Nordic Prime Ministers ask Thailand for tsunami report

Vanhanen meets victim identification teams

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The prime ministers of the Nordic Countries have asked Thailand for information on what Thai officials knew about the impending tsunami and what was done with the information.
      The visit to Thailand of Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre), Sweden's Göran Persson, and Norway's Kjell Magne Bondevik continued their trip to Thailand on Monday with a visit to the areas of Khao Lak and Phuket, where destruction was extensive.
      Vanhanen met with members of a Finnish victim identification team working at the Yan Yao monastery in the village of Takua Pa.
      "This is a terribly difficult moment", Vanhanen said. "I can imagine how rough it must be to work here."
      During his brief visit, Vanhanen met with members of the Finnish identification team in the part of the temple where bodies are prepared for the identification process, and where outsiders normally are not allowed.
     
Vanhanen said that he believes that more than half of the Finnish victims will eventually be identified. He pointed out that Thai officials had estimated that only a few hundred of the total number of people missing in the disaster would not be found.
      "During the week of evacuations I feared that a much greater proportion of victims would remain unidentified", he said.
     
The prime ministers flew by helicopter from Phuket to Takua Pa and back, and the route took them over Kao Lak, where most of the missing Finns were vacationing.
      Seeing the area increased their determination to call for a study on what happened on the day of the disaster.
      Göran Persson noted that there was knowledge that there had been an eartquake, and that earthquakes sometimes cause tsunamis.
      Vanhanen said that Persson served as a spokesman for the group on the issue, because he was the first to speak at a press conference where the matter was discussed.
      The prime ministers said that it must be ascertained what Thai officials knew on the morning of December 26th and how the information was handled.
      Another important matter is to examine how the buildings in the devastated area were built. The prime ministers said that some were apparently of fairly weak construction. Persson emphasised that safety is a very important consideration for tourist destinations.
      Vanhanen nevertheless repeated his call to Finns to travel to Phuket for their holidays. He said that he is confident that Finnish tour operators will not choose dangerous hotels.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  PM Vanhanen in Thailand: Finland supports tsunami warning system (17.1.2005)

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