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Barbara Walton / EPA
Foreign tourists stroll at the waters' edge passing a wooden fence of stakes dug deep into the sand in an attempt to form a barricade against the damage of surging waves, on the resort island of Phuket, southern Thailand, June 11. Post-tsunami, development at the seas' edge is booming once again, despite high losses of lives and business of those who lived, holidayed and built shops on the sea's edge, in Phuket and neighboring provinces struck by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. Shops, restaurants and hotels have returned in force despite the risks, and creep ever closer to the edge of the Andaman Sea.
Barbara Walton / EPA
Thai and Burmese labourers, erect a fence hammering wooden stakes deep into the sand at night, as they attempt to form a barricade against the damage of surging waves, to protect sea side restaurants filled with tourists, on the resort island of Phuket, southern Thailand, June 10. This picture released June 11.
I hope this is effective in the event of another tsunami in Phuket, but after witnessing the power of the Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand and the recent tsunami in Japan, I have to wonder if wood buried deep into the ground would have much impact.
If you need a reminder of the incredible power of the earthquake-generated waves, revisit the Nightly News piece below on the disaster in Japan.
Finally, you can read more on the latest happenings in Japan here and on msnbc.com's World Blog.
The epicenter of the quake was 81 miles east of Sendai, Japan. The temblor triggered a tsunami that swept away everything in its path and triggered alerts across the Pacific Basin. ITV's Paul Davies reports.
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Japan's 30 ft concrete wall didn't work, so these wooden planks...
At least they are trying.
How puny. They must be kidding.
Nice ass.
kingofzed is actually Anthony Weiner. Get off the Internet perv
Useless. Those posts won't survive a modest storm surge much less a tsunami. It might make them feel better to build it, but it's a total waste of effort.
Evolution at its finest
I would hate for them to have a termite infestation.
It is hopeless to think this will help. At best, they will be rafts for those caught in the wake. At worst, the stakes will become impaling objects. Tourist ala shish kabob.
Would it be ironic when this wooden fence (meant to save lives) gets swept away by a tsunami and impales someone....
just a blogger taking big liberties with truth; fence intended to slow the impact of erosion from above-average tides.
Dave is correct. Bad design that tries to meet force with force. Redirect the greater force against itself, Asian Gung Fu 101. The walls should be shorter, staged and angled thus, redirecting the force of water. Then behind a second line of walls redirecting the water against itself. And, even a 3rd wall as needed again redirecting the water back to itself. The likelihood is it will only mitigate the devastating impact but, may save some lives. A very strong and flexible material would be better than wood but, perhaps cost prohibitive.
MSNBC: Who told you this was a defence against tsunamis? I think you'll find it's simply a defence against erosion. I live in Phuket and I have to say that I think Thais would find the "Ha ha! Stupid Thais!" implicit in the story pretty offensive.
Did anyone actually talk to the people doing this work? Or did Katie Cannon simply make assumptions?
Here, we are well aware that there really is no defence against tsunamis apart from running away to high ground. That's why we have a couple of dozen towers along the coastline that will broadcast warnings in case of a repetition of Boxing Day 2004.