Phuket Airport Back To Normal Soon After Tsunami Warning Lifted

Manila Bulletin
April 13, 2012

BANGKOK (dpa) – Flights to and from Phuket Airport were back to normal Thursday after being shut down during a tsunami scare sparked by a 8.6-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia.

''Actually the airport already reopened Wednesday night after the tsunami warning was lifted,'' said Bang-orurat Shinaprayon, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Thailand's National Disaster Warning Center on Wednesday afternoon issued a tsunami warning to the six provinces along the Andaman Sea; Krabi, Phuket, Phangnga, Ranong, Satun and Trang. It lifted it about 8:00 p.m. (1300 GMT) when was clear the earthquake off Aceh in Indonesia had failed to generate a tsunami.

Tsunami sirens were activated and hundreds of tourists evacuated in Patong and other popular beaches on Phuket Island, 700 kilometers south of Bangkok.

''The warnings systems worked well,'' Bang-orarut said. ''All sectors, the hoteliers, government offices and the warning center coordinated very well and controlled the situation,'' she added.

Phuket International Airport was closed for several hours during the scare, with more than 15 flights delayed.

It was unclear whether the tsunami scare would lead to a rash of hotel cancellations on Phuket, which drew 5.4 million tourists last year, Bang-orurat said.

A 9.1-magnitude quake off Aceh on December 26, 2004, caused a tsunami that killed more than 5,400 people in Thailand, half of them foreign tourists in the popular beach resorts on the Andaman Sea coast.