Southern Thailand
Scientist Say Klong Marui Fault Line Cause of Phuket Quake
PHUKET – Mr Burin Vechbanthoeng, deputy director-general of Meteorological Department, on Thursday reports that the 4.6 magnitude earthquake which was felt in Phuket, Phang-nga and Krabi provinces on Wednesday morning was caused by the movement of Klong Marui fault line in the Andaman Sea.
The quake which occurred at 4.18 am and an aftershock which occurred at 12.25 pm on Thursday was not strong enough to cause a tsunami although the epicenter was about four kilometers under the seabed near Koh Yao district of Phang-nga in the Andaman Sea.
He explained that the movement of the Klong Marui fault line was not in the vertical direction which would have caused the flow of massive seawater to fill up the void resulting to a tsunami.
However, he said that officials of the department would keep close watch of Klong Marui fault line to try to determine why more power was released from the fault line in the sea than that on land.
Meanwhile, Mr Somboon Kositanont, director of geological environment office, attributed the movement of Klong Maarui fault line to the adjustments of earth plates as a result of earthquakes in Nepal and Papua New Guinea.
But he assured that it was unlikely the Klong Marui fault line would cause a big earthquake.