Princess Sirindhorn helps set up tsunami observatory in Thailand

BANGKOK, Jan 3 (TNA) - Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has supported the establishment of a tsunami observatory on Thailand's southern Andaman coast.

     Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn today presented the financial support, worth millions of baht, donated by herself, as well as the general public and firms through charitable organizations under her patronage, like the Red Cross Society of Thailand, to the government to be used for the establishment of a tsunami observatory on the southern Andaman coast.

     This is aimed to prevent the country's 23 provinces along the coast from any repeated tsunami disaster in the future, or to, at least, ease its future impact.

     The exact amount of the donated money has yet been available, as financial assistance from the general public and firms have still poured in.

     Yesterday, the Princess sent New Year cards to people in the country's tsunami-affected areas and rescue teams to wish them good health and all the best in the New Year.

     Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn visits the headquarters of the Red Cross Society of Thailand here everyday after the tsunami disaster on 26 December, and has also donated sets of medical equipment, including respirators, to hospitals in the affected areas.

     Thailand's six southern provinces, including Phuket Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang, Ranong and Satun, were hit by the tsunamis--unprecedentedly--leaving over 5,000 people dead, over 10,000 injured and scores of others still missing, a number of whom are foreign tourists.

     The country's official death toll of the tsunamis, caused by one of the world's strongest earthquakes in the Indonesian resort island of Sumatra, has risen to 5,046 this afternoon.

     Other Asian and African countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Maldives, Madacasca and Somalia, were also hit by the giant waves.

     The total death toll in all the affected nations has been approaching 150,000 today, with the figure in Indonesia alone increasing to nearly 100,000, particularly in Aceh, which is near the epicentre of the tremor, measured at 9.0 on the richter scale. (TNA)--E002

วันที่  3 ม.ค. 2548