Samui hit by heavy rain and declared disaster zone

Koh Samui declared disaster zone on wednesday after the island was hit by a very heavy rain for 3 days.
Soldiers, government workers and policemen have been dispatched to provide emergency assistance to tourists and Thai residents.
More than 300 travellers can't leave Samui because the airport suspended flight.
The Surat Thani Governor Winai Buapradit said: "If there is no more rain, the situation might return to normal tomorrow friday."
Winai Buapradit declared 11 villages on the island disaster zones.
Water level on the main road, in some parts of the commercial centre and tourist sites are as high as 80 centimetres.
Furthermore ferry services to Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Surat Thani still operate but the number of cars being carried has dropped of 50 percent, according to an official at the waterfront.
Koh Samui Tourism Association Director Senee Puwasetthavorn described the situation as a crisis. He said: “The damage is beyond estimation.”

Vico the paedophile has been arrested in Thailand

Thailand has been at the center of a massive manhunt in northeast of Thailand (Nakhon Ratchasima) on friday to arrest the paedophile Christopher Paul Neil.
Neil, 32 years old became the world's most-wanted pedophile suspect after police reconstructed a digitally obscured picture of him, which he had posted on several website. He is accused by Interpol for raping young boys under 15 years old in many countries in Asia.
Lieutenant General Pongsapat Pongcharoen reported that said Neil didn’t resist arrest when police raided the one-storey house where he lived. He said: "The suspect was quiet. He wasn't agitated, he didn't say anything at all".
The worldwide search for Neil began about 10 days ago with a groundbreaking appeal from Interpol for the public's help in tracking down a man seen in 200 photos online with young boys. The operation was codenamed "Vico" because the images were believed to have been taken in Vietnam and Cambodia in 2002 or 2003.
The head of Interpol's police services, Jean-Michel Louboutin said. "The investigation must now continue. All victims of this man must make themselves known”.
A Thai court on Saturday granted a police request to extend by at least 12 days the detention of Neil.
Police Lieutenant General Wimon Pao said: "He was restless. He was charged with committing crimes against juveniles, which can impose strong penalties if found guilty". Then he added: "We have enough evidence to take legal action against him. The evidence is clear and thorough".

Thailand practised largest tsunami evacuation drill

Thailand staged the first full-scale test of its tsunami warning system thursday, with rescuers on speedboats plucking tourists out of the sea and sirens blaring on sun-drenched beaches.
About 5000 local residents and tourists joined the drill, conducted in Ranong, Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Satun, and Trang provinces.
Representatives from international organisations, ambassadors, consuls, and tourism industry representant were also on hand to observe the one-hour drill, said a local journalist.
The drill started with an alarm, then announcements in Thai, Chinese, English, French, Italian German, and Japanese that there was an earthquake in the sea and a tsunami was possible, so people should evacuate to high ground.
Participants followed tsunami evacuation routes from the beach, including people who were acting injured and needed help to move.
Disaster center chairman Smith Dharmasaroja told journalist : “The drill today is to give confidence to tourists about their safety in southern provinces. All 79 alarm towers functioned well, but more of them are needed. In a few months we will have between 100 and 150. We will try to do this twice a year”.
Then he declared: “we was not so satisfied with a 20 minute gap between the first report of an undersea earthquake and signals sent to 79 warning towers in the region. It should be 10 minutes. We are a bit slow, so we have to improve by buying better software and computers to analyse after receiving the first report”.
Later he announced on the TV: “ The international experts who observed the drills expressed their confidence and satisfaction. Some of them want to use Thai warning system structure as a model for other countries”.
The December 2004 seaquake devastated some coastal areas of Thai provinces of Satun, Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, Krabi, Trang, and Phang Nga, in december 2004 that killed more than 8,000 in the country.