charge of the probe?

Isn't he the guy who lost his job because he decided not to sound the alarm (and can be considered somewhat responsible)?

That's like putting the Bush Administration in charge of investigating responses to 9/11, isn't it?
(except that, ahem, Bush didn't lose HIS job ...)