Scientists:Thailand may face tsunami late this year, severe drought next year

BANGKOK, September 13 (TNA) - An internationally-known Thai scientist Art-ong Jumsai Na Ayudhya warned on Thursday that the 11th cycle of a solar storm could fall between December 2012 and January 2013 and there could be strong earthquakes and the first tsunami in the Gulf of Thailand subsequently due to a fault in the Philippines. Art-ong said he foresaw that Thailand would have some 15 hours for a preparation before the feared tsunami from the fault reaches the Gulf of Thailand. Art-ong, who designed the landing system of the Viking spacecraft of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) which landed on Mars, made the warning at an academic meeting organized by the Ministry of Public Health in Thailand's southern Songkhla Province. Art-ong assessed that flooding this year would not be so severe as what had happened last year, as the global warming problem, which caused heavy downpours and the La Nina weather phenomenon, is changing to El Nino; therefore, the amount of water this year should be about 20 per cent less than that of last year. Importantly, the Thai scientist noted, the amount of water in many dams is not considerable; so, flooding this year should not hit Bangkok as much as they did last year. The Thai scientist cautioned, however, that next year the El Nino weather phenomenon would reduce rainwater and cause unprecedented drought, recommending sufficient water reserves at local dams to cope with the expected drought with shortages of water supply. (TNA)