Top Thai Forecaster Fired Over Tsunami

"Thailand's Meteorological Department has said that it knew about the huge earthquake that struck off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Dec. 26 - and that it might produce a dangerous surge of water along the country's southwest coast - about an hour before waves began slamming ashore."

They stated they were reluctant to issue warnings or evaculations because they had no way of knowing the size of the waves. They did not want to hurt tourism (WELL IT IS HURT NOW) and possibly anger his government.

Suparerk Thantiratanawong, director general of the Meteorological Department, has been fired.

"If he warned (of the tsunami), the death toll would definitely have been minimized," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said.