There was a tsunami drill held in each of the six Andaman provinces today. There are 79 warning towers across the Andaman region, with 19 of those located in Phuket. The sirens sounded and the drill was conducted in a similar manner to the previous tsunami drills.

I sometimes wonder how effective these drills are. They are well orchestrated and publicized and in the end they become little more than some sort of show for the cameras, with students running through the streets, smiles beaming, having a great time. However, such drills do raise awareness.

The tourists, however, sometimes just shrug and get back to their sunbathing. In Patong today, it seemed that most tourists were keen to ignore the drill. I have heard a few people saying that it isn’t a matter of if, but when, there will be another tsunami. Will Phuket and the other Andaman regions be ready for such a scenario? It’s possible, but we really can’t be sure how effective the tsunami-warning system is.

If you’ve seen some of the pictures from after the tsunami – of the dead bodies and dismembered limbs strewn all around – then you’ll appreciate the importance of these tsunami drills. The world was shocked by the tsunami in 2004, but some tourists couldn’t be bothered to take 10 minutes from their busy schedules to join in today.

Gripes aside, I think Phuket and the Andaman provinces are making progress in reaching the stage where people are prepared for another tsunami, but there is still work to be done.

There was a tsunami drill about one year ago, similar to the one today. Some of the sirens were too quiet while others were inaudible. There was another good show for the media, but away from the cameras, there were problems.

It has yet to come out what problems there were with today’s drill, but no doubt more will be known tomorrow. The sirens in Patong have never been the problem; it’s elsewhere there were concerns.

Did anyone hear the sirens this morning?